Rain + sickies + pot pie = better than awful day

The kids have been a little sick since Sunday.  Yesterday, it ramped up for Drew and Winslow. And today?  Moi.  You know how in Ghostbusters II, there's an evil pink river flowing through the city?  Just imagine an evil green snotty river, and you'll know what's happening here at the KC in RP.  We haven't tested to see if the slime would make a toaster dance, but we might try.

It's also been raining. I love rain.  We need it.

However. Ahem. On the other hand.

Rain can be so dreary.  So dinner had to be something uplifting, miraculous, more than the beans and rice I had planned (seriously, though, the kids love beans and rice as well as plain ol' lentils), so I went a-cruisin' through my handy-dandy, nift-a-rino Bride and Groom: First and Forever Cookbook that my college friend (who just got engaged and her diamond is bigger than a chocolate chip cookie! Best Wishes, YY!) gave me when Ryan and I got married in 2009.  This cookbook is very very good.  Not only is it gorgeous, but it is also filled with great recipes.  I've only had one mild failure with the beef burgundy, which tasted good, but needed about 2 more hours in the oven.  Just ask my brother. He ate it too, and was free flowing with the criticism.  (I'll just get McDonald's for him next time, so he can have real food.  I'll make something nice for his wife because she did the right thing and pretended to love what I made.)

Anyway, I decided on chicken pot pie.  I've always loved the dish, and have even enjoyed those frozen versions that cost 79 cents at the store, but these days, I much prefer homemade as much as possible.

Chicken Pot Pie, adapted from Bride And Groom: First and Forever Cookbook

1 T olive oil

1 chopped onion

As much garlic as you want, chopped

3/4 tsp dried thyme (use fresh if you want, but use more)

Salt and pepper

1/2 c dry white wine

1 T flour

2/3 c chicken stock

1 jar alfredo sauce (15 oz)

3 c shredded cooked chicken

veggies of your choice: carrots, peas, corn, potatoes.  all should be cooked or canned or frozen (thaw before use)

1 sheet of pie pastry (make it yourself -enough for one pie-or use the premade stuff. This is one of those times I don't mind somebody else making it)

1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 425.

Heat the oil, onion, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. Cook until onion is soft.  Add wine and evaporate until the onions are just a tad wet.  Put in the flour, stir, and cook for 1 minute.  Add the stock, stir around, and let it thicken just a bit (shouldn't take very long at all).

Take the pan off the heat and add in the Alfredo sauce first (yes, you'll notice this is another premade item.  Alfredo sauce is not something I've made well.  A jar'll have to do). Then drop in the chicken and veggies. Add salt or pepper if needed. Roll out the pie dough over the filling.  I guess I should tell you now that I use a round casserole dish for this meal because I can make it a one pot recipe.  If you don't have a stove AND oven ready pan, transfer the filling to an oven friendly casserole dish or even several if you wanna make individual potpies.  Then you'll put the pie dough on.  I don't bother making sure it fits tightly.

Take a pastry brush and brush the beaten egg onto the pie dough.  Bake for 35-45 minutes.  Once you take it out, let it sit at least 15 minutes before serving. It's like lasagna.  If you eat it immediately, not only will you burn the hell out of your mouth, but you'll also get something a bit runnier than it should be.

Forgot to take a picture until we'd eaten supper.  Oopsy.

Drew helped me by building towers of cans and jars.  Can you say brilliant?  I can.  BRILLIANT!  You have to say it loudly with an English accent.

He actually had four things stacked and decided
 that the wasabi sauce needed to be on the floor.

How's that for symmetry?

There, that's where the wasabi goes.  

So there ya have it.  Pot pie saved the day.  And Drew helped.  Let's hope we don't have to do anything drastic tomorrow, like make chocolate cake.

