Pot Pie

I find pot pies to be the some of the very best kinds of comfort food.  This is the recipe as I learned it:

If you like your pot pie to actually look like a pie, then make your crust.  Pick the crust recipe you like best.  If you are not a fan of that sort of thing, you can always top the pot pie mixture with mashed potatoes.  

Thoroughly cook 2-3 chicken breasts.  If you don't have any use another meat. The amount of space that three full decks of cards take up - that is the amount of meat you want to use.  However, you do not HAVE to put in any type of meat at all - you can use tofu or just add more vegetables.

If you intend to use a mashed potato topping, this is the time to start the mash potato process.  Fill a pot with cold water and then toss in 5 potatoes.  Make according to the way you like them best.  Or shortcut with instant mashed potatoes. 

While the meat, if you are using it, is cooking, chop up 2-3 cups of vegetables.  Peas and carrots are traditional.  Set aside.  Chop up an onion - about 1/3 to 1/2 cup.  Set aside.  Make sure you have butter, flour, salt, pepper, garlic, one egg, chicken broth and milk.

Melt 1/2 stick of butter (1/4 cup) on stove top in the sort of pan that works best for you.   Add the onions and let them caramelize.  Then add 1/2 cup flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper.  If you like pepper it's OK to add more.  Remove from heat when the mixture starts to bubble.  Add milk and chicken broth. Mix thoroughly and place back on burner until it starts to boil.  Add vegetables and chicken.  Mix thoroughly and place in cooking dish. 

If you made a crust, place the top crust on and brush egg (well-beaten) onto the top.  If you decide to take the mashed potato route mix the egg into the potatoes.  Top pot pie mixture with mashed potato and egg mixture.

Place the dish in the middle of a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.  Crust should be brown/mashed potato topping should have some browned peaks.  Let pot pie stand about 10 minutes before serving.


Food substitutions that I have tried and liked:
Unflavored soy milk in place of milk,
Olive oil in place of butter,
Rice flour instead of regular flour,
Vegetable broth in place of chicken broth,
Sweet potatoes/yams in place of regular potatoes,
The egg can be skipped if necessary.

*Cross posted in my own blog CrochetedKitten.

Death by Jello

Not really, but made you look!  Maybe.  I found the Stringativity Blog and wanted to share it with my fellow 'Puffs.  The Blogger in question posts about her experiments with Jello on 12/09/2007.  She even posts a follow up pic in the post dated 12/14/2007 - so you can see what a jello swatch looks like once its been knitted up.

Jello in the microwave from http://stringativity.blogspot.com/

In a mixing bowl in the order listed:
5 cups water
1 tsp salt
1 pkg regular Jello Berry Blue (color used in the example)
1 cup vinegar.
81 grams of wool

 Add wool and swish it around a bit allowing the dye to soak in.  Stir with a utensil unless you like the look of colored hands. 

You will need a microwaveable bowl. Place jello soaked yarn in bowl and microwave for about 2 minutes on high heat.  Allow it rest a bit to cool.  Repeat 3 times. 

Their is a bit more - the rest of it can be found on the Stringativity blog.  A place I am pointing to as it is an amazing blog.

DIY Body Scrub

The employees at Essential Wholesale are encouraged to come up with recipes.  If approved, the recipe is made, blogged about ( http://essentialu.typepad.com/) and then distributed among any interested employees. (I used to work there.)  Here is the last employee recipe I was able to take home.  If I had been allowed to take more, I would have.  Even though I did not come up with this - it's very share-worthy.    If you decided to make body scrub, your skin will thank you.

Mediterranean Dream Scrub Creme

• 1/2 gallon Premium Concentrate Creme
• .25 lbs Walnut Shell Powder (1/2 c + 2 T)
• 1 Tbsp Orange Blossom (Neroli) Distillate (.45 oz)
• 1 tsp Multiple Fruit Blend Tincture (Organic) (.1 oz)
• 1 Tbsp Blood Orange Essential Oil (.3 oz)
• 1 tsp Rosewood-Bois De Rose Essential Oil (.1 oz)

*All oz measurements are by weight  

Directions:
Empty the Premium Concentrate Creme into a sterilized glass bowl.
Add walnut shell powder and mix thoroughly.
Add each of the next four ingredients.  Mix thoroughly.  
Transfer to the container(s) of your choice.

Yummy Website

If you like cooking and like reading cooking blogs then I would like to introduce: http://www.cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.com/.  This is an excellent cooking blog.  The recipe I most recently tried:  Mexican Hot Chocolate Corn Muffins.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup cornmeal

3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 + 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

pinch of salt

2 eggs

1 + 1/4 cup milk

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup Mexican chocolate, chopped (1/4 - 1/2 inch pieces) tossed with 1 teaspoon flour

topping:

1/3 cup Mexican chocolate, rough chopped

1-2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan or line with paper liners.

2. In a large mixing bowl whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice and a pinch of salt. In a separate mixing bowl whisk together eggs, milk, butter, sugar, sour cream and vanilla extract. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix just until combined, add chopped chocolate and mix in.

