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 :)

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

Spiced Nuts

Hide-ho their neighborino,

I always have a hard time coming up with things to make for the male people in my life, such as my dad, my uncle Tim, my boyfriend's dad, and my aunt's boyfriends. I tend to hand make a lot of things right now due to my limited funds being in grad school and all, and the things I make tend to be a little girly. So You can never go wrong with nuts....unless someone is allergic then you are just being a jerk.  I had made one recipe before and it turned out fabulous. This was a different recipe that was really good, but I had to add some extra of the heat because it was lacking in spicy department. The recipe for the nuts can be found here.

.

 I was lucky to get a 1lb bag of mixed nuts at Meijer for cheap instead of the pecans alone. I have 4 lbs here. I did not use as much salt as they said because I did not realize the nuts were pre-salted.

 

I also could have taken the nuts out a little sooner than they said. Some of the nuts got a little burnt. surprisingly the hazelnuts tasted really good with the savory seasoning. 

I got great reviews from this. I will admit I did steal a few also. They were pretty yummy, but I think I liked the other recipe I made for father's day better. 

Do you have a go to nut recipe?

Happy eatings,
Smashley

Christmas presents for the hounds

Hello y'all,

Okay, so I know I said I was gonna post a whole bunch a while ago..and honestly I have no excuse. I got lazy and then had to leave to go back to school. Now I am back in the normal routine. I still have a few posts to do from all of my holiday cooking. This one was a definite hit with canine and human kind alike. Don't judge me, I had to try one...or a few. They are made with people food and taste like cheese-its. If you didn't tell anyone they were made for dogs you would think they were cheese crackers. I got the recipe here. 

 So the ingredients required were oats, cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, EVOO, unsweeted apple sauce, and water. I needed much more water that they said because mine was not forming a dough. I also used all purpose flour because there were some recipients who are basically allergic to everything under the sun.  Note my special little helper...don't let her looks food you...she is EVIL!

 

I mixed everything and rolled out the dough. Because of the holiday spirit I used a cute little snowflake cookie cutter.

 

 Baked for about 30mins and left in the oven while the oven cooled. Bagged and delivered. Quite a hit with the canines. They loved them (so I am told)

Do you make presents for your pets?

Happy eatings,
Smashley

Pork Roast

Hello again!

I am not sure if I have made a mention to this before or not, but I have a love of all things pig. Bacon, pork rinds, chicharones, ham, and any other pork product. So I was quite excited when my mom gave me a nice pork tenderloin. It turned out well, however there are times when I am already sick of the food I cooked by the time it is done cooking. I really hate it when that happens. I can't remember exactly where I got the recipe from. It was either from punchfork or pintrest. 

 So I started by slicing the garlic nice and thin. I cut little thin slits in the meet to insert said garlic slivers.

 Then put the meat into the pan lined with foil..why foil you ask? Because I am a lazy grad student who doesn't want to do more dishes than I have to ;)

 All of the non vegetable ingredients were then mixed to form the sauce/marinade/basting liquid and poured over the meet.

 Then I added some carrots and potatoes just for good sake.

 Baked at temperature and time I do not remember...I think 350 for about 2 hours but don't quote me on that.

 Added a fresh salad and presto dinner.

By the way, I have decided that I will no longer be using store bought salad dressings. It is so easy to make yummy dressings with good olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice. It costs the same or less and is so much healthier. No preservatives, added salt, or any other nastiest. 

With that said, happy eatings,
Smashley

Sugar Cookie Bars with Hazelnut Frosting

Happy Wednesday! 

Weekend is almost here and a week until I get to go home for Thanksgiving!!! :) I have been feeling under the weather lately (my guess is a neurobiology stress induced cold) and needed something to cheer up my insides. Something sweet, chocolatey, nutella-y. So it was decided. Thanks to pintrest and a tweaked family recipe and heaven!

  I found the cookie recipe here. Very happy, just make sure to use a half cup of butter not a half stick of butter...doesn't come together right. Easy fix. I tweaked my grandmothers frosting and added nutella. YUMMM!!!!

