Chicken Pot Pie

If I had to choose a favorite type of food, it would most definitely be comfort food.

I'm a firm believer that preparing and eating food should be enjoyable.

Comfort food is that style of food that you know everyone will like, so it's usually what I turn to when we're having guests over for dinner.

No one says no to mac and cheese, spaghetti and meatballs, fried chicken, chicken noodle soup or pot pie!

This chicken pot pie has been one of our favorite go-to meals since we've been married.

I make a big ol' 9 by 13 of it, and we eat the leftovers for the next couple of days (I'm not proud to admit that one time Austin and I ate the entire thing in less than 24 hours).

This recipe is easy to make, due to the majesty of frozen puff pastry. Just take it out of the freezer to defrost while you prepare the filling, slice it up, and you're good to go!

Chicken Pot Pie

Yields: 9 x 13, 8-12 servings
Time: 1 hour

1 sheet puff pastry
6 tbsp butter
1/2 onion, medium, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
5 large carrots, chopped
3 medium potatoes
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp flour
4 cups milk
2/3 cup cream
1 bouillon cube
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or chopped*
1 cup frozen peas
1 egg

1. Put puff pastry on the counter to defrost. Preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit. Unfold puff pastry and cut into equally-sized strips. Make a lattice on a cookie sheet and pop it in the freezer.***

2. In a large pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, carrots, potatoes, and salt. Sauté until the vegetables start to soften. Sprinkle flour over vegetables and cook 1-2 minutes more.

3. Add milk, cream, and bouillon. Cook until the mixture thickens to the desired consistency. Turn heat to low and add chicken and peas and cook until thoroughly heated. Season with salt & pepper.

4. Pour mixture into a 9 x 13 and pop the puff pastry lattice on top. Brush with a beaten egg and bake for 25-35 minutes, or until golden brown. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving (this allows it to thicken up again and prevents you from burning your mouth).


*You can cook the chicken any way you like. Sometimes I cook it in the crockpot and shred it. Other times, I cook it on the stove and chop it. Anything works! I season with Emeril's Essence.

***This method makes it way easier to pop the lattice on the pie and throw it in the oven. You can make the lattice right on the pot pie, but the puff pastry starts to get kind of melty.

Mushroom Tart

Y'all already know I love puff pastry. My love of puff pastry first started in a French-style cafe my family visited often when I was growing up.

They have a dish called a chicken friand. It's a mixture of french cheese, mushrooms, and chicken stuffed into a puff pastry shell. It was the first "fancy" food I ate, and the first "fancy" dish I learned to cook by myself. Recipe coming soon (once I can muster up the self-control to put off eating the chicken friands long enough to photograph them).

This mushroom tart is reminiscent of the chicken friand, except this tart can be on the table in just a half hour. It's really versatile-- it can work as an appetizer, side, or entrée (or a dessert, if you're really strange).

One of the best parts of this recipe is that you can substitute pretty much any of the ingredients. I've made it with tons of different things, and it's always come out beautifully.

Mushroom Tart

Yields: two 9" tarts (Serves 4 entrees or up to 12 as a side or an appetizer)

1 sheet puff pastry
3 slices bacon
1 tsp minced garlic
2 cups sliced mushrooms
2 tsp Emeril's Essence*
3 tbsp water
1/4 cup shredded gruyère (or swiss, or parmesan)
1/2 cup sour cream (or cream cheese)
1 egg, beaten



1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut puff pastry in half. Place on a cookie sheet lined with Silpat or parchment.

2. Cook bacon. Remove from pan, but leave the bacon grease in the pan. Sauté the garlic in the bacon grease for 1 minute, then add mushrooms, reserving about 10 slices to decorate the tart. Add Emeril's Essence. Cook until the mushrooms release all their liquid. Add water as necessary to prevent burning or sticking.

3. Remove from heat and add crumbled bacon, gruyère, and sour cream.** Spread on the puff pastry. Top with reserved mushrooms. Brush the edges with beaten egg and bake for 15-20 minutes.


*Emeril's Essence is my go-to seasoning. I use it on everything!! You can also substitute this with your preferred seasoning.

**You can make the mixture ahead of time and refrigerate. It will keep for a day or two.

Soft Sandwich Bread

Carbs, glorious carbs!

I went on the lookout for a recipe that would make perfectly soft sandwich bread. I found it. Simple as that.

I want to try it next time with whole wheat flour and increase the honey so I would have a honey whole wheat! Yum! Because you roll it up, you could probably roll just about anything in it. You could make a delicious cinnamon raisin bread, or orange craisin bread or whatever you want! Don't worry, I plan on trying all of these combos.

This recipe hails from Delia Creates.

