Vegetarian PotPie recipe

I don't know what's gotten into me this week, but this is my second blog post after nearly two years of silence.  But I thought that The Giant's friend Maddy might like to know this recipe and this is a good way to share it.

A long time ago, my mom-in-law gave me an ANCIENT vegetarian cookbook published by the Seventh Day Adventists. It's from the 70's at least and it has a lot of miracle foods in it, which really isn't my jam but we got attached to this in our early days so I still make my version, and it's yum.  The pot pie isn't in the cookbook that I know of but the crust comes from it.
This amount fits into a 9x13 lasagna pan.  Takes a little over an hour to make.

Whole Wheat Pie Crust:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup regular flour
1 tsp salt.
Stir with  fork.
In  separate bowl or a container with a lid, mix:
1/2 c. oil
1/2c. very cold water
Stir or shake until emulsified.
Mix into dry ingredients.  Stir with a fork until a dough forms.  Roll out into a large rectangle between two sheets of lightly floured waxed paper.

Turn the oven on to 350.

Filling:
1 10-12 oz. pkg frozen mixed vegetables
3 10 oz. cans cream soups- potato, mushroom, mushroom with roasted garlic, whatever combo you like
1 10-12 oz. pkg frozen chik'n like food- I like Quorn niblets but other brands work fine.  You might want to cut them into smaller pieces.
About 1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder if you used plain soups

Mix these in a bowl and plop into crust.  I mix them right in the crust, but that's a delicate process.  Have at it if you want to.
At this point I put the filled pan into the oven to start cooking the filling.

Before it goes into the oven

In a bowl, mix with a fork:
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt

Melt in microwave for 50 seconds or stovetop:
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

Add butter to flour mixture with
1 1/2 c. half n half or whole milk

This will make a soupy substance.  Take the pan out of the oven and pour the goo onto the top of the warm filling.  It will be soupy.  Not to worry.  Turn the oven up to 425.  
Bake for 45 minutes until the biscuit topping is golden.
To serve make sure you cut through the bottom crust with  sharp knife.
Serve with cottage cheese on the side.

Enjoy!

Macaroni and Cheese Pizza

I used to be a recipe cook, but recently I have gotten more creative (brave?).  I tried something today that turned out nicely so I thought I would share my "recipe."  I made this up after scrolling through half a dozen on-line recipes, but it's not really based on any of them.
The occasion:  it's my oldest daughter's 15th birthday and she has some friends over for games.  We were talking about what to have and of course pizza was suggested; it always is.  So was mac and cheese because my mac and cheese is awesome.  Hence, macaroni and cheese pizza!
I used a refrigerated pizza crust, which I normally wouldn't do but hey! it's been a week.  So, I spread the crust on a greased pizza pan and sprinkled it with some shredded mozzarella cheese.

Then I made an abbreviated version of my usual scratch mac and cheese recipe.  Cooked enough macaroni to make about 3 cups.    Melted half a stick of butter, then stirred in about a teaspoon of salt and ground mustard and about 2 Tablespoons of flour.  I didn't measure the seasonings or flour- at this point you are aiming for a wet paste consistency.  Then I added a Tablespoon of parmesan cheese and a cup of milk.  When that made a nice soup I added two cups of mozzarella- this is where is got different from just being awesome mac and cheese, for which I use cheddar.  Mozzarella goes on pizza!

Anyway I cooled that mixture some and spread it on the crust and baked it for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  I considered putting bread crumbs on the top, but we don't have any, so I didn't.
 The kids said it was pretty good and they ate it all so I don't have a pic!  If you try this, let me know what you think!

Bread Recipes

I've recently begun baking bread again.  I don't own a bread machine anymore (a victim of one of our many down-sizings), so I'm using the dough hook attachment on my Kitchenaid stand mixer for basically the first time since we got the mixer.  A friend just asked me to share recipes, and I like to do that over the blog, even though my girls are pretty mad that I shared their secret-recipe cookie dough here.

When we became a vegetarians in high school, my friend Jamie and I learned to cook together.  I still remember standing in the produce section of Price Chopper trying to figure out what a eggplant was.  There were too many labels over one shelf!  So we asked a bystander.  She didn't know either.  I don't remember how we figured it out.  About the same time, we made hummus and mistook a "clove" of garlic for a "bulb!"  That was some garlicky sandwich spread!!

I don't think I started experimenting with bread until college.  Better than what most college students experiment with...Ahm!  I do not remember much success at that time either.  I had a terrible time getting yeast to "work," and now I think I used hot water.  And the worst part was that I hated wasting anything, so I would just use it anyway and get some doughy, disgusting concoctions.  All part of the learning process, I suppose.  This may be how I ended up getting a bread machine, which I think was a birthday present from my parents the first year we got married- which was also the year I graduated college.

I struggled with the bread machine.  I could never get the loaf out of the pan smoothly, and the paddle in the bottom left a huge hole in the bread.  It was an awkwardly shaped pan.  Most often I used it for dough, either pizza/breadsticks or cinnamon rolls.  This has, by the way, created or at least encouraged a monster in my husband. 

