April 05, 2016

mini chicken pot pies

April 05, 2016/ Kelsey Siemens

Everything is better when it's mini, right? Okay, maybe not everything, but a lot of things. Including pie! I made a bunch of pastry dough a couple weekends ago, and made these mini chicken pot pies AND mini apple pies for dessert. Ugh. So good!! I also really enjoy getting to eat "the WHOLE thing". Ha!

Another bonus of mini pies? A higher crust to filling ratio...you know, if you're into flaky, delicious, crust perfection. They're also great for small households, since you can easily take one or two in your lunch the next day, or pop them in the freezer to pull out one or two at a time in the future!

mini chicken pot pies

recipe: Kelsey

Ingredients:

1 lb pie dough (my recipe here)

1 cup milk

chicken soup concentrate (ex. Better than Bouillon)

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons flour

1 large carrot, chopped

1/2 cup broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken thigh (or breast), cut into bite-sized pieces and cooked

black pepper

Directions:

First make the chicken broth mixture by mixing chicken broth concentrate with warmed up milk. (I used better than bouillon, and it calls for 1 tsp concentrate per 1 cup)

In a medium skillet, melt the butter and saute the onion and garlic on medium high for several minutes until the onion starts getting soft. Stir in the flour mixture and mix until it's evenly distributed. Add the chicken broth mixture, and whisk until the mixture starts to simmer and thickens. Add the carrots and simmer until they are nearly cooked. Add in broccoli, cooked chicken, and season with black pepper to taste. Set mixture aside to cool a bit while you get the dough ready.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out the pie dough and cut large circles out so that there is a bit of overhang once you place them into a muffin tin. If you don't have a cookie cutter big enough, try using a bowl, or just use clean scissors to cut a rough circle (that's what I did!). Cut smaller circles that are the same diameter of the top of the muffin tins.

Spoon some of the filling into each muffin tin, place the smaller circle of dough on top, and crimp the edges over to seal it firmly. Poke a couple holes in top for the steam to escape, and brush with a bit of egg if you'd like a beautiful, brown and shiny crust!

Bake at 400 for 30-40 minutes. Cool slightly before serving!

*Pop any extras into the freezer for later.

Also, in completely unrelated news....our RHUBARB is now big enough to pick!!! So yes, that means that today I made a rhubarb coffee cake AND tried my hand at making rhubarb scones. I LOVE RHUBARB! So keep your eyes peeled for some rhubarb-y recipes coming your way soon.

-Kelsey

March 21, 2016

cheesy rosemary pull-apart bread

March 21, 2016/ Kelsey Siemens

Happy Monday friends! What better way to start the week than with a loaf of ooey gooey cheesy rosemary pull-apart bread?

You might remember my (sweet) pumpkin pull-apart bread that I made way back in Fall, and this is similar but savoury! Everything is better with cheese, and our little rosemary plant stayed strong all through the Winter, so I decided to combine the flavours!

This bread is best served warm, and is a lovely complement to soup on a chilly night! Word of warning...try not to eat it all yourself, or you'll end up with a tummy ache. (Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything....)

Cheesy Rosemary Pull-Apart Bread

recipe by: Kelsey
Yields: one 9x5 loaf

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons sugar, divided

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1/4 cup hot water

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup milk

2 eggs

2 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary

Filling:

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 garlic gloves, minced

1 cup grated cheddar cheese (I used Old cheddar for more kick)

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix 1/2 tablespoon of sugar, yeast and hot water. Stir and set aside for about 10 minutes to allow yeast to activate. (If this mixture doesn't get nice and puffy then your yeast might not be good anymore, and it means your bread won't rise!)

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the rest of the sugar, salt, milk, and melted butter, eggs, rosemary, and yeast.

Use a wooden spoon to gradually stir in the flour, 1 cup at a time. Keep stirring until the dough comes away from the edge, at least a good 2 minutes (it will feel like longer!). The dough will be a bit sticky, but that's good!

Place the ball of dough in a large greased bowl, and cover it with a clean dish towel. Let rise in a warm place for an hour, or until doubled in size.

Deflate the dough, and knead in a tablespoon or two of flour depending on the stickiness of the dough. Let rest for 5 minutes.

Mix together melted butter and garlic, and set aside.

Roll dough out on a floured surface to create a rectangle about 12"x20" This will be a bit hard since the dough doesn't want to stretch easily. You'll get there!

Spread garlic butter mixture onto the dough, be generous with the butter. Sprinkle evenly with cheeses.

Cut dough into 6 short strips (I like to use a pizza cutter!), stack them on top of each other, and then cut into 4 or 5 more strips depending on how wide you rolled your dough (see photos below for clarification).

Carefully stack strips into a greased 9"x5" loaf pan. If it's a really tight fit, then leave out a few strips, and bake them in a mini loaf pan. Let dough rise for another 30 minutes.

Sprinkle a bit of extra cheese on top if you'd like, and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. If your loaf starts getting super brown before the 30 minutes are up, place a piece of tinfoil over the top of the loaf to keep it from getting any darker. Let cool slightly, and serve warm!

Happy Bread Making!

-Kelsey

February 26, 2014

superfood salad (with shrimp)

February 26, 2014/ Kelsey from {ps:heart }

Hold up....this is a post about food, and yet there is no caramel or chocolate in sight.

Jordyn and I have really really been wanting to start sharing our favourite meals (in addition to all the desserts we love) here on the blog, not only to share with all of you, but for ourselves and friends to have easy access to our everyday recipes. So, be prepared (hopefully) for more legitimate meals to be appearing here.

Don't worry, there will always be a healthy dose of sweets as well!

Anywho....this is superfood salad! It actually does have superpowers....since I'm not a huge fan of pomegranates or oranges, but since eating this salad I have been converted. There is so much protein and goodness going on in this salad, that it makes a wonderful lunch or supper, or even a great side dish.

Superfood Salad

(heavily) adapted from:

Iowa girl eats

Ingredients:

3 cups quinoa, cooked

1/2 white onion, diced finely

2 oranges, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 to 2 avocados, chopped

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 pomegranate (seeded)

1 3/4 cup frozen corn, thawed

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Vinaigrette:

2 limes, juiced (you can substitute lemons! whatever you have on hand)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

salt & pepper; to taste

Optional:

12-15 Shrimp (or grilled chicken would be great as well!)

1) In a large bowl, combine quinoa, onion, oranges, avocados, black beans, pomegranate seeds, corn and cilantro.

2) In a small bowl, mix together all vinaigrette ingredients. Pour over salad, and toss.

3) If cooking shrimp, brush a bit of vinaigrette onto them (before pouring it over the rest of the salad), then saute on high heat, just a couple minutes on each side. Serve on top of salad!