Chicken Pot Pie

This is family approved and the leftovers ACTUALLY get eaten! home made pot pie like this one seems like a lot of work but it is so worth the time if you can put into it. once you have the basics of it, it becomes easier and faster and then you can jazz it up the way your family likes.

what you need.

~ main ~
chicken breast ( we use 3-4 depending on the size of them)
Potatoes (3 lg )
carrots ( 3 lg )
chicken seasoning

~ rue~
2 c chicken broth
2 tbs flour
2 tbs butter
Small pinch pepper flakes ( just a little, i use it in the rue because it will then be cooked into the sauce and evenly distributed around the food and you wont have one bite here and there that are HOT! but a nice even heat.. and this is a very very miner amount because i have no tolerance to the heat yet unlike my hubby lol who adds much more onto his )
salt
pepper

~ pie~
2 frozen pre-made pie crust ( or make your own if your up to it!)
drop biscuit recipe (mine below) or Bisquick for the top

1 cup flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 tsp sugar
3 tsp of backing powder
1/2 tsp of salt
1/3 c oil
1 cup milk
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this is one that i do in steps threw out the day. it can be done all at once but being a stay at home mom i have to privilege of spreading the work out!

what you need to do...

peel your potatoes and carrots
drop them into a pan of water and turn on high. set your timer for 20 min...start the time when you put the pot on the stove NOT when it starts to boil.

~~ lay your chicken on pan for the oven.. season with your chicken seasoning ( mine is pre-made ~~ in a jar! )
~~ put in a 375 oven for 30 min.

drain your potatoes and carrots and leave to cool down
once cool cube them up for the pie

~~ pull chicken out and let cool
~~ cube the chicken up

~~ now put in your frozen pie crust so that they are pre cooked and ready for the pie filling ( this way it will be nice and crisp and you will not have to worry about if its cooked when you bake the top later.... follow the direction on the package...

Grab a new pan to make your rue in
medium heat melt the butter
add the flour and cook about one min to cook out the flour taste
add your chicken broth and start stirring. let it come back to a boil to dissolve any lumps.

~~ now add your potatoes, carrots and chicken into the rue and mix so that its all coated.
~~ pull out your pie pans and fill each one up

prepare your biscuit recipe or your Bisquick and add a little more milk to thin it out. you want it to be thin enough to pour out and cover the top.

~~ put your pies into a 400 degree oven for 15 min if using my biscuit recipe, otherwise for the time of yours. basically all your doing here is cooking the top now.


and there you go. all that work will pay off when you cut into this pot pie and gobble it up!

biscuits, gravy, potatoes and eggs!

Well this is are weekly Wednesday meal..breakfast for dinner! it changes some times depending on my lvl of ...boredom :) but always breakfast. saves me one day on my menu for the week i love it!

so this is my basic that i make. David LOVES biscuits and gravy and i LOVE potatoes and eggs. so we mix them and its darn good.

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first...biscuits! now depending on how lazy your filling or how gung ho you fill you can do pre-packaged, Bisquick mix or make your own drop biscuits like me. The recipe i like for that is...


1 cup flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 tsp sugar ( seems to make it softer )
3 tsp of backing powder
1/2 tsp of salt
1/3 c oil
1 cup milk ( i use prepared powdered milk for my cooking at it comes out really well, i have not noticed any difference. )

what do i do!!??

now turn your oven on to 400!

mix all your dry together just to give it a quick mix
now dump in the wet and mix well to get the lumps out and brake down the flour.

now pull out your cookie sheet

now drop large spoon fulls of the mix onto the sheet
now put it IN the oven for 15 min

WALLA! YUMM

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now to get your potatoes and eggs started!

you need....
well duh pototoes ( we use 4-5 large ones )
a lot of salt
a lot of pepper
a TINY pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tsp of garlic salt OR 2-3 minced cloves
1 tsp of onion powder OR 1/2 a minced onion
oil... butter..
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6 eggs and about 4 or 5 tsp of water
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what to do??

cube your taters!

( here is the monster girl helping me !)

dump some oil and butter in the pan ( oil to help with the sticking and cooking.. butter for the browning! works best with both )
dump the taters in your pan
now add your salt, pepper, onion, garlic and pepper flakes!
MIX WELL

cover on med for 10 - 15 min to soffen
uncover for 10-15 min on med to cook and brown

NOW mix your eggs and water togather
when the potatoes are done make a well in the middle of the pan ( because im lazy and dont want another dish!!)
DUMP the eggs in the well and wait as they cook up
add some salt!

mix after a min and finish the cooking

WALLA! potatoes and eggs!

