First Time Ever: Chicken Pot Pies

Believe it or not, until today, I never made chicken pot pies. I've eaten them but they were made by someone else. The closest thing of a chicken pot pie I made was this Rachael Ray recipe. Finally I decided to go for it after doing some Internet research and trying to figure out what to do with the remaining puff pastry dough. I decided to make them mini so that my household could have their own cups with the crust and veggies.

My filling was chicken, onion, potato, carrots, celery, corn, peas, dried tarragon, chicken broth, milk, flour, dijon mustard, and butter

Asian Style Salad

Salad- daikon, carrots, red pepper, snap peas and peanuts

Dressing- a dollop of peanut butter, rice vinegar, honey, ground ginger, Chinese 5-spice, soy sauce, a squirt of lime juice, pepper and vegetable oil

Sweety Grilled Chicken Pasta

I apologize for no picture, I honestly didn't think of it until later but the pasta was already gone. I was food experimenting so knowing that the dish was gobbled up afterwards, then it was successful

Ingredients  
-2 boneless chicken breasts
-McCormick's Garlic & Herb
-a little bit of EVOO

-2 handfuls of carrots, store bought matchsticks
-1 medium bag of julienne cut sundried tomatoes
-about a palm full of dried tarragon
-about 4 tablespoons of butter
-1/2 cup of chicken broth

-1 lb of spaghetti

Method
Marinade the chicken breasts with McCormick's garlic & herb and EVOO for about 30 minutes. Heat the grill (I have an indoor plug-in) for a few minutes before putting the chicken on for about 7 minutes on each side. Take off the grill for a few minutes to rest before slicing.

Boil water, salt, cook pasta until al dente. Drain.

In a saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of butter and same amount of EVOO until melted before adding the dried tarragon, sundried tomatoes and carrots. Saute for about 5-7 minutes over medium high heat until the carrots soften before adding in the 1/2 cup of chicken broth to help hydrate the sundried tomatoes and dried tarragon. The broth will reduce and evaporate about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the cooked slice chicken, the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and spaghetti, tossing and mix well before serving.

Optional
Chopped up a small handful of (salted) roasted almonds as a garnish with parmesan cheese

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Ingredients:
-6 red peppers, cut in half, seeded and ribs out
-1 yellow onion, sliced
-a small palm full of paprika
-EVOO
-S&P
-1 small can of chicken broth (about a cup and a half)
-8 oz. of cream cheese
-2 cloves of garlic
-a handful of parsley, chopped

Method:
Preheat oven to 500°
Salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil the red peppers and arrange them on a foiled-lined sheet pan and roast for 20-30 minutes. Halfway into roasting, flip the peppers and continue to roast. Immediately put in a bowl cover in plastic wrap to cool before taking the skin (however, you can leave the skin on as I did).
Saute onion and garlic with EVOO with paprika until soft and lightly browned and add in Cuisinart with the roasted red peppers. Pulse until chunky to add in half of the chicken broth until puree, add in parsley to pulse one or two times, and put back in the same saute pan used for the onions/garlic. Add the rest of the chicken broth and the cream cheese, stirring until melted and blended in the sauce. Add in about small slice of butter before serving with pasta

Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

-About 12 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped 

-half to entire stick of butter  

-cinnamon (eyeball, about a tablespoon or two)

-nutmeg (eyeball, about a tablespoon or two)

-ground ginger (eyeball but less than cinnamon and nutmeg)

-2 and a 1/2 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk

-salt and pepper  

-about a cup of candied pecans, grind to crumbs

-jumbo marshmallows  

Method:

Preheat oven to 400°

Boil the sweet potatoes until tender and drain

While sweet potatoes are in the colander, using the same pot- preferably a Dutch oven- melt the butter and add the spices and add the sweet potatoes. Add in the vanilla almond milk and start mashing away (if your pot is overflowing, use the mixer but be careful, it'll be hot). 

Pour the mixture in a casserole dish (or remain in the pot). On top, add the candied pecans and bake for about 15-20 minutes. Add the jumbo marshmallows and using the boiler and a watchful eye, for a minute or two until lightly browned on top

Serve

To serve a smaller crowd, cut the measurements in half 

Mango & Raspberry Smoothie

Ingredients:
1 mango, peeled, unseeded and chopped
a handful or two of raspberries
about a cup of plain yogurt
1/4 cup of honey
1 can of coconut milk

Method:
-Put mango, raspberries, plain yogurt, honey, and coconut milk in blender. Puree until smoothie consistency. Serve. Store the remaining leftovers in the refrigerator

Black Bean Cheeseburgers

Ingredients:
2 cans of black beans, drained and washed
1 large onion, chopped
2-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup of bread crumbs
handful of cilantro, chopped
1 egg
pinch of salt & pepper
a small palm full of cumin (eyeball)
a small palm full of paprika (eyeball)
a quick dash of Worchester sauce (eyeball)
a couple of slices of cheddar cheese (or any other kind of cheese you like)
1 small onion, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
vegetable oil

Method:
-In a hot saute pan with vegetable oil in medium-high heat, cook the large chopped onion and let cook for a couple of minutes until translucent and getting brown at the edges. Add garlic and let cook for a few minutes before adding the beans (try not to let the garlic burn) so they could heat through- about 5-7 minutes- stirring often. Add cumin, paprika, salt and pepper along the way
-Put the hot bean and onion mixture in the Cuisinart to puree; add the cilantro and puree until well mixed. Wipe the hot saute clean to reuse to cook the bean burgers. Put the bean/onion puree in a mixing bowl and let cool (so it won't cook the egg) with the bread crumbs, Worchester sauce, and egg to mix. Divide the bean mixture to 4 and shape them into burger patties. Heat vegetable oil in the saute pan before adding in the bean burgers. Let cook on both sides for about 5-7 minutes. After you flip, add the cheese.

-Meanwhile, while the bean/onion mixture is cooking, heat another saute pan in medium-high heat with butter (about 2 tablespoons) and vegetable oil. Add in the sliced small onion and cook for about 3 minutes before adding in the sliced red pepper. Saute until the veggies are starting to get roasted-looking. Add to the bean burgers once the cheese is melting.

Serve