Veggie Pot Pie, hold on to your hats, this one's my own creation

Veggie Pot Pie

You've probably noticed, that's not a picture of pot pie. My camera was having a bad day and the rest of the picture aren't this pretty. This is a gorgeous flower from my very own front garden. It has made my apartment smell so fresh and clean, I almost hate to leave it.

Now on to the food. I was sitting at my kitchen table, staring upon a mound of potatoes. Potatoes of every shape, size, color, and dirtiness that you could imagine. I knew I wanted to create a good Sunday 'Mom' meal, those meals that always made me cringe when I was younger. I opted for pot pie. After searching through websites and cookbooks, I gave up and attempted it on my own. While it's not quite perfect, it is worth sharing and asking for your suggestions. It definitely needs some more spice and TLC, but I was nursing a pretty bad vodka hangover, Megan's fault.

The veggies (part 1)

2 cups diced potatoes (straight from the ground to my table, I'm liking this CSA)

1 cup diced carrots (again, still covered in fresh dirt)

1 cup diced green beans (these came from Abbey's (my sister) garden)

2 cloves fresh garlic diced to your liking

1 small onion

Once chopped, drizzle the veggies with olive oil, salt, pepper and saute until slightly browned. This is where I made the first mistake (I might suggest to cook the potatoes for just a little bit prior to sauteing, but once reheated, they were perfect).

Place cooked veggies in a well greased pie dish of your liking.

The gravy (part 2)

2 cups veggie stock (homemade, I'll post this recipe, or your favorite store brand)

2 tbs butter

2 tbs flour

In one pan bring your vegetable stock to a slow simmer. In a second pan melt your butter and flour, whisking to create a rouge. Once to your liking, slowly add the vegetable stock. Once combined, add to your veggies, and mix well.

At this point, I added some additional spices. A pinch each of salt, pepper, thyme, sage, and parsley. I probably should have added 2 or 3 pinches to kick it up a bit.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (do this sooner if you have an electric stove.

The biscuit crust (part 3)

1 3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tbs unsalted butter

3/4 cup soy milk

Combine the dry ingredients, add the butter and fork until you get that corn meal texture. Add the soy milk and mix well, knead in bowl 3-5 minutes.

This is where I got lazy and just plopped the dough onto the veggie/gravy mixture. It worked well.

Heat in oven about 30 minutes. Watch the biscuits to ensure they don't burn. I was hesitant to post this upon first taste, but I must admit, it's one of my favorite lunch box meals I've had this year. It needs some work, but it's not to shabby if I do say so myself.

Grandma's Recipe

Sweet Summer Slaw

This week I'm determined to use all the veggies from the CSA possible. So what else is there to do with red cabbage besides slaw, unless you're my mother and you boil it into eternal nastiness. Not much to this recipe, I didn't even have time to uncork the wine.

Ingredients

1 cabbage (red came in the csa this week)

1 carrot (I opted for 2 medium size carrots, they still had the dirt on them)

1 green pepper (nothing special here, just a pepper)

Grandma's trick is to sprinkle the cabbage with tone tsp salt and let sit for an hour.

Dressing (mix and boil for 1 minute)

1 cup vinegar

2 cups sugar

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp mustard seed

While your dressing is boiling for that whole minute, chop your veggies into oblivion, or however you may like them. I shouldn't have made fun of Megan's 'Nicer Dicer', it would have come in handy.

Boil the dressing for one minute and let cool, add to veggies, grab a fork. Easy, aye?

i promise im still around... and still cooking :)

my new (pink!!) house :)

so, excuses excuses.  they are my middle name.  im sorry for my absence but have you really noticed?  :) 

the past month has been crazy for me... moving out of my first louisville apartment (*tear*) and into a new house is quite an adventure.  we are all moved in and the place is coming along quite nicely.  although i havent had much time for blogging, i still have made time for a little bit of cooking in my new (huge) kitchen!  dont hate me, but unfortunately there are no pictures.  my camera is dead.... actually its just the batteries which are dead but ive been to lazy and forgetful to buy new ones.  

i just wanted to check in with you all and let you know that i will return... but not right now.  right now im supposed to be cleaning... but i will post up the recipes that i have attempted.  (and to be quite honest, they have successfully turned out)  very delish!! :)

hope all is well in your world and you have been enjoying the summer!! 

Holy Canoli, This Was a Crazy One

Get your glass ready, you're going to need it. This is definitely a two drink recipe. Oh man did I not prepare myself for this undertaking. Lasagna rolls, has to be easier than lasagna, so wrong. I found this recipe on the Whole Foods website. I have a thing against Kroger, we don’t get along, they gross me out a bit. So I try to stick to the farmers markets as much as possible. Gets kind of tricky, that’s when I take a trip to Evansville and visit Schnucks, the friendly neighborhood store.

To get started, poor yourself your favorite cocktail, I opted for Sam Adams Summer Ale pictured with my new Grand Canyon pint glass compliments of mother and father. A good choice.

8-10 lasagna noodles (cooked to your liking and slightly cooled, you have to roll them you know)
Ricotta Cheese

Marinara Sauce (I usually have my own, or whip it up quickly, there’s a recipe on here somewhere, if not, pick the sauce of your choosing)

Baby Spinach (again, I happened to have frozen CSA spinach in the freezer, I’m sure fresh would be delicious, but this was cheaper)

Mozzarella

While boiling your noodles, you can heat your oven to 400 and grease up a roasting pan.
This is where it gets tricky, note the multiple cocktails. Lay one noodle flat. Spread ricotta cheese, then spread marinara, followed with spinach. Roll up and place in dish. You may think more is better, wrong. They ooze all over you and are hotter than heck if not cooled.

