Chicken Pot Pie

I’ve never made chicken pot pie before.  It always intimidated me with its perfectly flakey crust, creamy filling, and loads of chopping.  Sounds kind of scary, right?  Right.

Well, Comfortably Domestic gave the world an easy solution to the perfect crust awhile back.

My excuses started to dwindle.

Jonathan requested chicken pot pie many times and resorted to calling me “Maddie-pot-pie” on a regular basis.

Then, Inside NanaBread’s Head sent me a SPECTACULAR care package with the tools I would need to complete the pot pie.

NanaBread's hand crafted holiday apron! (excuse the post-yoga ensemble)

Isn't this little leaf cut out adorable! Thanks again, NanaBread!

My stance against homemade pot pie was defunct.

Comfortably Domestic also gave us the perfect chicken pot pie recipe, but I only had a few of those ingredients on hand.  😦  I ended up using the same recipe, except for *gasp* frozen vegetables.

I think I’m officially hooked on homemade pies.  There’s no turning back now.  Although, I’m not a huge fan of the cleanup.

The aftermath:

I feel bad for the poor sucker who has to clean that up.   Oh wait, that poor sucker is me.

-Mads

Snozzberry Pie for PIE WEEK!

 

 

 

“Come join Love the Pie with TidyMom  sponsored by Cherokee USA, Le Creuset, Wilton,Bags by Bloom and  Harvard Common Press”

Folks, one of the few things keeping my spirits up this week has been the constant pie-babble on the blogosphere and Twitter.  Thank goodness.

For those of you who haven’t been around, 6 blogger ladies decided to team up and do something about the lack of pies on the internet.

The rules were simple:

-6 bloggers. 1 dream.  6 days worth of pie.

-Use Kirsten’s No-Nonsense Pie Dough recipe

-Post pics that make you drool or force you to cheer out loud in triumph

Ya’ll voted last week on what kind of pie I should make.  The winner was…

…drumroll…

Snozzberry Pie!

I have successfully made several cream and custard pies, but have been paralyzed with fear at the thought of baking a fruit pie.  I think my fear stems from the second topping crust and the fancy business there.

But fears be damned during pie week!  I shall make that berry pie and it shall taste of magic and wonderment!!  Like unicorns smooching in the enchanted forest.  Ok, that got weird for a minute.

Moving along.

This recipe was INCREDIBLY easy to do.  Kirsten’s pie dough was a snap (flakey, buttery goodness), and the berry mixture whipped together in under a minute.

We had a moment of touch and go when the oven started billowing smoke, but just remember to put a cookie sheet on the rack below the pie in the oven.  My house did not start on fire. 🙂

You will need:

Kirsten’s dough recipe

2 cup raspberries

1 cup blackberries

1 cup sliced strawberries

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 Tbsp. flour

1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

6 pats of butter (approximately 1-2 Tbsp.)

sprinkle of sugar

Roll out your pie dough and place in a greased pie tin and pierce dough with a fork to prevent air bubbles.

Combine berries, sugar, cinnamon, flour, and lemon juice.

Pour berry mixture into pie crust.

Top with 6 pats of butter.

Gently cover with the second pie crust and press edges together.

Make a few slits in the center of the pie with a knife.

Sprinkle the top with sugar.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.  Let cool for another 20 minutes, if you can help yourself.

And it’s true, the snozzberries tasted like snozzberries!

Don’t forget to check out my internet buddies to ooo and ahhh over their pies:

Monday-Comfortably Domestic-Apple Tart with Cheddar Streusel

Tuesday-Inside NanaBread’s Head-Bananas Foster Fried Pies

Wednesday-Tenaciously Yours-Pumpkin Pie

Thursday-La Petite Pancake (that’s me)-Snozzberry Pie

Friday-Wanna Be A Country Cleaver-Nutella Pecan Pie

Saturday-Decadent Philistines Save the World-Mushroom Red Wine Pie

Thanks for playing,

Mads

Baking in preparation for PIE WEEK!

