Thursday, July 28, 2011

Faux Chick'n Pot Pie



After a visit with a friend last night, I found a wonderful sense of inspiration (however temporary it might be) to cook. I had been wanting to cook a pot pie for a month or so now its hot as all get out so I haven't done it, but the expiration date on my seitan (made by Westsoy) was due so - I sucked it up and made it. I have no regrets.

I could eat the filling all day with a batch of mashed potatoes or rice and it would be wonderful but I decided to go the whole way and pulled out some phyllo dough (http://www.athensfoods.com/) . It turned out pretty good. Lets just see if it passes the "Michael" test.

I'm also using this as my Lammas day celebration because I'll be working that day (BOO!!!!) and I won't have any other time to celebrate before then.



I don't know where the recipe came from - I did NOT write it. If any of you know the source please leave a message. Thanks!

Chick'n pot pie
-4 cubes or 4Tbsp faux chicken or vegetable boullion.
-2 1/2 cups hot or boiling water
-1/2 cup nutritional yeast
-1/2 cup all purpose flour
-1/2 cup vegetable oil
-1 tsp garlic salt *see note
-1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
-15oz can diced potatoes (or approximately 2 cups boiled)
-1 1/2 cup frozen mixed veggies
-1/2 pound of fake chick'n cut into bite size cubes
-1 box of puff pastry *see note

Preheat oven to 400°, mix the bouillon in hot water and set aside until needed (make sure it is well dissolved!)

Combine the nutritional yeast and flour in a large pot (or deep skillet) mix well! Then toast it on low until lightly browned stirring constantly(be careful it will burn easily).

Add oil to make a roux. SLOWLY whisk in the stock, garlic salt & pepper. Add veggies, chick'n and simmer on low for 10 minutes.

Roll out puff pastry and place in a 9 inch pie dish, trim off edges to fit. Pour in filling then cover with another sheet of pastry. Cut the edges off and crimp with the bottom pastry. Make several inch long slices on the top and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Note 1: I don't use garlic salt. Ever. I either use the real stuff (I recommend here - pressing it ahead of time and then frying in a little oil) or garlic oil.

Note 2: I used phyllo dough, I've never tried this mystery "pastry puff" perhaps its the same thing? Who knows! I also made my own crust to mimic the cheap kind you get in tiny boxes in the frozen goods section - it was delectable and you could eat it like a sandwhich. Fabulous!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Food stuffs and laziness.

I don't know about you folk, but summertime for me - I'd rather be doing almost ANYTHING but cooking. Its hot but its also beautiful out - I want to be active, I want to be crafty I essentially want to be doing SOMETHING ELSE. So a big staple of my diet lately is 1) Napa Cabbage & ramen salad & 2) Rice with steamed veggies. Also anything I can drag fresh out of the garden.

The salad is really quite simple.
You chop the cabbage up into bite sized pieces, add some chopped green onions (and any other veggies you want - I sometimes add carrots, radishes, or tomatoes) set aside. I know I don't have any measurements for this - sorry you already know I'm not good with this. How much dressing will vary depending on how much salad you need. For approximately two-3 servings of dressing, I used about 1/4 cup apple cider, 3TBSP sesame oil, a good tablespoon or so of agave syrup and I mixed it. Pour on top of salad and top the whole thing off with a heaping handful of "CRUNCHIES!" Yums. You can also replace the napa with regular cabbage - it still tastes good, just not quite the same.

As for the rice & veggies. I make a big pot of rice about 3 times a month (sometimes weekly). So I tend to have either mahogany, basmati or brown rice on hand. I toss that into a bowl, throw on some veggies (often; mushrooms, zucchini, baby bok choy, and green onions) splash with water (or ume vinegar) and nuke it in the microwave. I then smother in sesame oil, ume vinegar & tamari or Bragg's liquid aminos - top with either the "Crunchies" as seen above OR just plain sesame seeds. Yum.

Just another reason to eat organic, home made food.

Yahoo often posts "The worst ___ foods" and I read them, all of them. Why? Because there are people out there that know more about this stuff than I do. I generally already avoid a lot of what is listed already due to my dietary restrictions, however this one came as a surprise. Its one of those things that I read it and say "Carmel coloring, hmm I wonder what that is made from..." but I have never really researched it. Yahoo has posted a new one, Top 10 Scariest Food Additives. Since Google Chrome is being silly, I'm just going to add the link at the bottom of this blog. Anyway I really recommend that you read it.

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/top-10-scariest-food-additives