Crock Pot Chicken Stock and Quick Chicken Pot Pie from chicken stock leftovers

Chicken Stock 

[Modified from Ina Garten's Chicken Stock recipe on foodnetwork.com]

Ingredients
1 pack chicken breast (2 breasts)
1 large yellow onion, quartered
2 carrots, halved
2 stalks celery, cut into thirds
1 TBS dried parsley
1 TBS dried dill
1/2 TBS dried thyme
handful of garlic, peeled
2/3 TBS kosher salt
2/3 TSP pepper
5 Cups Water

Directions
Place everything in a large crockpot and set to HIGH for 4 hours (5 hours if using frozen chicken).
Strain or ladle the broth into a container and store in the refrigerator for a week or freeze for up to 3 months.
Yields approximately 32 oz (larger size container from below image found on google.com):





Now, Ina Garten's recipe says to discard all the contents.  Me, on the other hand, like to use up the stuff when i can.  So instead, i made chicken pot pie with the chicken stock leftovers.

Chicken Pot Pie 

[From leftover contents of chicken stock - Modified from Ina Garten's Chicken Pot Pie recipe from foodnetwork.com]

Ingredients
chicken breasts from chicken stock
32 oz chicken stock
2 chicken bouillon cubes (optional)
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup (raw) onion, chopped
1/4 cup flour
dash(?) of Soy Milk (or heavy cream if you can take dairy)
2/3 cup diced carrots from chicken stock
2/3 cup diced onion from chicken stock
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed for 45 min or toasted slice of bread
egg wash

Directions
Chop chicken breast (from chicken stock) into large cubes.  Melt the butter in a large pot (Dutch oven) and saute onions until translucent, about 5-10 minutes.  Add the flour in low heat and stir constantly for 2 minutes. Add chicken stock and continue to stir for a few more minutes until sauce thickens a little more.  Add 1 TSP salt, 1/4 TSP pepper, and soy milk (or heavy cream).  Add chicken, carrots, peas, and onions and mix well.

Preheat the oven at 375.
For the pastry portion, i used a thawed frozen puff pastry, which is much easier than making my own. Once thawed, roll the pastry out so that it is big enough to cover your oven-proof bowls.  Or in my case, oven-proof Corelle mugs and bowls.  Brush the bowl sides with egg wash, then place the dough over each bowl and trim it to cover 1/2 over the bowls on each side.  Fold over the sides and brush the dough with egg wash and make 3 slits in the top.  Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper.  Bake for 1 hour or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbly hot.


Unfortunately, i'm too lazy to thaw the frozen pastry sheet just to make it for lunch, so i topped the chicken pot pie with a toasted bread.  yum...!

Turkey Bolognaise (Crock Pot)

1/2 lb ground turkey
1/2 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 small can tomato paste
2 TBS olive oil
1/4 cup red wine
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup water (optional)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions
Heat a large pan with olive oil.
Cook carrots, celery, and onion until translucent, 3-4 minutes.
Add ground turkey and cook until brown, 4-5 minutes, and make sure to break up the meat as much as possible. Add red wine and cook for additional minute.

In a small crock pot, add tomatoes. Once the veggies & turkey is cooked, add to the pot.
Add tomato paste and rest of the ingredient. (add water)
Set crock pot to low and cook for 4-6 hours.

Vuh-cation, Vae-cation... Poh-tae-toh, Poh-tah-toh...

For as long as i remember, the word "vacation" was pronounced, "vuh-KAY-shun".  Of course, that's because the "a" in "va-" seemed like it should be a short "a" sound, not a long "a" (short "a" is pronounced 'ah' whereas long "a" is pronounced 'ay').

Lo and behold, my husband stops what he's doing, looks at me (caringly, i guess), and says, "vey-kay-shun".
so i reponded back, "yes, vuh-kay-shun".

a moment of silence.

Husband:  "vey-kay-shun.  Vay."
Me:  "oh.  vuy-kay-shun.  i mean, VAY-kay-shun."
Husband:  "no, vey-KAY-shun."

and there it is.  i have to remind myself every time i say the word.

personally, i'd rather pronounce it as, "vay-cat-ion". but whatever, English.  you crajee and i may never figure you out.  (why can't English be plain and simple?)

Recipes are for birds

It's been awhile since blogged.  Well, here i am again, i figured i should blog about new recipes i try.  Plus someone suggested that i blog about baby/toddler products that i have tried since my son makes me get variety of different things.  So here it goes, we'll see how far i get before i give up again. hehe.

i noticed that a lot of the recipes that i find look very good but use a lot of butter and dairy products, ie. sour cream, cream cheese, etc.  Unfortunately for me, my son is allergic to dairy and my husband doesn't like heavy/creamy sauces, nor do i.  so my recipes will ask for reduced amount or no dairy (or substituted with soy products).  Whatever it may be, i will only post recipes that will taste good so i can always go back to my blog and replicate those recipes as needed.

here it goes!