Tis time to serve

What a miserable Saturday. Not event-wise, event-wise it was pretty good. Father in Law (FIL) came by for a visit, since our neighborhood was doing an art festival thing, so we figured, have him come over, see what our neighborhood is like for one of these festivals, and have him stay for dinner. Originally, we were going to cook dinner at home, but after a day of walking around, checking out different vendors, eating some food from the local vendors who set up stands in the festival, we would let someone else do the cooking. Not that much different from the week's eating habits! And in the morning, I also did some cooking for my office. There were wonderful smells wafting through the house for much of the day - partnered, in part, with some smell of paint and wood stain from work Hubby was doing on the house. But that's another story all together.

The cooking started in the morning. My office was in the midst of an office shuffle, and since the boys won't let me carry anything up and down the stairs, I figured, I'll still help out, with food. So, I told them, I would be by at lunchtime, with lunch in tow. Since some of the stuff I needed, we didn't have in the refrigerator, it was off to the market - pre-made pie crust, cheeses, cream, butter. By the time I returned, I had about an hour and a half before high noon, and I knew the boys, having been moving stuff around the office all morning, would be hungry, so I better hurry. Quick items, and they came out pretty good.


Chicken Pot Pie

1. Premade pie crust - I baked the bottom first in a pie pan, and while it was baking...
2. I browned defrosted and seasoned (I used salt, pepper, oregano, tumeric, and garlic) whole chicken thighs in a deep pot, no oil (the skin generated enough oil).
3. I also chopped up 1 baking potato, 3 stalks celery, and 2 carrots.
4. When the chicken was browned on all sides, I added enough chicken stock to just cover the mixture. I also added some cumin, sage, and oregano into this thin soup.
5. While this mixture rose to a boil, I made a slurry of corn starch and water (about equal amounts of each). Once the chicken soup got to a rolling boil, I added the slurry, to thicken, and added some freshly-ground black pepper and sea salt to flavor. I also added the vegetables.
6. I let it simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes, until thickened.
7. By the time this mixture reduced some and began to thicken, the bottom pie crust was already long done. I pulled meat off the thighs, and added them to the pie crust, and then piled on the veggies as well as some of the thickened stock. This is actually a good time to taste the stock, to see if you need more seasoning before adding it into the bottom pie crust.
8. I then rolled out the top crust (also pre-made), and cut to fit the pie pan I had. The left over - that's another little dish I made on the side, to follow.
9. This pie baked at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes (though I left it in just a little too long, and the top got burnt, grrr), following the instructions on my pre-made pie crust box.
   

The left-over pie crust, I kneaded it together, and rolled it out into a 8" round. I added to half- of the round some of the chicken still left on the thighs, along with some of the thickened stock, some carrots, celery, and potato. I then folded the round to make a half-moon shape, and sealed the edge. This mini hand-held chicken pot pie, I baked at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, for Hubby, while I ran off to deliver the food to the boys at the office.

Simultaneously...


Mac and Cheese
OK, I know it's easy enough to just to it out of the box, but really, it's even better when you do it from scratch, and know what cheeses you've tossed in.

1. I boiled up about 2 cups of macaroni, in salted water.
2. At the same time the mac was boiling, I made a roux of butter and flour (any amount is fine, just keep the ration between the two 1:1).
3. To the roux, I added herbs and spices: my choices were nutmeg, coriander, and rosemary.
   
4. Once well mixed, I removed the roux from the flame, and added about a cup of half-and-half. This step - add carefully, so that it doesn't all separate, as cream has a tendency to do in hot mixtures. You may want to temper the cream first before adding it back into the roux. I was in a rush, so I added about 1/4 cup of the half-and-half into the roux first, to bring the temperature of the roux down, instead of the other way around. It worked, but I think I was lucky.
   
5. I also added about a cup and a half of grated cheese (I grated guyere and emmenthaler, for a fondue-themed mac and cheese) to this mixture.
6. Once the mac is done, I drained out the pasta, and threw it into a loaf pan. I poured the cheese mixture on top, and there it was - pretty much done. You can add bread crumbs to the top if you'd like, but I skipped that step.
7. I threw the mac and cheese into the oven the same time the chix pot pie went in, so 400 degrees, 20 minutes. If you like a brown top, broil it for another 3 minutes on high at the end.

