Chicken Pot Pie

Hi all!

As I said in the last post, I haven't forgotten about the blog-o-sphere. I am nearing the end of this crazy semester, so hopefully more time to post in the up coming months. So I made this chicken pot pie a while ago with some left over chicken. The chicken was a whole chicken made in the crock pot. If you have never tried this...my friend you are missing out. So easy. Here is a link to an amazing and super easy recipe. My only tweak was when it was fully cooked, I took the chicken out of the crock pot and put it under the broiler to crisp up the skin. YUM! 

On a side note, don't forget to check out my etsy store, click here.

 So the ingredients-
About 2 chicken breasts
2Tbsp flour (to thicken sauce)
About 1 3/4 cup  chicken broth (I used about 1C broth and 3/4C drippings from the crock pot)
1bag frozen veggies
1/2tsp dried thyme, sea salt, and black pepper (more or less depending on your tastes. Other herbs can be used depending on what you have. Play with it.)
2 store bought pie crusts (or home made...I was too lazy)

 Put crust in pan

 Add chicken /\ and veggies \/

 Mix the flour, seasonings, and broth

 Pour into the pie. There were still some flour chunks, and they disappeared, so no worries if you can't get yours completely smooth.

 Cover and with second crust and crimp.

 Bake at around 375* until cooked through (it took around 1 1/2 - 1 3/4hrs) I do recommend covering the edges so the crust doesn't burn.

 Cut and enjoy. Be careful of the steam, very hot.

Last but not least- ENJOY! The sauce did later thicken. The first night it was soupy, but the rest of the servings were not as liquidy.

Well, that is all I have for now. Hope you enjoy!

Happy eatings!

Smashley :)

Not forgotten

Hello blog world,

I feel like a terrible blogger. I promise I haven't forgotten about you! Things have just been a little crazy. I had my second clinical for PT school (it was amazing) and have started a business on Etsy for my spoon necklaces. I am really excited about opening the store, but again even there I have been slacking (partially because I am back at school and don't have many supplies) now that school has started. Last semester of in class work. It is super exciting and terrifying all at the same time!!! I promise I will be more on top of things as the semester winds down, and I already have things I have made stored up so expect a day of mass posting ;)

Happy eatings,
Smashley 

Asparagus Quinoa chicken salad

Howdy all!

It has almost been forever since I posted last, with finals and my clinical things have just be absolutely crazy. I have had to wonderful experience of a community kitchen, and have to say not the ideal place for a blog ready meal. With that said, today's meal/post is just that. I had some fresh asparagus and was going to make some quinoa, so I decided to make an epic quinoa salad. Very tasty indeed. I have been trying hard to eat healthy and not always succeeding. It is quite a battle when the unhealthy food is so much easier and so tasty. Healthy food takes more time, but more time is also more love and end results mean more and taste better.  

You need-
Asparagus
Olive oil
seasoning of your choice (I used Lawry's Mediterranean blend and garlic powder)
Quinoa- I used 2/3 cup (when uncooked) and twice the water.
1/2cube chicken stock (or beef or vegetable)
vegetables of your choice (I used carrots, radishes, and cucumber)
1 can of chicken meat (optional) well rinsed

 Start with putting the quinoa and I used a bullion cube into the pot on ~medium heat. Allow to come to a boil. Once boiling put the lid on and let simmer until the water is no more and the quinoa is translucent (aka able to see light through).

 Next, cut the ends off your asparagus and put in a pot with water. (I had to break mine in half to fit in a pot, I was limited with my pots and pans)

 Heat the asparagus until it is just softening and then remove and put in a pan with a drizzle of olive oil and your seasonings. Sautee/cook on medium heat until done to your liking.

 I also chopped up my veggies(obviously not pictured)and mixed the cooked quinoa, asparagus, canned chicken meat, and fresh veggies.

Nice and healthy. Side note- I recommend using broth when cooking quinoa but plain water will do fine. I just prefer the added flavor from the broth. I also don't always rinse my quinoa prior to use for the sole fact that I don't have anything to rinse with. I have made is rinsed and un-rinsed and don't really notice a difference between the two.

So there it is. It isn't hard to make, but the quinoa does take about 20 minutes give or take a few minutes. I hope you enjoy this recipe.

What is your favorite healthy meal to prepare?

Happy eatings,
Smashley

Cilantro Lime night

Howdy!

Happy Thursday all! The best part about this Thursday is that there is no school tomorrow in honor of Good Friday! So I was able to enjoy some cooking without having to worry about school tomorrow. I don't know about you guys, but I like to carry over a few flavors into the different aspects of my food when I cook. Tonight those flavors were cilantro and lime. I had a whole bunch of cilantro that needed to be used and a failed crock-pot meal last night (that was accidentally left out overnight so def not eating it) that left me needing good creative food. Of course pintrest did it again for me, and I found these recipes. The chicken recipe was here and the quinoa I found here. 