3. Use an ice cream scoop to fill the cups 7/8 of the way full. Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from center.

4. Remove pan to a wire rack to cool. After ten minutes remove muffins from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

5. For topping melt the chocolate with 1 tablespoon of milk or heavy cream, whisk together adding more heavy cream if needed to make a smooth frosting. Add the frosting to a small plastic bag, cut off the corner and pipe over top of each muffin.

Makes 10-11 muffins

The Amazing Knittermittent and Awesome Pixieaep

When the opportunity arose to be House-Elf Liason I thought "Wow!", "How fun!"  and  imagined putting together a fun sort of cookbook that included a contest and prizes.  I (and also LadyPinky) put out the call for recipes. It didn't really get off the ground.

As I was crocheting the other day, I was thinking about putting out another blogpost and not really wanting to at that moment.  In order to do that I would need to stop crocheting.

This was my A-HA! moment.

If I would rather crochet rather than recipe swap; then that is most likely also true for the other yarn crocheters and the knitters out there.  Doubly so for those in groups like HPKCHC which are composed of yarn manipulators that like to create in a competitive setting. 

So without further delay I will post the recipes that were sent in by other Hufflepuffs. I would like to add both recipes have been tested by me and tasted by my family.  The verdict: Delicious!  (And House-Elf Approved)

Recipes were printed in the order they were sent in:



from Knittermittent
sent in on 01/09/2011

This recipe came from allrecipes.com originally. I’ve tried it, and had bake sale success with it. The cookies are really large.
White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 cups white chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. This works better than greasing them.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth.
3. Add in the eggs and vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir into the creamed mixture.
5. Finally, stir in the rolled oats, white chocolate chips, and pecans.
6. Drop by the tablespoonful onto prepared cookie sheets.
7. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

from pixieaep
sent in on 01/11/2011

I saw in the ‘Puff common room that you were asking for recipes, and since the weather’s been so cold here in Kentucky, it’s the perfect time for comfort food. So I thought I’d share the super-easy potato soup recipe I tried out this weekend.

I based my soup on the recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Aaahh-Potato-Soup/Detail.aspx
but made lots of alterations, some from the comments there and some just because.
This is the recipe I ended up with. It tasted great, and it was perfect for a cold day. I can’t wait to make another batch!

Easy Creamy Potato Soup
Makes 5-6 servings
4-5 potatoes, cut into 1/2” cubes (I used 6 small Yukon Gold and 1 large Russet)
1 can condensed chicken broth
1 1/2 cups of water (or enough to just cover the potatoes in your soup pot, when added along with the chicken broth)
Onion, chopped (to taste; I used about 1/4 onion)
3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup half and half
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
Green onions, chopped (optional)
Bacon bits (optional)
1.) Add potatoes, chopped onions, chicken broth and enough water to just cover the potatoes to soup pot and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 45 minutes.
2.) Process soup in blender until soup is the consistency you want. (You can omit this step for a chunkier soup.)
3.) Transfer soup back to pot and add cream, half and half and onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. I also added a little shredded cheese at this point because I LOVE cheese! Heat through.
4.) Top with cheese, green onions and bacon bits if desired, and enjoy!

Valentine Idea - Chocolate Snack Cake

I like to read cookbooks like regular books.  There is no plot, but the reading is compelling all the the same.  As I was reading through my Betty Crocker's Cookbook, I ran across a recipe I have not used in some time.  This cake is good, warm or cold, with and without frosting.  If you want to get a little fancy you can make your own fruit syrup to drizzle over it.  I cut up about 4 cups of frozen strawberries and placed them in a pan with 1 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar.  I let it simmer for a couple hours.  As a bonus the apartment smelled like strawberries all afternoon.

From page 95 of The Big Red Cookbook printed in 2000:
1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour - *Do not use self-rising flour.
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup cold water

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of cake pan with shortening, lightly flour.
2. Mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in medium bowl.  Mix oil, vinegar and vanilla.  Vigorously stir oil mixture and water into flour mixture about 1 minute or until well blended.  Immediately pour into pan.
3.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 15 minutes.  Serve warm or cool with ice cream. 

Happy Valentine's Day from this terms house elves.

P.S.  Please note this recipe has no milk or eggs in it, so if you know who is a vegan/vegetarian or lactose intolerant AND they like chocolate -  this is a good cake for them. 

Twenty Five Years Ago Today....

I was a 16 yr old high school student who had a hard time showing up for class.  On that day I did.  First period was unremarkable.  I do not even remember what class that was.  Walking into 2nd period was like walking into a museum it was so quiet.  The radio was on and we just sat there; most of the day was spent moving from class to class and then listening to radio updates. Except of course for Algebra; the math teacher shocked everyone with continuing her scheduled lesson plan.  She acknowledged that the Challenger Disaster was tragedy for the families of the crew, but did not see why that should delay a pop quiz.