So that was my morning. It was a rush, but I got it done, and got the lunch to the boys at 1pm. Oh, I also threw together a quick appetizer - thick sliced cucumbers, scooped out of the seeds a bit for a cucumber bowl, to which I added some creme fraiche and a little slice of salmon. It was a hit!

In the afternoon, Hubby and FIL were off to look at some cars together. I decided to put together a little soup to warm us all up on such a chilly and yucky day, before we head off to our local Mexican restaurant for dinner (which, BTW, I couldn't even eat, being so full from the all-day-munchathon).

Chestnut soup
Again, I don't use specific quantities while cooking, so many apologies. Anyway, I made this soup a while ago when we had our office over for dinner, a French dinner. It was thick, creamy, perfect for a winter evening. I decided it could help kick off the cold season this year.

1. Roasted chestnuts, a la Trader Joe's. They have them off and on in their freezers, but I had some left over in our freezer, so out they came for the soup. These little guys still have their shell on, so I peeled them of their shells and fuzzy skins.
2. In a 2-quart (I think) pot - just make sure it's not so wide that you get so much surface area exposure, so that the soup doesn't evaporate too quickly while you're simmering it - I threw in 4 thick slices of pancetta, to brown, and to draw out some oil for the rest of the ingredients I was adding. Once browned, sizzling, and oily, I added some Asian fried shallots (you can also use fresh, I didn't have fresh so I figured I try this out to see how it comes out. It came out just delish.), some dried onions, and celery flakes, in lieu of fresh celery root, which I also didn't have. This was a recipe full of substitutions yesterday. Saute until just fragrant and until the other ingredients have soaked up some of the oil from the pancetta.
   
3. Add the chestnuts, some sliced mushrooms, and a tablespoon of butter to this mixture. Mix well.
4. Add a sprig of sage and 2 sprigs of thyme, and mix well.
5. Add enough chicken stock, to just cover. Bring to boil.
   
6. Reduce heat, and cover the pot to let simmer for about half an hour.
7. Add a shot of cognac, stir in. Flaming optional.
8. Remove from heat, and serve with a spoonful of cream on top.

I served this soup in little squashes, of which I removed the top, sliced a bit of the bottom so that they would sit squarely, and hollowed out the inside. They presented beautifully - but do keep in mind, if you'd like to do this, make sure to leave about 1/2 inch of the bottom intact, so that the soup doesn't leak out the bottom. You'll know when you go down too far - and then try it again on another squash. It took me about 2 squashes of practice before I was able to do the hollowing-out thing without scooping too much out of the bottom.


So that was yesterday...

Today, Hubby and I decided to go on a bike ride, to get breakfast and to get some butter for baking in the afternoon. We stopped by a local coffee shop, Misha's, where we ran into 2 of our good friends! What coincidence, and we had warm, wonderful laughter while we enjoyed our muffins and bagels. Misha's also has the most beautiful OJ - mango colored, like the OJ I had at a cafe in Portland, Oregon, not long ago. Hubby got a slice of the choco-chip cake, and I got a salt bagel w/cream cheese. If you haven't had salt bagels, and if you're hunkering for good soft pretzels - soft bagels are a good substitute. A good shot of those salt crystals, and your craving may well be served.

I craved some chocolate yesterday, enough to go hunting for a good chocolate chip cookie recipe, so Hubby's selection of the chocolate chip cake was perfect. A couple of bites, and my taste buds were pleasantly satiated. Of course, then, when we biked over to Trader Joe's, they had their miniaturized versions of their wonderful peanut butter cups out for tasting, along with little bites of their peanut-butter chocolate cake thing, and boy, my chocolate taste buds were getting their tasteful. So we picked up a box of those mini peanut butter cups (they really are so cute!), some butter, and some bread. Then, it was off to home.