Valentine's Day Tea Party

I am an enthusiastic subscriber to the local newspaper (KC Star).  That means while I am busy feeling smug about not having cable, thereby watching very little commercial television, I am exposed to subversive advertising that gets its evil claws around my soul without me even noticing.  These products and restaurants and stores don't even take out ads in the traditional sense.  They submit blurbs to the paper, letting everyone know about their foodie events.  Yes, I'm mainly talking about food since I love to eat it, talk about it, dream about it, cook it, and be an overall snob about it, depending on my mood and energy level at the moment.

This week in the Thursday section that lists all the upcoming events in the city, there was a little blurb about Bluestem Restaurant. It's been in the news some, it might even have a bit of a national reputation, and I've been wanting to go there.  On a side note, a fellow book club member lamented that her meal there was tainted by Eurotrash.  I nodded politely, looked appropriately disgusted by said trash, and filed it away so I could look up the term.  What is Eurotrash?  Well, let's just say if I were thinner, blonder, and gaudier, I could also be Eurotrash.  Hey, a girl can dream.  I'll add that to my "When I grow up, I wanna be..." list.  Currently, I want to be a paid political pundit, so Eurotrash aspirations will have to wait a bit.

Anywho, Bluestem was going to host a Valentine's Tea for families, featuring sandwiches and pastry.  For our family, though, it would've cost about $75 to attend.  Since I'd recently emptied the sofa of all lost change and spent it on a night at the nickel slots, I figured I could throw myself a little tea for a fraction of the price.  I invited another family for the fun and called it a party.

Screw it, we're doing our own tea!

I love parties!

Enjoying her Shirley Temple, Winslow smacks her lips.

My egg salad and cucumber sandwiches had everyone licking the leaf!

Ryan made the cookies...

Oooh, cookies with special messages on them!

How...uplifting?

Appropriate for Singles Awareness Day.

So wrong, and yet so right.

Isn't he special?

Meanwhile, Martha Stewart called me and made me prepare Chocolate Pots de Creme for all the adult guests.  And by "called me and made me", I mean, my mother subscribes to her magazine and sent me a copy.  Just reading the damn thing draws me into a trance of epic cooking proportions.  The recipe did not turn out as I expected.

Requisite chocolate dessert.

It was a little too ganache-y and not creamy enough.  Hell, it has the word "Creme" in the name--it should be creamy!  Since MS is the queen of perfection, and I am the queen of good enough and that's almost right, I'm going to take the blame.  However, I still ate all of it, my husband ate all of his, my friend ate his and his wife's (she's not a chocolate lover).  So nothing went to waste, despite the dessert's delusions of grandeur.

Of course, we also enjoyed drinks. Shades of red being the colors of VD (that's Valentine's Day, sir, and nothing more ::cough::), we thought Shirley Temples for the kids and something spiked for the adults.

If it's red, it tastes good, right?

Adult red drinks.   Or Triaminic parading around as cherry vodka. 

Even if it's on clearance, do not buy this vodka.
You'll also see Sun Chips in the background.  They cost $3.99.
More than a pound of slab bacon. What gives?

We had flowers at Katie's request.

After the party, the girls read a coloring book together.  I think the words are written in special ink that is invisible to adults.

Oh, and thanks for all my new followers!  I think I've managed to follow everyone back who has left me a message.  If not, I'll catch up in the next day.

Spread the love, y'all. And to those of us in KCMO, enjoy our first inch of snow for the season.

P.S. If you look carefully in one of the photos, you'll see paint samples we're testing in the kitchen...

I linked up to Type A Decorating, A Bowl Full of Lemons.

Advice, Good and Otherwise

Several things were brought to my attention recently. In no meaningful order, we're famous (again), our fan was ravenous for a post, I would be well "rewarded" for painting our fireplace, but I would never ever be rewarded again if I didn't write a post.

AHEM. So, here I am. Let us proceed.

Firstly, Betsy Speert responded to Starr's plea for kitchen redecoration ideas on her blog. Her suggestion to do precisely what we'd already decided to do paint was carefully considered as we gazed upon our freshly painted kitchen walls. In spite of the fact that Starr insisted I'd never paint again after the last paint job, I'll give you three guesses who did the majority of this work. Since I paint even sloppier than I write, Starr has to inspect my work to find and correct any drips or streaks before things get too sticky.