I made half of the recipe, and of course tweaked it at the get to. I added a little sriracha and ginger. Also like usual I have a tendency to not read all the way and didn't make the marinade quite as it was supposed to be, but it worked out. I was going to put it in the George Forman, but after realizing I did the marinade wrong, I didn't think the large cilantro would bode well on the griddle.  I baked the chicken at 400* for about 25 minutes and broiled it for another 5minutes or so.

 Marinade with extras

 Before tonight I was not the hugest fan of quinoa, but cooking it with a bullion cube made all the difference. This right here is gold. 

 So there you have it. I had a nice, unintentionally green dinner. It was wonderful and I would make all of them again.

I hope you enjoyed enough to at least try and maybe even enough to follow. I could use some new faces :)

Happy eatings,
Smashley

Giant cookie!!!!!

Howdy Y'all!!!

This afternoon was one of those days were I wanted any excuse to not study for my test I have at nine tomorrow morning. I know that sounds awful, but its true. Thanks to Pintrest (the procrastinators  dream/nightmare) I found my distraction. What could be better than super chocolatey and gooey...nothing you say? False...add some caramel and sea salt and then it is truly heaven. I also made one for my roomie, needless to say she ate it without me having to twist her arm too much.

I got the recipe here and really didn't change the ingredients other than the addition of caramels and sea salt. The caramels made the dough larger and over all the cookie larger. YUM!

All in all the cookie ended up being larger than my hand. It was rich, moist, and wonderful. This is definitely a keeper recipe. Easy, no equipment other than bowls, a fork, and measuring utensils. Very wonderful. 

On the days when you are avoiding doing something, what do you do? 

Happy eatings,
Smashley

Craft time- spoon neckalces

Hello all!

So this is neither food nor yarn related, but I was really excited about how these turned out. I had seen somewhere a picture of necklaces made from spoons. So I decided to make my over twist.  I am finally seeing where my creative genes are hiding. My family is great at painting or drawing, but I not me. I guess my creative niche is more of making things not pictures :). I used a mini sledge hammer, ball pein hammer for texture, hack saw to cut off the handle of some, for those I used a drill press,  the others I just bent the handle to make a loop, and a grinder to make the edges of things smooth.  

I was so excited about these I just had to share:)

Hope I can inspire you to find your creative niche!

Happy crafting,
Smashley

For the love of pork!

Hello friends!

So I must apologize for being a horrible blogger. Not only has it been over 2 months since my last update, but I also missed the blog's birthday! I am horrible. But to make up for that I have a wonderful carnitas post. I am sure I have professed my love for all things pig before, but seriously I have a problem. Dating a Mexican hasn't helped either. He just had to go and introduce me to carnitas...real carnitas. Heaven! So when the local grocery store had pork butt on sale dirt cheep and my roomie got 6lbs worth, I decided I had to make carnitas. SOOO unbelievably easy.  

So what you need is about 3lb pork butt (I am sure should would work too), couple table spoons of black pepper, chili powder, oregano, a table spoon of cumin and garlic. the recipe I used didn't say to use and I just couldn't have that.

 Add all the ingredients to the pot and cover with water.

 Cover the pot and simmer for 3hours

 After the three hours are up, uncover and boil until the liquid is gone.

 Remove from the pot and I would recommend drain or pat with paper towel.

 

 Enjoy with cilantro and onion on tortilla (corn is better than flour, but all I had was flour) quac and frijoles are also good sides :)

I hope you enjoy!
Happy eatings,
Smashley

Chocolate covered candied tangerines

Bonjour!

This was another thing I made for the menfolk I mentioned in the last post. Unfortunatley I didn't make more, my mom has been stealing some of my dad's. She has even gone as far as saying that these might even rival Fanny Mae's or Albanese chocolate covered orange peels. They were my opa's favorite and are my mom's favorite chocolate treat. These might have to make a recurrence in March for my mom's birthday. They were a little time consuming at first, but totally worth it. If you think you might have too many tangerines, add a couple more Yes you will have tons of slices, but trust me you will want tons of these. 

 The ingredients and recipe couldn't be easy enough. Tangerines, and equal parts sugar and water.

 Slice the tangerines into thin segments.

 Bring the water and sugar to a boil and add the tangerines.

 Boil the tangerines for 30 minutes and then remove from heat for 10 minutes. Return to the stove and simmer until the slices are translucent.

 Remove the slices from the syrup and place on racks to dry. An oven can be used on low heat to speed the process.

 SAVE THE LIQUID!! It is super yummy.

 Then I placed all of the slices in a bad and tossed them in sugar and then dipped half of the slice in melted semi-sweet chocolate.

 I put the chocolate covered slices in the garage to help harden the chocolate.

These make great gifts or just a fab desert by themselves. I strongly recommend you make these.

Any special goodies you make for the holidays?

Happy eatings,

Smashley