Fall is in the Air

Fall is rapidly approaching and I am so excited for Fall inspired candles, Fall holidays and most importantly, cooler weather!

During Hurricane Issac, it kind of felt like Fall- darker sky, wind, cooler weather. So I hunkered down with Justin, burned an apple pie scented candle and made Chicken Pot Pie.

The first time I made this recipe it was the day after Thanksgiving in Deep Creek Lake with my family. We had so much left-over turkey no one knew what to do with it, so Gammy made the biscuits and I made the filling and the result was delicious. This recipe is made with chicken instead of turkey (because I was using the leftovers) and Pillsbury Biscuits (because I already had them), but you can use whatever meat and biscuit combination you would like.

As for the veggies. Choose whichever ones you like. Most grocery stores carry frozen mixed vegetables which work great for this but, If you want to use fresh, make sure to sweat/blanch them before mixing them into the filling. 

Chicken Pot Pie

Yield: 4 (generous) servings

32 fl oz Chicken Stock
1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1 Tbsp Rosemary
1 Tbsp Thyme
1 cup Mixed Veg
3 cups Chicken, cooked, shredded
8 Biscuits

• In a  pot, whisk together the flour and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring periodically.
• Simmer for 7 minutes.
• Add the chicken and the vegetables.
• Pour into an ungreased 9x9 baking dish.
• Top with the biscuits.

• Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until the top of the biscuits are golden brown.
• Cover the top with foil and bake for another 4 minutes.
• Allow to cool for 5 minutes before digging in. 
• Enjoy!

Let's Go Bananas!

Yes, I live in Florida. And yes there is a hurricane coming. And yes, the sky was looking particularly ominous today, but I did what any person who had off would do (I am talking every person in the Boca Raton- Delray area) and went to the grocery store to buy supplies. Not hurricane supplies particularly, but rather supplies to make myself some delicious Banana Nut Muffins and Chicken Pot Pie.

Now I will admit, my pot pie recipe is definitely the lazy version, but don't judge me! I had a ton of stuff in the house that needed to be used up. The Banana Nut Muffins are all from scratch though, so I guess the two recipes balance each other out. I will be posting the Pot Pie Recipe shortly so stayed tuned if you love comfort food (and who doesn't love comfort food) as much as I do.

If I had the motivation to change out of my pj's, put make up on, do my hair, walk down to the car, drive to the store...la-dee-da-dee-do. I would get the ingredients to make some cream cheese frosting for my muffins. Would that make them cupcakes? Hmmmmmmmm? Anyway, here is the recipe to make yourself a fantastic stormy day treat.
 

Banana Nut Muffins

Yield: 16 Muffins 

1 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour
2/3 cup Light Brown Sugar
2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 Egg, beaten
1/2 cup Half and Half
1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
2 cups Banana, mashed
1 cup Walnuts, chopped
1/2 tsp Vanilla

I only have one muffin pan, so I made 12 muffins and then poured the rest of the batter into a loaf pan and made some Banana Bread. It is like a two for one recipe here people!

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and nuts. It is important to add the nuts now so that they get coated in flour and don't sink to the bottom of the muffins during the baking period.

In a separate bowl, combine the egg, half and half, bananas and vanilla. 

Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients.
Stir together until just combined. It should be lumpy.

Scoop into greased, unlined, muffin pans. I scooped mine with an ice cream scoop so that they would all come out the same size.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The bread took about four minutes longer to bake than the muffins, so watch your baked goods carefully!

Allow the muffins to cool for 10 minutes before trying to pop them out of the pan.

Waited long enough? Good. Now you can devour your muffins! Enjoy!
 
 

Mango Madness

One of the perks of living in Florida is all of the lovely (and reasonably priced) tropical fruits. This past week our local grocery store had mangoes on sale. I bought ten and brought them home. After having them as snacks and packing some in a picnic beach lunch, I still had so many left over.

What to do except the obvious: make sorbet!

Mango Sorbet
Yield: 2qt when frozen

6ea Mangoes, peeled and rough chopped
2 cups Water
3 cups Sugar
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice

Combine all of the above ingredients.
Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes.
Allow the mixture to cool down slightly.
Blend in a blender, in small batches, until smooth.
Pass through a strainer.
Refrigerate for at least 8 hours.
Turn in an ice cream machine until frozen and delicious. 

I Love it When Dinner Comes to Me

So I've moved to Florida. What do I do down here when I am not at work (haha! me, not at work)? Besides the obvious (watch reality tv while eating ice cream, duh) I do partake in some pretty amazing things.

I don't know if your apartment complex hosts food trucks every now and again, but mine does. And it just so happened that Justin had off work, and I got off before six, so dinner was had-- food truck style.

This was such a fun community event! A lot of people showed up for the trucks, and I don't think the trucks were expecting it! Three trucks showed up to feed our community: "Get Toasted" "The Big Ragu" and "Joji Yogurt". My favorite truck was Joji Yogurt, (Fro-yo, toppings, and cute little spoons, what's not to love?) but all of them were delicious.


From "Get Toasted" I had a "T'n'M"-- tomato, mozzarella, basil and balsamic sandwich, while Justin had a "Chicken Satay Sandwich". Both were delicious. We followed that up with an order of "Rice Balls" from the "Big Ragu". They were very interesting--baseball sized balls of seasoned rice, filled with cheese, breaded and then fried, topped with tomato sauce. To top it all off, frozen yogurt was in order.

I got Green Tea Yogurt and Pineapple Sorbet, and Justin had Green Tea Yogurt with Chocolate Yogurt. I am a fro-yo purist, but he was a little more daring and opted for some Crushed Wasabi Peas and Pretzel Balls as toppings for his yogurt. I think it is safe to say Joji was the highlight of our night.

Have you ever eaten at a Food Truck? If so which one?