Mini Pot Pies

I decided to follow the trend of baking everything in cupcake tins.. and these came out AMAZING! They are perfectly moist.

* Adapted from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-pot-pie-ix/

Ingredients (Makes 12 regular muffin sized pot pies):
-12-cup muffin tin
-1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cubed.
-2 nine inch Frozen Premade pie crusts (I recommend Trader Joes brand)
-1 cup frozen  peas
-1 cup chopped carrots
-1 cup chopped celery
-2 cups (or enough to cover the mixture) chicken broth.  You can also just use water.
-A pinch of assorted spices (onion powder, garlic powder or garlic salt, pepper, celery salt, etc.)
For Gravy Mixture:
-1/3 cup butter
-1/3 cup chopped onion
-1/3 cup all purpose flour
-Dash of salt
-Dash of black pepper
-Pinch of celery seed and other assorted spices (onion powder, garlic powder or garlic salt, pepper, etc.)
-1 10.75 oz can cream of chicken soup
-2/3 cup milk
-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
-Thaw pie crusts based on directions on the back of the box
-If you have not already, chop 1 lb chicken breasts, and 1 cup carrots, 1 cup celery, and  1 cup onion.
-In a saucepan over medium heat, combine chopped chicken, carrots, celery, and onion.
-Add enough chicken broth to cover the mixture
-Add pinch of assorted spices listed above
-Boil mixture on medium for at least 15 minutes, periodically checking to see if chicken and vegetables are ready.
-Remove saucepan from heat and set aside.

To make gravy mixture:
-Cook chopped onions in butter in a saucepan over medium heat until onions are translucent.
-Stir in flour, salt, pepper, celery seed, and other assorted spices of your choice
-Slowly stir in condensed cream of chicken soup and milk
-Stir in 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
-Simmer over medium-low heat until thick
-Remove from heat and set aside 

-Press pie crusts into bottom and up sides of each muffin tin.
-Use slotted spoon (or regular spoon) to scoop chicken and vegetable mixture into the bottom of each cup.  I also like to include the chicken broth, it makes the pot pies nice and moist. **Remember to leave room for the gravy mixture.
-Spoon gravy mixture over the chicken mixture.  Do this for the remainder of the tins.
-Cover top of tins with remainder of the cups.  Use fork to seal the crusts over the mixture.
-Make several small slits on the top of each pot pie to allow steam to escape
-Brush melted butter or mixed egg over the pot pies for a shiny appearance.
 *** Optional: If you have more of the gravy mixture, you can put it on top of the pot pies with some extra shredded cheddar cheese.. this makes it even more decadent.

-Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes (I always check periodically after 25 minutes just to be safe), until pastry is golden brown, or until gravy mixture is bubbling.
-Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Pretzel Fried Chicken (Honey mustard pretzel chicken)

I have perfected honey mustard pretzel chicken.

Uhhh.. yummmm!

 

This is super easy to make.. and the ingredients will last you forever!

Ingredients:

-5 pieces Fryer chicken (I just used chicken tenders and it came out just as good.  You can see that I have 5 pieces above.
-A mallet or something to flatten the chicken (I used a mug)
-Plastic wrap or something to put the chicken between while flattening
-1/2 lb pretzel meal (just ground pretzels, I like to crush them to a meal-like consistency but also leave some bigger pieces. I used multigrain pretzels, I think they taste the best with this dish).
-Salt
-Pepper
-Vegetable oil (only if frying, if baking, exclude this ingredient)
Equal Parts (to coat/ hold pretzels to chicken and for dipping sauce):
-Yellow Mustard (I used Frenches)
-Coarse whole grain mustard
-Dijon Mustard
-Honey
-Mayonnaise

Directions:

-If baking, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
-If frying (like I did..oooh I'm bad!), pour vegetable oil into a skillet
-Combine equal parts (I used 2 tbsp of each to coat chicken and for sauce) preferably in a shallow bowl.  Yellow mustard , coarse grain mustard, dijon mustard, honey, and mayonnaise.  Taste and add to your own preference (Like a TRUE chef ;P)
- Add dash of salt and pepper to mixture.
-Place chicken tenders between plastic wrap or anything else to keep them protected.
-Use mallet or flattening devise to pound chicken breasts until they are 1/2 inch thick.
-Create assembly like with chicken breasts, honey mustard mixture, and crushed pretzel meal.
-Use fork or tongs to dip chicken tenders in pretzel meal
-Then dip chicken tenders in honey mustard mixture
-Then dip tenders in pretzel meal.
-If baking: Place tenders on greased baking sheet for 15 minutes, turning halfway to brown both sides.
-If frying: heat the skillet with vegetable oil.  Place bread crumb in pan. If it browns within 1 minute, the skillet is ready for the chicken.
-Fry chicken for 5 minutes, then turn over to fry for another 5 minutes.
-Serve with extra honey mustard dipping sauce.

Butternut Squash be mine!

Aren't these darling?!

