Thursday, March 15, 2012

Pi Day!

In case you didn't know already, March 14th is Pi Day (3.14....yeah, I didn't know either until I met Mike)!

The fun of Pi day is eating pie (and lots of other circular foods as well)!

Of course, there are other fun things too (Pi-day parody of Rebecca Black's "Friday"? Go for a 3.14 mile run?)

Anyway, in our house we always make a pizza "pie" for dinner, and some other pie(s) for dessert, and this year Pi Day happened to be the same day as our community group, so we decided to make mini-pies with our community group friends. I had the idea, then checked online for advice on cooking time, etc. (Here's the most helpful site I found: Tiny Pies @ NotMartha). We also had circle-shaped breakfast and lunch too!

Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted my breakfast and lunch pics (except for one), but breakfast was Ezekiel Bread English Muffins with egg, cheese, bacon, and garlicky sauteed kale. MMM! Now that's how to start your day!

For lunch we had leftover fish taco ingredients in a wrap (tortilla = round!). I had taken "aerial view" shots of these, to get the full circular effect, but accidentally deleted them...)

And on Pi Day you can have pie as much as you want, so we had this yummy fruit crisp pie (thanks to our lovely friend Kimberly!) with our lunch as well. =)

For dinner, we made Pi-neapple Pizza with bacon and fresh tomatoes....mmm =)

And then came the fun part-making the mini pies! 

Here's what we used:
  • Pre-made crust (from my favorite refrigerated baked-goods brand: Immaculate Baking Co.
  • 2 apples, peeled & chopped
  • 2 nectarines, peeled & chopped
  • frozen berries
  • flour
  • brown sugar
  • cinnamon
  • lemon juice 
  • Oat crumble topping: oats, cinnamon, coconut oil
  • muffin tins
  • individual bowls for mixing your fillings

First, we preheated the oven to 375.
Then, cut circles out of the dough using metal egg-rings (I don't have biscuit cutters), and pressed the circles into the muffin tins to make little crusts.
We each mixed up our own combinations of fruits and such, and topped our mini pies however we wanted! 
We tried lattice tops, we did crumble toppings, second crusts, etc. 
Finally, we baked the pies for 15 minutes, and when they were done, they popped out of the tins pretty easily using a spoon to nudge them out.

So yummy, and so cute!
Ready to eat!

Hope you had a happy Pi Day too!




Thursday, March 8, 2012

Weekend Baking Bliss

Now that I am recovering from getting my wisdom teeth out, I have time to finish this post that I started last week:

Monday, February 27th
This weekend was a really great weekend. It included lots of organizing, moving my craft supplies upstairs to the yellow room (pictures of craft nook to come), Mike finishing his desk (which is gorgeous), purchasing many organizing bins, trying out the new Mexican restaurant in Gloucester, watching 50/50, and making LOTS of yummy food.

The cooking extravaganza included three creations:

1. Granola
2. Two kinds of Chicken Pot Pie: regular and Thai-style (my recipe)
3. Baked Spaghetti Squash and Meatballs

Two out of the three recipes were ones I'd seen on Pinterest, although the Thai-style pot pie was inspired by a Pinterest recipe for Thai Chicken Pizza with Spicy Peanut Sauce that we made last Thursday (it was SO good).

Let's start with the granola.
On Saturday, we went to The Common Crow to re-stock our supplies of quinoa and oats, and while we were there, Mike noticed that they sell glass bottles of milk from Appleton Farms! We decided that we had to get it. However, we had nothing to enjoy with the milk, since we've been having mainly smoothies and Ezekiel Bread for breakfasts...so I decided make a big batch of delicious granola to enjoy it with! 
I don't know about you, but when I try to find a good granola recipe, a lot of them seem to call for way too much sugar and oil, and I have to look through dozens of recipes to find one that has the right balance of ingredients. This one, which was posted on Pinterest by a friend of mine, happily had a nice balance (with a few minor tweaks), and came out DELICIOUS! =)



Here is the original recipe, with my changes asterisked and in italics:
"Crunchy granola with coconut, nuts and seeds"
4 cups rolled oats (not quick)
1 1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup raw pecans *I didn't have pecans, so I used 1 c. almonds + 1 c. pepitas instead
3/4 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup salted roasted sunflower seeds
2 T each white sesame seeds & black sesame seeds *I just used 4 Tbsp. white
2 T flax seeds *I used flax seed meal
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
1/2 t ground cardamom
1/4 t cinnamon
1/2 cup roasted walnut oil (melted coconut oil, butter, or veg oil will be fine substitutes) *I used coconut oil, and melted it in a small sauce-pot along with the honey and juice, just to get it all melty and mixed
1/4 cup agave syrup (or honey)  
1/4 cup brown sugar *I omitted this all together, and it was perfect!
1/4 cup orange juice *you can use any juice, really

My own additions:**
  • The zest of one orange (the recipe's creator suggests this addition)
  • 1 c. mixed dried fruit (I happened to have raisins, cranberries, and dates)
In a large bowl, combine the oats through to the cinnamon. Add in the remaining ingredients and give everything a big stir until everything is well mixed. Spread out the granola evenly onto 2 large baking sheets or glass pans and bake in a 300F oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Cool and store in a tightly lidded container. **add in dried fruit and orange zest after taking granola out of the oven.
Even spreading out this batch onto two sheets, it came out nice and clumpy and you can see the orange zest!


mmm...nuts, fruit, seeds, oats, honey, spices....yum!