So something about having a full-size kitchen again has awakened a desire to cook and bake.  My daughters have taken over all cookie-baking, so here I am, baking bread.  I still usually make gluten-free breads for my little kids from mixes because I don't want to mess up and waste such expensive ingredients, but I am working on it.  I started making sandwich bread for fun but also to avoid the vilified high fructose corn syrup and basically because it seems "homey" to me.  Everyone loves the smell of bread baking.  The down side is that at least half a loaf of the fresh bread frequently disappears before it even cools completely.

Here's my favorite recipe that has worked successfully lately (out of the cookbook that came with the mixer, btw):

Honey Oatmeal Bread

1 1/2 c. water
1/2 c. honey
1/3 c. margarine or butter
5 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 c. quick-cooking oats
2 tsps. salt
2 packages active dry yeast ( I use jarred Fleishman's, 4 1/2 tsps.)
2 eggs
1 egg white
1 Tbsp. water
Oatmeal


These instructions are my "version" of what's written in my cookbook.  Preheat your oven to the lowest temp it will go to or "warm."  Mine goes to 170.  When it's warm, turn it off.  Melt butter in a bowl for about 30 seconds in the microwave, add honey and water, and microwave another 30 seconds.  If you can use a candy thermometer, check for it to be about 120 or 130 degrees.  In large mixing bowl , place 5 cups of the flour, the oatmeal, the salt and the yeast (I do not recommend doing this in anything smaller than my mixer, or with a handmixer unless it is really something special.)  Stir up that dry mix, then add warm milk mixture and eggs, mixing constantly.  Add another 1- 1 1/2 cups flour half a cup at a time until the dough become smooth and elastic or clings to the hook and cleans the side of the bowl.

Grease a clean glass mixing bowl and put the dough in it.  Turn the dough over so that the surface is coated with oil.  Cover with plastic wrap or foil and put it in that nice warm oven.  Let it rise about an hour or until it doubles. 

Punch it down, plop it out on a floured surface and cut it in half.  Roll each half out to about 8 x 14 inches. Roll up on the short side, pinch the seam closed, roll the ends under if it is too long,and put in in a greased loaf pan.  Let rise in the oven again for about an hour, covered with a dishtowel. 

When risen, take them out and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  If using metal pans turn the oven down 25 degrees.  In a small bowl, beat the egg white and Tablespoon of water in a small bowl or cup, and brush the risen loaves.  Sprinkle with oatmeal.  Cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.  Cool on wire racks for 10 minutes, then loosen with butter knife and turn out to cool completely.  Do not wrap up until completely cool.


For Cinnamon buns, I highly recommend going to allrecipes.com and searching the words "Clone of a Cinnabon."  (Caution:  makes a Huge amount!  Do this when friends are coming over!)

Peanut Butter Vegetable Soup, by request

Here's a recipe that gets very distinct reactions from people when we mention it.  About 30% of people are totally disgusted by the idea, but the other 70% are intrigued and enjoy this combination.  So, for the adventurous among you, I post this recipe which I must state from the outset is NOT original to me.  I am a cookbook cook.  However, I can't tell you which cookbook it came from because, after about 13 years of tough love, the spine came apart and I put the favorite recipes into sheet protectors in my recipe binder.  I can tell you that it was a small vegetarian cookbook with a green cover, and it might have been put out by Better Homes and Gardens. 
Without Further Ado:

Peanut Butter Vegetable Soup.
3 stalks celery, sliced (1 1/2 cups)
2 medium carrots, chopped (1 cup)
1 large onion, diced (1 cup)
3 gloves garlic, minced
2 T butter or margarine
3 cups water
1 medium potato, diced (1 cup) I leave the skin on, personal preference
1 medium zucchini, sliced (1 cup)  I do half slices
4 tsps. instant vegetable or chicken bouillion (I use 4 cubes Herb-ox vege)
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 16oz. can of diced tomatoes
2 T snipped parsley or 2 tsp dried.
1/2 cup peanut butter

Melt the butter in a large saucepan and cook celery, carrots onion and garlic for about 5 minutes until onion is tender.  (All good vege recipes start with onion and garlic, I think)  Then, add the water, potato, zucchini, boullion cubes and pepper, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer about 10 minutes.  Check potatoes for done-ness- this depends on how big your dices were.  Stir in undrained tomatoes and parsley.

Put the peanut butter in a small bowl and add about 1 cup of the broth to it.  Stir to combine until smooth.  Add back to pot, stir, heat through and serve.

I have never tried this with reduced fat or other modified peanut butter, so if you do, let me know how it works because this recipe has gobs of fat.  I wouldn't recommend it though- i suspect it would un-emulsify.  
I have another recipe for an African peanut soup where you puree a portion of it and add it back.  That recipe also contains tomatoes, leading me to think that these are understood to be complimentary flavors.  I never would have thought so.  But, I also love my apple salad with chili and lime juice, so, what do I know?

Please let me know if you enjoy this recipe.  I recommend serving it with fresh  bread and butter.