Recipe 13 - Chicken Pot Pie

Well kiddos, I must say the irony in this post just kills me. I go allll semester with a streak of amazing meals and posts that made my mouth water when just thinking about what I had eaten, but here I am to report a completely failed cooking adventure. I debated whether or not to post this here, but I think this semester has been as much about our failures as our successes, so I suppose I will.

I tried to make a chicken pot pie using a combination of what I vaguely remembered my dad telling me about cooking one and the knowledge I had gained this semester. What I got was a soupy mess that my boyfriend tried to fix when I was in class and even with his help, it wasn't very good. I think I had a few problems:
1) Apparently I should have added flour to the milk before I added it to the mix, so that the filling would would thicken up.
2) I think I put too much filling in the pie and it made the dough soggy.
3) I should have tried to cook the vegetables/chicken broth/milk in a large skillet (which we didn't have anyway) rather than a pot. But, there wasn't much I could do about this anyway.

So you can understand what happened, I am going to leave a series of pictures and the advice to not try to make chicken pot pie with little to no help. =] As this is the only recipe this semester that came out as less than stellar, I feel this project could rightly receive a 13/14. =D

Recipe 12 - Chocolate Covered Fruit

I didn't really use a recipe for this, but I did get the idea to cover them in nuts from bettycrocker.com. =]

First I microwaved a big bag of semi-sweet morsels for about 4 minutes in a bowl, then stirred it up.


I poked each fruit with a toothpick, dipped it in the chocolate, sprinkled nuts if desired, and then set it on wax paper to harden.


The fruit hardens much faster (and better) if put somewhere cold, like a refrigerator. Or, since it is the arctic outside, I put one tray in the car. ahaha.

You guys seemed to love these, I guess they were a hit! =]

Recipe 11 - Potatoes

This is my boyfriend's recipe, and it was totally baller and super easy. Perfect to have with those turkey burgers. =]

Spices (any/all are optional, this is just how we did it)
Crushed Red Pepper
Garlic Powder
Oregano
Ground Thyme
Parsley Flakes
Seasoned Salt
Paprika

You start with a can of 'whole new potatoes' like these and cut them in half or fourths, depending on their size and your preference. Put in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Then, add dashes of the spices listed above - do so to taste/smell. Specific quantities are difficult. Mix throughly so spices are even and potatoes even lined in oil and spices.


Then, put on a baking sheet and bake them in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees, rotating the pan 180 degrees about halfway through.


ALL DONE! Serve with ketchup if desired and eat happily! =]

Recipe 10 - Grilled Parmesan Turkey Burgers

This recipe I found from bettycrocker.com, but I changed it a decent amount.

1 lb ground turkey
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 hamburger buns, split

I started with a pound of ground turkey meat, put it in a bow with the salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese (I didn't want to buy chives) and mixed it thoroughly with mah hands. I also added dashes of red pepper flakes, parsley flakes, and seasoned salt for extra flavor.


I then pulled balls of meat apart and smushed them into patties, about 3/4 inch thick. Here is a cool trick: if you make the center of the patty a little thinner than the outsides, it will cook evenly. =] They cooked for about 6-8 minutes on the grill (flipped occasionally) before they seemed to be done. The inside temperature should be about 165 degrees when they are fully cooked.



Lastly, I garnished them with honey mustard, mozzarella cheese, and diced tomatoes on a hamburger bun. DELICIOSO!


This recipe was really easy, and absolutely amazing. I really like turkey burgers, but adding the parmesan cheese and spices into the meat was just brilliant. SO GOOD SO GOOD. It made four burgers, and one mini one.

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Recipe 6 - Halloween Brownies

Clearly, I am waaay behind with this (my scanner has been giving me muchos problemas, but I have it fixed now and can add the recipe I used!), but here is the recipe I used for those brownies I brought to class. =D You guys can review - I thought they were pretty tasty, but I guess when cooking it is really the masses that count!

I got my recipe from a betty crocker magazine and obviously I changed it somewhat, but what else is new? =]

First, I mixed the brownie batter just like the box said to, also adding white chocolate chips in the batter (the recipe called for peanuts but I don't like them and didn't know about allergies in the class, so I went with more chocolate instead). I then baked it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.



Then, once the brownies were just about done, I pulled them out and dumped a buttload of mini marshamallows on top - you literally couldn't see brownie underneath them. =] I put it back in the oven for about five minutes, pulled it back out once they had puffed up a lot, and then stuck candy corns everywhere in the mallows.


There were a few things I did differently from the recipe - 1) I didn't use peanuts, as already stated. 2) I didn't microwave frosting and tint it green with food coloring, then drizzle it over the marshmallow. This part was not of my choosing. Are you ready for an amazing fact that broke my heart? THEY DON'T SELL LIQUID FOOD COLORING ANYMORE. Anywhere. I looked at several different stores - nothing. All they have is this dumb 'gel coloring' that I wasn't sure would work/taste good, so I had to forgo this step in the directions. =[ 3) I used candy corn instead of candy pumpkins. Because, well, I wanted to. haha.

Anyway, judging by how few of these I had left, I am assuming they were a hit. I certainly liked them. =]

Also, I didn't get a good picture of them finished, so the caption pictures is just the one from the magazine.

Recipe 9 - Garlic Lime Chicken Fajitas (with Shrimp)

MY SCANNER WORKS!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAYYYY!!! coughcough. On to the recipe. =]

Walmart has these really cool little sets of spices you can buy, that come premeasured and with a recipe to use them in. I found one a few weeks ago for Garlic Lime Chicken Fajitas and decided to buy it. Last night, I cooked it and it was absolutely amazing - maybe my favorite thing I have cooked this whole semester.




First, I mixed the salt, spices, oil, lime and oranges juices in a bowl and stirred with a fork.


I cut up the chicken and then put it and the shrimp (just the frozen kind from walmart - be sure to dethaw first) in a large ziploc bag with the marinade. Then I put the bag in the fridge for about a half an hour.


Then, I dumped everything onto a skillet on the stove, cooking it on medium heat until it was clearly done cooking. The red peppers and onions had been cut and I added them the same time as the chicken/shrimp/marinade. I stirred it sometimes, but mostly just let a top on it to stay moist.



That's all it took! I put it on a tortilla with sour cream, moz cheese, diced tomatoes, and lettuce and NOMNOMNOM it was done and delicious!!


There were only a few things I did differently than the directions. I read them wrong at one point about the marinade and didn't keep 1/4 of it to the side to cook in, but it was still DELICIOUS. Obviously, I also added the shrimp.