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now the gravy! if your having a lazy day just pull out a package of country gravy and 2 min later your done. OR if your having a good day and want to show off make it from scratch

what you need!

1/2 sausage
2 tsp butter
2 tsp flour
about 1 cup of milk

what do i do??!!

brown up the sausage

when done remove but leave the grease ( sooo good for your gravy! i some times dont have much because of the leanness of my sausage so i just use another tsp of butter to make up the diffrence)
add your butter to the pan and melt
add your flour to the pan and allow it to cook for about a min to cook out the "flour" taste
slowly add your milk and stir stir stir!
alow it to cook the lumps out and smooth
add some salt and pepper and pepper flakes if you want more heat.
now add the sausage back!!

WALLA! yummy home made gravy...

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now my kitchen is a mess and i have to plate it all!

cut your buiscets in 1/2 and put them on your plate
pile on the potatoes and eggs
add your gravy!

and now thats a hearty meal.

Pull apart pork sammys and brownies!

Tonight i make a family favorite pull apart pork Sammie!

what do i need?

1 bottle of your fav bbq sauce
1-2 bottles of water
1 cup ( or can ) of beans .. mine are 1cup of dried black beans left out to soak over night )
1 or 2 tsp of garlic powder or 4 cloves of garlic
1 or 2 tsp of onion powder or a half of onion thrown in and pulled out at the end ( i add it just for the flavor but you are MORE then welcome to cut it up, cook it with it and eat it all! )
1 small pork roast... ( heck beef roast.. side.. butt.. chicken.. anything would work ! )
1 tsp of pepper flakes
~ for later shredded cheese... lettuce and tomato ~

now this can be jazzed up how ever your family likes to eat. peppers, mushrooms.. corn :) what ever. its one of those you cant really mess it up if you use the food you like in it.

now.. what do i do with it all!!!

~ pull out your crock pot ( i love mine! ) and add the sauce and water in first and mix it up to dissolve the bbq sauce
now add the rest! just dump it in and mix it upn



now set it on low and let it just simmer ALLLL day long and enjoy the smell as it fills your home!
now its 30 min before dinner so pull out your buns and put then on your cookie sheet and set the oven to broil.


5 mins no more ! watch so they don't turn black!!
now wile they are still on the cookie sheet put shredded cheese on the bottom bun
now add the yummy pork mix on top



now add more cheese!


now.. ok so only me.. add your lettuces or tomatoes



now.. EAT IT! so good!


NOW DESSERT! BROWNIES!! ok well i am a lazy person at the end of making dinner so i pull out a box of brownies but i like to make it extra special with CHOCOLATE CHIPS! just mix the box accordingly and put it in the pan then dump 1/2 a bad of CC on it and cook according to the box.. couldn't make it easier if i tried but with the CC melted on top its heavenly!




enjoy and god bless!

biscuits and gravy for dinner!

biscuits and gravy for dinner! THIS IS my husbands fav meal! i finally FINALLY mastered the biscuit's! I used to use bisquick and make drop biscuits because i just could not make a good "normal" biscuit... the trick? DON'T ROLL IT SO THIN! lol they don't really... rise much so i basically just pat the dough out a bit to about 1/2 to 1 in thick.. yes you heard me! and cut it out and put it on a sheet and .. it cooks threw just fine, i was worried about the center but.. no problems at all.

this is the one i use now.
2 cup flour
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup milk or buttermilk

mix the flour baking powder and salt together. now with your hands ( oh its just more fun this way people!) rub the shortening in to the flour mix. you want to do this tell its all little coarse crumbs. smaller then peas. now mix in the milk.. i just use my hands because well.. it saves a dirty dish and at the end it will not be that big a mess as you think. after you get it mixed up mine is always still a bit to wet so i throw in a 1/2 a hand full of flour on top and mix it in just a little. it all comes together then nicely.

dust the counter just a little bit and drop the dough on it and i use my hands and just push it down and out tell its about 1/2 to 1 in some were in there... just smaller then you actually want the biscuit to be. i use a cup to cut it out and put it on a ungreased pan

400 degrees for 10 - 15 min .. start checking after ten and wait tell its golden brown on top.

if you want drop biscuits instead? use a spoon not your hand :) use melted shortening or oil, i use oil, and up the milk to a cup. mix it and you want it to be thicker then pancake batter , you want to be able to spoon the wet dough up and put it on the pan and have it stay there. if its watery or runny you need more flour.

cheesy biscuits? after you mix it all up, either way normal or drop, just throw in a hand full of shredded cheese and mix it up at the end!