Now for the Pot Pie.
I have randomly been wanting to make Chicken Pot Pie recently, partly because I saw The Barefoot Contessa's version on TV at the gym the other day, and partly because I saw a healthier Chicken Pot Pie version from Cooking Light. So, I had it in my head that I wanted to make a Pot Pie, and then, I thought of the delicious Thai Chicken Pizza with Spicy Peanut Sauce. It was SO good, I wish that we still had leftovers.... I figured, "hmm, if Thai Chicken Pizza is so good, and Chicken Pot Pie is so good....what if I combined them??"

I basically followed Cooking Light's directions for a "regular" batch of Pot Pie for friends who just had a baby, and then I tweaked it to make a spicy Thai version also. (note, making two batches of Chicken Pot Pie takes up most of your day) 




Thai Chicken Pot Pie

3 c. chicken broth
1.5 c. sweet potato or Yam, cut into ½ in. cubes
¾ c. white potato, cubed
1.5 c. frozen peas
1 c. chopped celery (I don't know if I would use this again, but I had a lot of it...)
½ red bell pepper, diced
1 c. diced carrot
1 c. portabella mushrooms, chopped (?) (I planned on using these, but decided not to a the last minute)
1 chicken breast, chopped and cooked
2 Tbsp. chili sauce (such as Sriracha)
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1.5 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 c. light coconut milk + ½ c. almond milk (I probably would have used only coconut milk, if I hadn't run out)
2/3 c. – 1 Tbsp. flour
¼ c. cilantro
Pie crust or puff pastry (I like the Immaculate Baking Co. brand)

Method:
Bring the broth to a boil, then add in the veggies and chicken, and cook for about 5 minutes.
With a slotted spoon, remove veggies and chicken from broth, put them in a bowl, and set it aside.
Turn the broth up to medium-high heat.
Next, mix the flour and coconut milk in a medium bowl, and whisk together until smooth. Add the mixture to the broth in the pot, stirring with a whisk until it begins to thicken.
Stir in the chili sauce, curry powder, and fish sauce, then add the veggies and chicken back in.
Finally, stir in the fresh cilantro.
Spoon mixture into a casserole dish and cover with pastry.

I refrigerated mine, so it took a good 45 minutes to bake them the next night, since they were cold. However, they were SO good! =)

Now for the Spaghetti Squash and Meatballs!
My third creation last Sunday was yet another recipe that I had seen and saved on Pinterest (along with the granola and Thai pizza). We had gotten some good organic ground beef from Trader Joe's recently, and I was looking for something to make with it, when I remembered this recipe that I had seen which I thought was ingenious: Baked Spaghetti Squash & Meatballs! You get the yumminess of spaghetti and meatballs with fewer carbs and more vitamins and such!

Now, I had never made or even tasted spaghetti squash before, but I ran it by Mike, and we were both willing to give it a shot.

Here's the recipe from the blog "Yummy Mummy":
1 Spaghetti Squash
1 batch prepared meatballs
1 cup Marinara or spaghetti sauce

1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup fresh basil, torn or sliced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cut squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds. Brush or drizzle with olive oil. Place on a baking sheet, cut side down and bake for 30-40 minutes. Cool slightly on baking sheet. Turn oven up to 400.
Using a fork, scrape squash "spaghetti" up from the rind and fluff into strands. Place meatballs over squash. Pour sauce over. Sprinkle cheeses over sauce. Bake stuffed squash halves on cookie sheet until cheese is melted and bubbling. Top with fresh basil and serve right out of the squash!

While the squash cooked, I made the meatballs. I didn't have a go-to meatball recipe, so I found this one online, and I liked it, although it called for making 4 giant 1/2 lb. meatballs. No thanks. I made at least a dozen out of one pound of beef.
Freshly baked meatballs:

Here's the squash after baking--the bottom one is fluffed up a little.

 Then you top the squash halves with sauce and meatballs...

 Sprinkle with cheese, and bake until the cheese is melty and golden =)

We both agreed that this was a yummy, filling, and fun-to-eat meal. The squash didn't taste like regular spaghetti, but it was still a good meal. Two thumbs up!