The votes for PIE WEEK keep coming in, but berry has been in the lead, so that’s what we’re going with.  I will be making Snozzberry Pie, which will be some mad combination of several berries.

In preparation for PIE WEEK, I have been baking desserts like a mad woman!

For starters, I made Cooking Light’s Peanut Butter Cup Blondies:

Image Courtesy of Cooking Light (click to be redirected to the original recipe)

I doubled the amount of peanut butter cups.  I realize that sort of defeats the “cooking light” aspect of the recipe, but it had to be done.

Upon request, I made TWO more batches of these, for a total of three batches in one week.  That’s got to be some sort of dessert record.

This peanut butter madness was followed by PW’s Milky Way Cake.

Image courtesy of The Pioneer Woman (click to be redirected to the original recipe)

This one calls for 3 sticks of margarine and 11 full-size Milky Way bars.  Yup.  So there’s that…

I got one vote for “This is the best cake I’ve ever had”, one vote for “The flavor isn’t my favorite”, and two votes for “It’s decent”.  Ignore the grammar in that sentence, and glean what you will from the votes.

There is still half a pan left.  Glean what you will from that.

I like the word “glean” today.

What’s your favorite dessert of all time?

-Mads

p.s. Pies are blowing up this corner of the internet for PIE WEEK (yes, PIE WEEK always has to be typed in caps)!  Check out Comfortably Domestic for a cheddar apple crumble, and InsideNanaBread’s Head for fried banana pies.  Mmmmm

Pie-Off

Folks, this is epic.  A few of my fellow bloggers decided it would be great to compete in a pie-off.  That’s right…PIE-OFF!!!

I’ve made a few pies in my day–strawberry cream pie, boston cream pie, banana cream pie (Do you sense a theme?), pecan pie, and french silk pie.

As you might be able to tell, I’m avoiding baked fruit pies.  Something about the challenge has paralyzed me with cooking fear.

That being said, I have vowed to change that this fall.  Baking a fruit pie is my #1 goal!

Next Thursday you will be able to see the fruits (ba-dum-bum) of my labor, and I will also be linking up with the other pie contestants.

Is there something you are nervous about cooking for the first time?  What’s your worst kitchen disaster?

-Mads

Fall recipes I’m dying to try

Fall always gets me in the mood to bake, roast, and mash all of the best comfort foods.  There’s nothing like curling up with a bowl full of homemade chicken soup or digging into a slice of piping hot apple pie.

This fall, I’ve decided to commit to a new approach.  I’m going to make recipes that I’ve never attempted before.  This could result in epic failures, but I have a feeling it will be more delicious than anything else.

Here’s what I’m committed to making this fall:

Miss InsideNanaBread’s Head’s POSOLE!  NanaBread is on a vacation from blogging, but I promise she is worth checking out when she comes back.

Mexican-style stew with hominy

Pam’s pie crust for apple pie (featured on The Pioneer Woman).  I have never made my own crust (shhhh), but I am determined to try this flaky goodness.  I have also never ventured into baked fruit pies, but apple pie is in the game plan.

101 Cookbook’s Easy Little Bread.  My track record with bread is not stellar.  Usually I end up with a cement lump or a dough ball of goo.  This no-knead bread promises that it will be easy and totally doable for a baking beginner like me.  101 Cookbook is a great blog with BEE-U-TI-FUL food photography.

Comfortably Domestic’s Mediterranean Inspired Chicken Wraps with Dill Cucumber Sauce.  Jonathan and I have been on a Mediterranean kick and anything by Comfortably Domestic is sure to be a win.

Kitchen-tested and children-approved

(Click on any of the pics above to find the original recipes.  These pictures are all from the bloggers linked in the text.)

Hopefully I remember to post my adventures in these dishes here, but let’s face it, I frequently forget who I am and what I’m doing.

Are you trying out any new recipes this fall?  What’s your favorite blog source for recipes?

-Mads