Turn This Ship Around Pot Pie

In an effort to take a healthy spin on notoriously terrible for you meals, I scoured the internet for a healthy chicken pot pie. It was snowing outside and I wanted something warm and delicious. Success! Here is an amazingly delicious version:

I made two little mini ones along with a larger pie. There is something satisfying about enjoying your own little contained pie. Either way, really happy with how it turned out. 


Ingredients
For the crust:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons skim milk

For the Filling:
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
5 medium carrots, cut into large chunks
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup skim milk
3 stalks celery, sliced
3 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts
1/2 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt
1 cup frozen peas
1 1/2 tablespoon chopped parsley, 1 tablespoon chopped chives and 1 1/2 teaspoon chopped thyme
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions
Prepare the crust: Pulse the flour, baking powder and salt in a food processor until combined. Add the butter, one piece at a time, pulsing until the mixture looks like coarse meal.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and gather into a ball. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour.

Meanwhile, make the filling: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.Bring the chicken broth and carrots to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook 2 minutes; cover and keep warm. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and stir until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes. Add the milk, celery and the warm broth mixture and simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the chicken, yogurt, peas and chopped herbs. Season with salt and pepper.

Transfer the filling to a 9" deep pie pan. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until about 1/2 inch thick and slightly larger than the dish. Press the dough against the sides of the dish. Place on a baking sheet and bake until the crust is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

Valentine's Day via iPhone

This year we celebrated our fifth anniversary on Valentine's Day (I know, I know). I blew it on the picture taking job, but here are some photos from our lovely day/week.

 

Heart shaped baked goods are always the right choice, so I couldn't help myself with themed brownies. Ian made a salted caramel, pear ice cream to go on top. Yowza! 

We decided to really do it up and went to the highly acclaimed Chicago restaurant, graham elliot. While each bite tasted so incredible, we probably had ten to twelve bites in total. Definitely not a place you want to go if you are looking for a filling meal.

The cauliflower course (apologies for the lighting) consisted of four florets and a flower garnish, which we definitely ate to keep the meal going.

Oatmeal Pancakes

First, what a great little puzzle. This was part of bigger puzzle that was given to Ian as a birthday gift. The Rogers' are very crafty.

This morning I woke up wanting oatmeal and pancakes. Not being able to decide I just combined the two. These are both delicious and not too terrible for you. The recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, and I added in blackberries to mix things up.

Here is the full recipe:

Oatmeal Pancakes

• 3/4 cup oat flour (you can make this by pulsing rolled oats into a food processor or spice grinder until finely ground; 1 cup of oats yielded 3/4 cup oat flour for me)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (plus extra for the pan)
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 cup cooked oatmeal
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 large eggs

Whisk the dry ingredients (oat flour, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the butter, milk, cooked oatmeal, honey and eggs together until thoroughly combined. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Using a light hand is important for tender pancakes; the batter should be slightly thick with a holey surface.

Heat a 10-inch cast-iron pan or griddle over medium heat until water sizzles when splashed onto the pan. Lower to medium-low. Rub the pan generously with butter; working quickly, dollop 1/4-cup mounds of batter onto the pan, 2 or 3 at a time. Once bubbles have begun to form on the top side of the pancake, flip the pancake and cook until the bottom is dark golden-brown, about 5 minutes total. Wipe the pan with a cloth before griddling the next pancake.

Continue with the rest of the batter.

Serve the pancakes hot, straight from the skillet or keep them warm in a low oven. We also found these to reheat surprisingly well the next morning, again in a low oven.