Repeat this process until all your noodles are rolled. When placing them in the pan, make sure they are close enough together, they don’t unroll on you. Once complete, top with remaining marinara and sprinkle with mozzarella to your liking.

I didn’t include measurements on this one because it’s kind of to your liking. I took a few pictures along the way to guide you a bit.

I opted for a side of steamed summer squash sprinkled with cinnamon. Delicious.

Jenny Lewis made me eat egg salad, twice

I woke up this morning with no food in my fridge and 30 dollars in my wallet. I had plans to see Jenny Lewis with opening band the Heartless Bastards, there was no spare cash for lunch money, as mentioned before, I'm on a New York City, singing Elvis budget. I quickly scrounged to create something delicious, yet nutritious for my lunch that would leave me with enough leftovers for day 2s lunch.

Mmm mmm mmm egg salad. Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing terrible about this creation, other than my mother. When we were wee children traveling on spring vacation to visit my brother in Georgia, my mother made us stop for a "picnic" of egg salad. The only problem, the picnic was in the parking lot of Hardees. Yes, egg salad in the parking lot of Hardees. No, we couldn't go in for french fries. We had to sit there and eat it while all the other kids got fries and soda. Talk about tragic, and a swarm of painful memories.

This creation is quite easy to make. I already had 2 boiled eggs from a previous week's CSA. I say previous because I'm not sure when I boiled them. I'll let you know tomorrow if they were spoiled. I chopped them up and mixed them with a spoonful of mayo, 2 squirts of mustard, 3 shakes of dill, 2 shakes of paprika, and a shake each of salt and pepper. Placed on sliced bread with a side of raw cabbage made for a delicious lunch. It was helped by the fact that a coworker bought me a bag of Doritos.

Jenny Lewis was well worth eating egg salad for, I suggest you do the same if she comes to your town!

Cheapskate Summer Squash Cooking

In an attempt to save some green for an October outing to New York, I'm cooking on a budget. One of the ladies at work was kind enough to bring in some extra Zucchini, right on, I took one and made this delicious sandwich.

Slice up some squash, brush with Olive Oil and sprinkle with garlic, salt, pepper, Italian seasonings of your likening and a hint of crushed red pepper. Pop it in the broiler, flip once, remove when broiled, whatever that is.

I placed mine on some flat bread and sprinkled with a little goat cheese from my CSA basket. Instant delicious with cash to spare to tip that singing Elvis.

Cooking with Cocktails, and Dave's Mom!

I inherited this amazing cookbook "Home Cookin' with Dave's Mom" by David Letterman's mom Dorothy. It's my favorite. Inside I found many delicious, wholesome goodies including Coca-Cola Cake. Megan will agree, this recipe is a must.

I volunteer each month to make goodies for the Louisville Gilda's Club. They are an amazing non-profit organization, you should check them out. So, I have altered the recipe to make 2 dozen cupcakes.

To start, a cocktail. I opted for the summer refreshment of a Gin and Tonic with a splash of lime.

Now don't pay too much attention to these ingredients, these cupcakes aren't for the strict dieters or the diabetic.

2 cups granulated sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallow (plus 24 for later, and a handful to eat at your leisure)

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons cocoa

1 cup Coca-Cola (I really want to try Vanilla or Cherry Coke, don't bother with diet)

1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Sift together sugar and flour (again, just whisk it). In a medium saucepan heat butter, oil, cocoa, and the Coke. Remove from heat and pour over the sugar/flour mix. Add in buttermilk, baking soda, eggs, and vanilla. Dance around while you mix well. Pour into lined cupcake tins (makes about 24).

Icing

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 tablespoons cocoa

6 tablespoons Coca-Cola (be adventurous, try the cherry)

1 box powered sugar (that's confectioners)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat the butter, cocoa, and Cola. Bring to a boil and add the powered sugar. Remove from heat and blend it like you meant it. Add vanilla.

Ice cupcakes immediately and place 1 tiny marshmallow on top. Be sure and try one before you share, you don't want to miss out on these!

Because you've been neglected...

So, Megan and I haven't posted in awhile. She's moving and I'm, well, I'm just lazy. So here's an LOL cat to amuse you for now. Visit Icanhascheezeburger.com to see how I pass my time not blogging.

yummy yummy... csa time is finally here!!

hooray!!!

for the next 6 months, amanda and i will be receiving a fresh bushel of produce every week!!  and then, every other one of those weeks we will be receiving goat cheese and eggs.  this is a preview of what we got last week...  sorry i was a little delayed in the postings.  we get our next bushel tomorrow so i will be more prompt on the upload :)

What to do with fresh greens?

Megan and I are first time participants in a CSA (community supported agriculture). Each week we get a bushel of goodness that sometimes leaves me speechless. What to do with fresh greens. I ended up cutting up my asparagus and chard and doing a quick stir fry in olive oil, soy sauce, crushed red pepper, fresh garlic, and a splash of honey.

I must say, it's quite delicious. I'd post a picture but really, it'd just be green on white (the steamed rice).

- Amanda