Butternut Squash Ravioli Hearts

Ingrediants

-Wonton wrappers (or you can be the ultimate overachiever and make your own dough)

-Heart shaped cookie cutters (I actually used heart shaped measuring cups and just pressed down firmly)

(If you don't want to make hearts then you can make your own cute little raviolis by folding them in half)

-1 cup roasted butternut squash puree**

-1/2 cup mascarpone cheese

-1 pinch cayenne pepper

-1 egg yolk

 -1/3 cup Parmesan cheese plus extra for garnish

-1/3 cup brown sugar (optional, I like mine very sweet!)

-water

-cornstarch (optional, to help wontons stick)

-sage & butter (optional, for sauce)

-dash of salt

-dash of pepper 

Directions:

-Combine butternut squash puree, mascarpone cheese, cayenne pepper, egg york, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and optional brown sugar and mix until thoroughly combined

-Taste the mixture, add anything that your heart desires <3

-combine lukewarm water and optional corn starch (just a pinch of corn starch) in a bowl.

-Prepare the wonton wrappers, if making hearts, I like to take two wrappers at a time (stuck to each other), and place the cookie cutter firmly on the wrappers.  Gently separate the wrapper hearts afterwards.

-Once you have two cut out hearts, place them next to each other and coat the outside of each heart with the water/cornstarch mixture.

-Place a small spoon full of butternut squash mixture in the middle of one of the wonton hearts.

-Place the other wonton heart on top, and press firmly on the edges to match up the wontons and ensure that they stick together.  You don't want the mixture to ooze out!

-Continue this with the rest of the wontons/ butternut squash mixture.  The butternut squash mixture can be frozen and the ravioli can also be pre made and then frozen.

-bring water to a boil in a sauce pan that is big enough to hold all of the ravioli

-place the ravioli in the boiling water and stir LIGHTLY.  You don't want the ravioli to stick to the bottom, but you also don't want to break it.

-when ravioli floats, it is done! Remove with a slotted spoon (I bought mine from dollar tree!)

-serve with melted butter combined with sage or eat it plain!

**To roast the butternut squash: Get the pre-cut kind (it's just easier),

-Preheat then oven to 400 degrees F

-Line a baking pan with foil, and put a few small chunks of butter on the foil (1-2 tbsp)

-Put the pan with foil and butter in the oven until the butter has melted

-After the butter has melted, spread it around so that it evenly covers the foil

-Toss the butternut squash chunks around on the pan so that they are evenly coated

-Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, tossing the butternut squash twice throughout.

-Puree the butternut squash with with a mixer, another fancy appliance, or just with two forks like I did.

-It should turn into a smooth mixture with minimal chunks.

I'm baaaaack

A lot has happened since I last updated... I have moved to Pittsburgh, finished my first semester of grad school (just 3 more to go!), pulled various all-nighters (by choice and by circumstance) and had time to try out lots of different recipes and restaurants, among other things! But I'll leave it at that..

Since it's been so long.. I'm just going to post a bunch of pictures, so here we go!

The first picture features my favorite thanksgiving food EVER.. Homemade crescent rolls. This past thanksgiving was the first time that I made them all by myself... I will have to post the recipe at a later time because it is at my parents' house.

 Taking a break from the food theme.. I got these wonderful Blank cards from the Warhol Museum... Free admission with a Pitt ID! The Pitt ID is like a VIP pass.. free bus access, free museums, etc... my only complaint is that bars aren't included.  Pittsburgh is crazy expensive! So its the LEAST that they can do! ;P

Going back to food (how can I resist).  This is one of my favorite pasta recipes.  It is super easy to make.  All you need is pasta, olive oil, lemon juice, basil, and feta cheese.  Like a true chef, you don't need to measure the ingredients.  Just keep tasting and adding until it tastes good!  I can't even remember how many times I've made this.

Yummmmmy!

My birthday just passed recently (The Big 2-5!) and my friend Christina painted this beautiful picture for me.  She is extremely talented.  You should check her out! Seriously, I am so jealous of her artistic abilities...   http://www.etsy.com/people/waterforhearts?ref=si_pr

And a Christmas gift from my parents.. I couldn't help it, I had to post this.  Michael Kors! <3

A recent obsession... nail polish.. ever since I saw a friends collection last weekend, I just went crazy.  This is total bling bling.  It's Milani Jewel FX GEMS.

Today after sitting through 3 hours of class, I decided to be spontaneous and try a recipe that I've been thinking about forever, bacon wrapped dates stuffed with gorgonzola cheese.

 Ingredients:
All you need is bacon, medjool (or any other brand) dates, and gorgonzola cheese.  You will need differing amounts depending on how many you want to make.  I made 10 stuffed dates using 10 Medjool brand dates (they are pretty big!), 5 pieces of bacon, and less than a quarter lb of gorgonzola cheese  Remember, gorgonzola cheese is STRONG!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Wash the dates and cut them halfway open the remove the pits.
3. Stuff the dates with gorgonzola cheese depending on how much you like the stuff.  Blue cheese and goat cheese are also good alternatives
4. Wrap bacon around the dates.  Secure the bacon with a toothpick or put the closure on the bottom.
5. Cook for 20- 30 minutes.

 Thats all for now!