Family Size Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe is really geared towards using up leftover chicken. Whether you use rotisserie, baked or even fried with the skin removed, it's sure to taste delicious in this dish. With the use of leftover chicken and frozen vegetables it's a simple recipe, but can be made even more simple with pre-seasoned stuffing mix, like Stove Top.

For the crust and filling:

1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken

1 9" deep dish frozen pie shell

4 tbs butter, divided in half

1 tbs olive oil

1 celery stalk, chopped

1/4 cup yellow onion, chopped

1/4 cup matchstick carrots

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables

2 tsp poultry seasoning

1 tsp ground thyme

1 tsp dried tarragon leaves

fresh ground pepper

salt to taste

2 tbs flour

1 cup warm chicken stock

For the Stuffing:

4 cups of seasoned cubed stuffing, like Pepperidge Farms

1 Honey Crisp (or another sweet variety) apple, cored and cubed

1 stalk celery

1/2 cup chopped yellow onion

1/2 cup chopped parsley

3/4 cup cooked bulk maple sausage

2 tbs poultry seasoning

1/4 cup melted butter

1 cup apple cider or chicken stock

Preheat oven to 375°

Cook frozen pie shell for about 10 minutes in preheated oven, remove and set to side. In the meantime, heat a large pan, then add oil and 2tbs butter. When butter is melted add celery, onion and carrots and saute til soft. Add cubed chicken, frozen vegetables, seasonings, pepper and salt. Saute over medium heat until frozen vegetables are warmed through. Add remaining butter, when butter has melted sprinkle flour over mixture and stir in. Begin adding warm stock and cook until a gravy forms and mixture thickens. If more gravy is needed, add tablespoons of water until desired amount is reached. However, do not add to much or pie will become too runny. Set mix to the side.

To make the stuffing, combine all the stuffing ingredients in a large bow and let sit for a few minutes. Stuffing should feel moist, but not soggy. Add more liquid if needed.

Place chicken and vegetable mixture in pie crust,  filling to just below the top. Top with stuffing, slightly mounding. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes. raise temperature to 400° and bake until stuffing starts to brown. If crust edges begins to brown to quickly, cover edges with foil. Let cool about 5 minutes before serving.

Hatch Green Chile Rice

If you're a fan of the restaurant chain  Chuy's, you will like this recipe. It was there that I first tasted green chile rice and there where my mouth felt as if it was on fire after eating it! I don't think mine is quite as spicy as theirs, but I think it's pretty close.

1 cup long grain rice

2 cups water

1 large chicken bouillon cube

2 tbs vegetable oil

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbs ground comino

2 tsp whole comino

1 tsp who black peppercorns

2 yellow onion, chopped

1 roma tomato, chopped
1/2 cup frozen corn

1  4 ounce can Hatch hot diced green chilies

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

In a molcajete or spice grinder, grind garlic, cominos and peppercorns. Heat a deep pan with lid. Add oil then add rice and cook until rice begins to change color, add ground seasoning and cook a few seconds longer. In the meantime, microwave water with bouillon cube in a measuring cup til simmering and cube can be easily broken down, add to rice. Add remaining ingredients, stir to mix and bring to a boil. Cover with lid and turn heat down til it is almost off (it should be on a very very low simmer). Cook until water is absorbed, about 20-25 minutes.

Lettuce Wraps with Shrimp and Scallops in Mango Habanero Sauce

In 2009 my husband ended up in the hospital from complications due to congestive heart failure. After well over a week of treatment he was sent home with a ton of medication and a strict new diet. A NO SALT diet. We were not huge huge salt users but still, we used it. Now I was finding myself reading every label on every box, bottle or bag of food we purchased. It amazed me just how much salt manufacturers add to their products. What was even more amazing was the amount of salt in restaurant meals. I was also faced with the dilemma of creating meals with enough flavor that the salt wouldn't be missed. During my search for low salt products, I came across the Fischer & Wieser company. They produce jellies & sauces that are not overloaded with salt, fat, etc. and flavors that are amazing.

The recipe below uses their Mango Ginger Habanero Sauce. It's great for marinating and glazing shrimp, fish and chicken. It has 0g salt, 0g fat, 3g sugar and NO CALORIES! If you can't find this particular brand, substitute mango jelly with a little ground ginger and red pepper flakes added to it. This is a messy meal, filling but guilt free!

1lb shrimp, shells/tails removed and deveined

1lb bay scallops

1 cup mango/habanero sauce

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup water

2 tbs olive oil

1/2 purple onion, sliced

1 yellow bell pepper, sliced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 orange bell pepper, sliced

1 large garlic clove, sliced

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

1 head bibb lettuce, leaves separated 

Soak onion slices in cold water for about 20 minutes, changing water once. Remove and drain. Heat saute pan and add oil when ready. Add onion, pepper slices and saute for about 8-10 minutes. Add garlic, sauce and water and simmer until peppers just begin to soften. Add shrimp and cook until shrimp are almost done. Add scallops and cilantro, simmer for 1 minute more then remove from heat. To serve, spoon mixture into a lettuce leaf, garnish with extra sauce if desired.

Campechana

For those that don't know, Campechana is a Mexican version of a seafood cocktail. It's usually made with shellfish and sometimes octopus or a firm white fish. The version I make has shrimp, bay scallops and whole baby clams. It's best served refrigerated overnight so the flavors have a chance to meld together and should be eaten with tostada chips or crackers.

Depending on how spicy you like your food, you can add more Serrano or omit it all together. If it's too thick for your liking add more clam juice to thin it out. Salt and pepper should be added "to taste" and remember, flavors will develop overnight so do your final seasoning the day you plan to serve.