One of our neighbors was having a neighborhood cook-out at their house, so I decided to bring over some brownies. The basic recipe, I give my heartfelt nod to Fine Cooking magazine, their "Comfort Food" issue about a couple years back, to which I still refer for recipes and ideas. It is, by far, the one magazine (not type, not production, just that one issue) I refer to in the kitchen most often, for some ideas or for recipes. I made the brownies out of that issue once before, to raving reviews, so I decided to do it again. This time, though, I made some substitutions (I'm so glad I did it before Hubby saw, since he would have called "blasphemy" to my experimentation with baking recipes!).

Brownies, a la Fine Cooking with substitutions and alterations

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (stick and a half)
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablepoon honey
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter

1. Set oven at 350. Line a 9x9 baking pan w/aluminum foil, or grease w/butter and coat with cocoa powder (instead of flour. Trust me, it makes too much sense for chocolate baked goods!)
   
2. Heat up the butter until thoroughly melted.
3. Whisk in the cocoa and chocolate chips.
4. Whisk in the sugar, honey, and vanilla extract. Remove from heat, allow to cool completely
   
5. Add all 3 eggs at once, whisk thorougly to combine.
6. Add flour, and fold with a spatula until just combined.
7. Add peanut butter, and fold with a spatula until just combined.
8. Pour into your baking pan, and bake for 22 minutes, until the toothpick comes out damp, but not moist.
9. Let cool completely on a rack, before removing from pan and/or slicing.

I had one of these guys tonight, and it was really good. The peanut butter, it didn't string out through the batter as much as I'd liked, but the bits of peanut butter through the brownie were nice surprises with each bite. We enjoyed some brats, some really wonderful cole slaw, and some excellent ribs this afternoon.

By the end of the party, and having also gone to another family's house to see what renovations they had done, my feet and stomach were definitely ready for some comfort wear. I was glad that I was still able to fit in my low-rise jeans, but they're definitely getting tight around the waist. Upon walking home, I kicked off my flip flops, and ran right to our bedroom to grab my yoga pants and some comfy socks. That's definitely one big, albeit unexpected, benefit to my yoga practice - the clothing fit wonderfully around my belly! The pants already have a band at the waist, which allows my expanding tummy room to grow withough falling off. The yoga tops, too, aren't bound too tightly around the waist, so they're quite comfortable as well. I guess I really should just get more yoga clothes - they'll serve double duty!

I also picked up some clothes this week, from a couple of Internet sites. I hit Motherhood.com, since it was a name I recognized, to see what they had. On the website, their selections seemed really great, and the prices were amazing. I received the box of clothes this week, and Friday night, I popped open the box to fully inspect everything that I got. A white button down shirt - excellent, just $20, fit without being TOO loose. Fabric was also good. A wine-colored sweater, it was more like a long-sleeved ribbed tee shirt - and that's going back. The tee shirts they had on their site were pretty good - they're thicker, the way I like them, and not expensive, maybe $9-$12 each, depending on short- or long-sleeved. I also picked out a couple of pairs of pants - not impressed, and they're going back. A wine-colored shirt with some beading at the waist, looked better on the website than in person, so that's going back. So some hits, some misses. I think they're good for some basics, but not for everything.

I also got some undergarments through Babycenter.com, thru whom we're getting weekly emails on the status of our baby (since it hasn't yet been able to navigate its way to using the umbilical cord as a cup-and-wire telephone system to let us know what it's doing in there). They looked wonderful - I won't go into all the details, but some things, I definitely need as my belly expands, that I didn't expect some of my undergarments to not fit. So all the things I got, keepers.

I've also found that slip-on shoes are much easier, even this early on at 16 weeks, to put on, than ones that required that I bend down in order to put them on. I got a pair of mary-janes from Aldo about 3 weeks ago, just before I headed off to the CIA. They've been great! Fun, funky, and they're not the heavy-duty on-your-feet-all-day slip on shoes. I can wear them with skirts, even with pant suits. Of couse, my usual slip-on heels, I can wear those with my suits, but these offer an alternative to the usual boring heels.

What else have I found to be a surprising help... oh, my pre-made food, has definitely been a life-saver on more than one occasion. I'm going to tackle one of these weekends to make more of these pre-made things, to store away. Even, for example, pre-seasoning our frozen meats - it just takes that extra step out when I get home from work, to make cooking dinner even easier. Our office is closed tomorrow for the holiday - I may just make that my daytime task to tackle!