Soft Sandwich Bread
Yields: 2 9x5 loaves

2 1/2 cups hot water
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey
1 tbsp salt
6 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tbsp dry active yeast


1. Whisk together water, oil, honey, and salt.

2. Add 3/4 cup flour and the yeast. Mix until it's mostly incorporated. Add half the remaining flour and knead in a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. You don't necessarily have to use a stand mixer-- you can do it by hand. Just knead normally. Add the remaining flour and knead for about 5 minutes.

3. Let rise in a greased bowl covered with plastic wrap for 30 minutes in a warm place.

4. Plop dough out onto a floured surface and divide in half. Roll each until it's 9 inches wide by about 30 inches long. Roll it up and put it into a greased 9x5 loaf pan. Let rise, covered, for 30 minutes in a warm place (or about 2 hours in the fridge if you want to slow down the rising time... I did this and it rose beautifully!)

5. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until it sounds hollow when you tap the tops of the loaves.

6. Optional: brush finished loaves with butter (This probably shouldn't be optional because... butter)

After second rise

With homemade raspberry jam... recipe coming soon!

Bon appétit!

Crusty French Bread

I've been on a bread baking binge. 

This recipe is so crusty and the inside is so tender. It tastes almost like a sourdough to me, and it was so good. Also. . . it's the easiest bread ever. No knead?! Count me in!

I really can't praise this bread highly enough. It's the Crusty Bread recipe from Simply So Good and it really is that good. I know that I can't even begin to do this bread justice, so I'll just give you the recipe. 

Crusty French Bread

Yields: 1 loaf

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp active dry yeast (rapid rise)

1 1/2 cups water (room temp or a little warm will do)

1. Mix together the flour, salt, and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add the water and stir until it's all incorporated. It will be a sticky mess in the bowl.

2. Let the bowl sit for 12-18 hours. 

3. Heat your oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit. Pour the dough out onto a heavily floured counter. Cover the top with plastic wrap to let it rest for 30 minutes. While the dough is resting, put a cast iron skillet or casserole dish or le Creuset in the oven to heat up. 

4. Take the baking dish out of the oven and drop the dough into the bottom of the dish. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. After about 20 minutes, place a pan filled with water in the bottom of the oven and take the foil off of the bread. This will crisp the bread up. 

5. Take the bread out and let it cool on a cooling rack.

Bon appétit!

Copycat Uno's Deep Dish Pizza

You can't go wrong with pizza, right?

My family's favorite pizza place is Uno's Chicago Grill. The crust is so buttery, cheese so melty, and the toppings are so fresh and tasty. I had always wanted to make this pizza, but I couldn't find the recipe... until I got Pinterest. I pinned this recipe about 2 years ago, and I had been wanting to try it since then. I decided to try it tonight. 

Boy am I glad I did.

It was SO good. 

We bought everything fresh just an hour before I made the pizza, so all of the toppings were wonderfully fresh and delicious.

From Seeded at the Table.

Copycat Uno's Deep Dish Pizza

Yields: 1 9" deep dish pizza

Time: about 2 hours

Crust:

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tbsp AP flour

1/4 cup yellow cornmeal

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 1/8 tsp instant yeast

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp water, room temperature

1 1/2 tbsp butter, melted

1 tsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter, softened

2 cups shredded mozzarella 

Desired toppings

1. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the water and melted butter. With the dough hook attachment, turn the stand mixer on medium for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl as often as necessary. Put the dough in a bowl coated with the 1 tsp olive oil and let it rise at room temperature for 40-50 minutes, or until doubled. 

2. Roll the dough out to 6"x8". Spread the softened butter on the dough and fold the dough into thirds (like a business letter). Roll it out again, this time to 8"x12". Fold it into thirds again and then roll it into a ball. Put it into the bowl coated with olive oil and let it rise for 40-50 minutes in the fridge. While it's rising in the fridge, make the tomato sauce.

Tomato Sauce:

1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp grated onion
Pinch of dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
Pinch of sugar
2 tbsp chopped basil leaves
1 1/2 tsp olive oil

Black pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste

3. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Sauté the onion and oregano in the butter for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add salt and garlic and cook for about 30 seconds before adding tomatoes and sugar. Let it come to a boil, then turn it down to a simmer for 15 minutes. Add the basil, olive oil, and salt and pepper, then remove from heat. 

4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit. Line the bottom of a 9" deep dish pizza stone or a 9" cake pan with 2 tsp cornmeal. Roll out the dough on a dry surface to about a 13" circle. Transfer to pan. Line the dough with 2 cups shredded mozzarella. Top the cheese with the tomato sauce (how backwards! It keeps the crust from getting soggy) and then the desired toppings. I used pepperoni (a heck of a lot of 'em), bell peppers, tomatoes, bacon, mushrooms, italian meatballs, onions, and parmesan. 

5. Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes. Let it sit out for 5-8 minutes before cutting and eating. 

Bon appétit!