 

1lb large shrimp, boiled and peeled

1lb bay scallops

1 10 ounce can whole baby clams, drained and liquid reserved

1 jar Heinz Zesty Cocktail sauce

3 cloves garlic. minced

1 teaspoon ground comino

1 8 ounce can tomato sauce

2 roma tomatoes, diced

1/2 cup diced purple onion

1/2 cup or more to taste, chopped cilantro

1 serrano pepper, chopped

2 Haas avocados, chopped

Blanche scallops in boiling water for 1 minute, remove and run under cold water to stop the cooking process, set aside. Chop shrimp into 2-3 pieces each, set aside with scallops.

Mix all of your remaining ingredients, except avocado, in a bowl. Add about 3-4 tablespoons of reserved clam juice ,shrimp and scallops and mix thoroughly. Carefully fold avocado into mix, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Eggs Benedict Baskets

Even before Christmas was over, I was working on what to serve for Easter brunch. I came across a magazine that had a recipe for little "baskets" made from hash browns and then filled with scrambled eggs. Not only did it remind me of Easter, but I thought it was the perfect idea for feeding a crowd.

With a few changes, I came up with a version of the baskets that I think are a little more elegant. The bottoms are filled with chopped Canadian bacon, topped with an egg and then Hollandaise sauce. If you're not a fan of Eggs Benedict, you can easily change the filling to whatever you like.

The following recipe is for a serving of 4 so I used ramekins that I have. You can use a jumbo muffin pan instead which will also allow you to make more at a time. If you don't want to attempt Haollandaise sauce from scratch, try Knorr's packaged mix. You can find it in the gravy aisle and it's pretty good.

2 cups shredded hash browns, thawed

2 tbs butter, melted

1 egg, beaten

salt and pepper to taste

8 slices Canadian bacon, diced and evenly divided

4 eggs

Hollandaise Sauce

Preheat oven to 400°

In a bowl mix hash browns, butter and egg. Season with salt and pepper. Spray muffin tin or ramekins with cooking spray, divide hash brown mixture evenly into each mold. Press hash browns on bottom and up sides, making a crust. Bake in oven until they begin to brown, about 25-30 minutes.

Remove from oven and fill with divided bacon. Carefully crack one egg into each. Bake in oven until whites of eggs are set but yellows are still soft, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for a seconds. Take a knife and carefully loosen the crusts. With an offset spatula, carefully remove each basket and place on a serving dish. Top with Hollandaise sauce and green onions, if desired.

Top Ramen Upgrade!

Who doesn't love Top Ramen? It's cheap, filling, comes in a variety of flavors and cooks up quick. However, my husband finds it mundane, boring and in need of work. It caught me off guard tonight when he asked for it for dinner. I knew he wasn't feeling well and I knew this was a chance to "fix" it so he might like it just a little bit.

He loves traditional Chinese hot and sour soup, so I was attempting to make something along the same line. I think I got it pretty close, but play with the flavors on this and I'm sure you'll come up with something just as delicious, if not better.

Improved Top Ramen

1 package Top Ramen- Lime Chili Shrimp Flavor

3 cups water

1 celery stalk, chopped with leaves

1/3 cup matchstick carrots

2 green onions, chopped light green parts only

2 white mushrooms, stem removed and tops sliced

2 tbs soy sauce

2 tbs white wine

1 tbs rice vinegar

1 green onion, chopped green part only

Remove flavoring pack from package and add to 3 cups water in saucepan. Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT noodles and chopped green parts of onion. Bring to a boil, reduce and simmer for about 15 minutes. Taste and adjust any seasoning as needed. You may need to add more soy sauce or vinegar according to your taste preference.  Add noodles and cook until desired tenderness. Serve in bowl with remaining green onions on top.

BBQ Sauce and Rub

My first experience making BBQ sauce came about with the help from a customer of ours. He was in his 70s and a retired military cook. He used to bring us brisket, sauce and baked beans when we would work on his car. It was delicious, and as we would later find out, a very well kept secret of his on how it was all made.

Months before he passed away, he came over one day and and gave me his coveted BBQ sauce recipe and the meat thermometer he used to check his brisket with. I have never shared his recipe, not even with his daughter who knew he had given it to me. The recipe below uses his original one as the base with my modifications as the finishing touches. The rub recipe I have included is pretty standard but is best used on pork, just make sure to save about a 1/4 cup of the rub to add to the sauce.

Pork Rub

1 cup brown sugar

3 tbs honey chipotle spice

1 tsp ground comino

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp fresh ground coarse black peppercorns

1 tsp ground mustard

1 tsp celery salt

Mix all ingredients together, divide in half. Rub 1/2 of mix onto pork ribs, both sides, chill overnight. 

Gentleman Jack Honey Chipotle BBQ Sauce

2 quarts tomato sauce

1 quart ketchup
3/4 cup Gentleman Jack 

1lb brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

3 tbs honey chipotle spice

1 1/2 tsp ground mustard

1 tbs chollula sauce

1 tbs coarse ground black pepper

1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 tsp kitchen bouquet

1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Reserved rub

Mix all ingredients together in a heavy stock pot. Heat on low and simmer 3-4 hours until sauce begins to thicken. Stir every 30 minutes, making sure not to scrape sides and bottom.

*NOTE 

As with any canned tomato based recipe, seasoning may have to be adjusted based on the sweetness and/or acidity of the tomatoes. Taste the sauce frequently and remember that the longer the sauce simmers the more the flavors will develop.