It was even roommate tested and approved. The frosting is creamy and the cookie was dense and slightly crispy on the outside. Wonderful pick-me-up!

Sorry I didn't do my normal pics along the way. Next time I will. 

Happy Eatings,
Smashley

Quick easy pocket dinner

Good evening every body and happy Saturday,

I am on a health food working out kick (hoping if won't just be a kick but finally sinks in and stay around for well...ever lol) so I decided for dinner to make a healthier chicken meal that is quick and easy. It is a spin off of a side dish my mom and dad used to make. The only difference is that mine has chicken and theirs didn't. This is great for a quick meal tht doesn't take long to prepare and is a quick clean up.

Preheat oven to 425*

What you will need:
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts- i have one large one cut in half for two meals
2 small potatoes (and yes I know the picture has three, I decided that 3 was to many) and cut into          small cubes
1 rib of celery cut in half length wise and diced
Baby carrots cut length wise and then in half
Half of a small onion diced
Smear of butter- or oil if you want just a little so nothing sticks
Season salt and ground black pepper
2 pieces of foil

 Cut up all of your ingredients and place on a piece of foil- estimate how much you want of the ingredients in each packet- i have 1 potato, half of a rib of celerey, and 4 baby carrots per pouch.

 Fold up and place in over. 

 Cook for 35 minutes and remove. Careful there is lots of steam and steam is HOT! And enjoy!

 I hope you enjoy this quick fix meal.

What do you make in a pinch?

Happy eatings,
Smashley

Typical away at school dinner

Howdy!

So today I made a typical go to dinner for school. I made baked barbeque chicken with steamed peas and fresh radishes. Not so typical i made some mash potatoes...which I was very disappointed in because I added way to much milk. But it was still tasty none the less.

Sorry I don't have my usual pictures step by step. I was lazy. Sorry.

So I rubbed the chicken in some season salt, garlic powder, and some ground sage. Poured on some Sweet Baby Ray's Brown Sugar Hickory. (Sweet Baby Ray's is by far the best hands down BBQ sauce. Just saying) And baked for 25 minutes in the oven. I flipped at 15minutes and slathered more BBQ sauce on it. 

To the snow peas, I added some butter and steamed in the micro in a bowl covered by plastic wrap for about a minute or so. 

The mashed potatoes I boiled peeled potatoes in water with salt, garlic powder, and dry thyme. Then mashed with some (aka too much) 1% milk and some margarine.

Radishes- salt and that's it.

Happy college student for dinner :D

Well, I am off to eat my dinner now. 
What is your go to meal? 

Happy Eatings,
Smashley.

MMM Queso

Hi everybody! 

Every time I want to write that I always here in my head "Hi Dr. Nick" from the Simpsons. I used to love that show. Key player in my childhood lol. 

So any-who queso, I love salsa con queso, queso dip, cheese dip, what every you want to call it. It is melty cheesy goodness in a jar. This time it was melty cheesy goodness over my chicken! MMMMM. My mom had bought me some cebollitas, I had half of a jar of queso, chicken, and thought why not throw some potatoes into that mix and boom dinner! So that is just what I did.

I started by making an adobo seasoning mix from this recipe. I made enough for two servings.

 Then I seasoned my chicken with juice from a lime (a very dry lime unfortunately), garlic powder, seasoned salt, paprika, and chili powder. Into the oven it went at 400.

 I seasoned the cebollitas with the adobo, oil (too much for my liking I discovered later), and a little extra salt and garlic powder. These went in for probably around 20mins, until the bulb was tender. Also unfortunately the greens got a little too crispy :(.

 The potatoes I tossed with the rest of the adobo and a little oil. Put in the oven until tender and a little crispy.

 See the ends were a little too crispy. This is supposed to be done on a grill, with much better results.

 Once I took the chicken out, I poured the cheese over it and let it sit while the potatoes finished cooking. It was delish!

So that was my impromptu dinner. I was originally going to have some soup from my grandma. But this was almost as good ;)

What is your favorite cheese meal?

Happy eatings,

Smashley