Make your own cookbook?

This is one of the coolest things i have seen in a while. Its a place you can make your very own cookbook! sign up is free and you can pick already done recipes or you can take your very own and have them done for the book. It looks like it cost $35 to have the book printed and this gives you 100 recipes spots to use. I don't think you have to use it on the same book either? hmm i will look more into this, but wow i just think this is great! I have a nice assortment of my own recipes and have been forever trying to find a really nice way to store and keep them.. I'm a messy cook lol I am going to play around with it a bit i think but i wanted to share it because it looks like its a beta stage so it must be new ;)

Cooking Times for Beef, Pork, Chicken and Fish

First thing first ~ source~
FDA Center for Food

Do not roast food at temperatures below 325° F - bacteria may grow while cooking at this low temperature. Never cook a Thanksgiving turkey overnight in the oven below 325° F.

Now that is out of the way :) lets move on. I wanted to make a very easy fast chart for cooking time lines. I remember when I first really started cooking and never knew what temperature to cook meat at or for how long.. I would run around trying to find my betty Crocker cook book that was like 10 yrs old that was handed down to me in the first place JUST to see how long and how hot to put the pork in the oven! Ok so I still some times have to do this LOL. So this was my motivation to make this list.
I never found it helpful to be told " cook it to 160 degrees" hmm ok I don’t have a meat thermometer and if I did were would I stick it?? So I have always tried to find the "cook at 350 for 40 min" and ok if I cut into it and its red… BACK in the oven it goes!

Just to be totally correct though if you have a meat thermometer its not a bad idea to use it:)

I have added links below also so that if you want some more in-depth info you would have it for all the other stuff. I'm lazy and just want to post the "main" stuff you might need to look up ;) nice of me hu!

beef roast
oven 325* 30min per pound ~internal 160 degrees~
….more on beef….

Pork roast
oven 350* 20-30 min per pound ~internal 160 degrees~
….more on pork…..

Whole Chicken
oven 350* 30 min per pound works perfect for me ~internal 160 degrees ( see a trend with this?)
….more on chicken….

fish... tricky tricky one! basic guide line i found
oven 230* 5-7 min per cm for fresh ~ 10-12 min per cm for frozen
( my favorite ? sear the fish in a hot pan first then pop into the oven at 350* for 5-7 min to finish. you have a great crunch on the outside and flaky on the inside.. but careful i do tend to like my stuff VERY well cooked )
.... all the ways to cook fish here ...

I'm sorry i can not be helpful on sea food. I never cook it and have no earthly idea what to do with it! fish is the only thing that i some times try to cook. I hope this was vaguely helpful and that the links provide the "real" info for you!

Baking Substitutions

Well I know there are always times when you REALLY want to make a recipe but find your self on item short! Some things can be substituted for other things and I have tried to find a few of those for you. What started this for me was the Buttermilk.I have NEVER ever bought buttermilk, until recently I would not have been able to tell you what it was use for or in.. but now of course I have found quite a few that need it.. grrr so I went hunting. I found some of the most common stuff that you might in a pinch need to substitute. There are some great sites out there with SO MUCH substitution info! Its crazy. you can almost bake a cake with all substitutions LMAO.... I wonder how that would turn out....

any way on to the few main substitutions I thought might be helpful to you.

Allspice 1 tsp.
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Baking powder 1 tsp.
• 1/3 tsp. baking soda and 5/8 tsp. cream of tartar

Baking Soda 1/2 tsp
. 2 tsp double-action baking powder

Brown sugar 1 cup
• 1 cup sugar plus 1 tsp. molasses

Buttermilk 1 cup
.1 cup milk + 1tbs vinegar or lemon juice

Condensed milk
.in a saucepan combine a cup of evaporated milk with 1 1/4 cup sugar. Heat untill dissolved. Can save for a few days in the fridge.

Cream of Tarter 1/2 tsp
.1/2 tsp white vinegar or lemon juice

Brown sugar 1cup
.1cup white sugar plus 2 tbsp of molasses

White sugar 1 cup
.1 1/3 cup brown sugar
.1 1/2 cup powder sugar

Yogurt, plain 1 cup
.1 cup sour cream
.1 cup buttermilk