Archive for the ‘Comfort Food’ Category

Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

Over the past several weeks, I’ve gotten into some bad food habits.  Primarily, I haven’t want to cook when I get home from work because I can’t wait even a half hour for food.  I decided to experiment with the crockpot this week, and the results were more than worthwhile.

Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

The recipe is as easy as can be:

  • 3 potatoes, coarsely chopped
  • 1 onion, coarsely chopped
  • 2 carrots, coarsely chopped
  • 3 split chicken breasts
  • 1 Tablespoon(ish) poultry seasoning
  • 1 cup water
  • salt and pepper to taste

Put vegetables in the bottom of the crockpot.  Place chicken breasts on top.  Sprinkle poultry seasoning over top.  Add the water and salt and pepper.  Put the lid on.  8(ish) hours on low.

For the gravy: wisk in a few tablespoons of flour to the liquid and cook until thick.

I served with cornbread, which turned out to be an excellent combo.  And for under a dollar and an extra 3 minutes thanks to Jiffy, I don’t think you can really beat them with homemade.  At the very least, I know I can’t.

Posted in Comfort Food, Poultry, Recipes, Veggies | 1 Comment »

Not your grandma’s pumpkin pie

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

I like cutting corners, but only to the degree that I can get away with it. Trust me when I say that these mini pumpkin pies are *so* worth the extra effort.

not your grandma's pumpkin pie

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Crust:

2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 T. molasses
2 t. ground ginger
1 t. cinnamon
1 c. salted butter (cut into 1 cm cubes, very cold)
1/4 c. water (more, if necessary)

Mix first five ingredients together. I like to use a pastry cutter to really work in the molasses. Then, cut the butter into the flour mixture until shaggy. (I never understood that term until I started working on this recipe. Trust me when I say that you will too.) Slowly add the water and work the dough until moist and doughy throughout. Refrigerate dough for at least 3 hours.

Filling:

1 pkg. cream cheese
2/3 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
1 can pureed pumpkin
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
dash of ground cloves

With electric mixer, mix thoroughly cream cheese and brown sugar. Stir in condensed milk, eggs, and pureed pumpkin. Finally, mix in cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.

Putting it together:

Adding flour if necessary, push a tablespoon of dough into each muffin cup and up the sides. It’s important to make sure there are no holes in the mini pie crust. Spoon filling into crusts until full. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes. You want the filling to be nice and puffy and the crust to be golden brown.

Posted in Comfort Food, Desserts, Recipes | No Comments »

… some kind of day…

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

I rushed out of the house without breakfast this morning.  I didn’t realize until I was halfway to work, but didn’t stress at all because there’s a cafe in the lobby of my building.  I figured I would just grab a bagel or something.

When I arrived, I parked my car, and enjoyed walking to the building in the rain.  I had an umbrella, and I felt quite sophisticated today.  My hair was doing something nice; I was wearing my favorite coat for the first time this season; and I was wearing my favorite pair of pants which are super comfy but also do very kind things to my body, I think.  And then I stepped in a puddle.  My ankles were soaked, my shoes water-logged.  I’m pretty sure I didn’t look too sophisticated then.  The cafe was closed “due to illness”, and I grumpily made my way to the elevator.  The elevators in our building have mirrors on all four side, and the last thing I need at 8 a.m. is that much Jenny to look at.  Today, I didn’t expect it to be so bad, until I saw that I totally forgot to put on mascara this morning.  That’s right, dark eye liner, no mascara.

The day progressed rather similarly, with huge projects that hurt to think about for too long and a constant balancing act between being critical enough to help people improve and not making them angry.  I was bummed to miss the “5:20 funny” on the radio, even though I was in the car by 5:18.  I also unintentionally made a rather inappropriate gesture at work this evening – thank goodness only my office mate was around and brought it to my attention.

Somewhere in the midst of this day, I decided I needed “comfort food”.  Biscuits, for sure, how about macaroni and cheese too?  And what if there were sausage in the mac ‘n’ cheese?  And some brocoli? And so a meal was conceived.

Nathan Clendenin does not take credit for this photo

Nathan Clendenin will not take credit for this photo

I’m much too ashamed to tell you what is in it.  All I can say is that this was one of the heaviest meals I’ve ever had.  Surprisingly so, too.  I got turkey sausage and whole grain noodles.  It was quite delicious, nonetheless, and definitely hit the spot.  As with anything I make, there turns out to be about 4 times more than I intended, so I’ll be eating the leftovers for days.  Yikes!

... nor this one

... nor this one

Still, it was loads of fun to make, and even more fun to eat.

Posted in Comfort Food, Meat, Pasta, Recipes, Veggies | No Comments »