Painted.

Painted. For the un-initiated, that phallic device is a Yonanas machine that
does indeed turn bananas into ice cream.

I took other pictures showing the whole friggin' thing, but the room was so insanely messy that I thought I might get punched in the teeth if I posted it on the web. Clean up? Not happening this late. Just know that there's no fake wood panel left unpainted in the kitchen!

The fireplace, on the other hand... it's a work in progress.

Okay, I lied about posting pictures of the whole mess.
I forgot to take a picture of the fireplace by itself.
Sorry, Starr!

The "bricks", as I'm certain Starr's already enlightened you, are actually tiles. Tiles. Tiles that are all textured to add to the authenticity, and thusly a severe pain in the wrist to paint, which makes it much more difficult to paint two days in a row. At least every fifth "brick" is a proper pain to properly paint. It'll be a while before I get to touch a boob again.

Finally. Here's a cat picture.

Don't be fooled by the innocent "Brrrrrrrt?" look. He's a very bad kitty.
He's also currently keeping my feet warm.

Blog Hop!

You might have noticed a new "follow" tool over on the right.  Well, the old tool won't work pretty soon for any wordpress blogs, and there's an unconfirmed (for now) rumor that the tool will disappear for blogger users, too, so we have a new way of staying connected!

I'll tell you that my experience with Linky Follower was initially a bit bumpy.  I hit a few bugs.  However, the designer Brent got back to me ASAP about my problem, and all was well soon enough.  So if you have an issue, email him directly! (I'll note that Ryan added himself as a follower and thought it was hilarious to use my photo, so it looks like I'm following my own blog...durrr)

There's a Blog Hop around the webs to get folks signed up for the tool, and I figure why not?  Thanks to It's So Very Cheri for posting excellent instructions on how to participate and hosting the party.

RULES:

1. YOU MUST HAVE THE LINKY FOLLOWERS TOOL ON YOUR SITE TO PARTICIPATE.

{You can have both the LINKY FOLLOWERS & GFC on your site but you must have the LINKY FOLLOWERS to participate in this party hop.}

2. YOU MUST FOLLOW THE PERSON WHO HAS THE PARTY ON THEIR SITE AS A THANK YOU.

3. JUST ADD YOUR BLOG BUTTON TO THE LINKY PARTY BELOW.

4.THEN GRAB THE BLOG HOP CODE

You will find the code right under the Linky Party where it says CLICK HERE TO ENTER–

just under that it says: WHAT IS A BLOG HOP? GET THE CODE HERE

Click on GET THE CODE HERE and enter it into a post on your site.

You can grab the party button code in the FOOTER at Its So Very Cheri

You can grab info from my post if it helps you with your post.

5. THEN YOU FOLLOW OTHER BLOGGERS–(AS MANY AS YOU WANT)
–LEAVE EACH ONE OF THE BLOGS THAT YOU FOLLOW A COMMENT LETTING THEM KNOW YOU ARE FOLLOWING THEM AND ASK THEM TO FOLLOW YOU BACK.

If you want to add the BLOG HOP to your own site you will get lots of new followers–(see rule #2)

Cake...in the Microwave!

We've already visited the bad day cure of from-scratch cooking.  Homemade chocolate cake works as well as a booboo kiss from mommy.  But what if you don't want to wait to bake a cake? What if mommy just isn't around?  Or what if you only have 2 tablespoons of cocoa?

You make a little cake in the microwave, of course!

Yes, m'loves, in the microwave.  Now, I know some of you don't own one.  You'll have to revert to some other method (I bet it would work over an open fire).  I mean, I considered getting rid of ours. We rarely use it.  I'm not sure, though, if I can say goodbye now.  I kind of love this quick fix.

Just so you know, it's not a full-on cake substitute.  You cannot serve this to your kid for his birthday.  It's not worthy of a cooking contest.  And I wouldn't serve this at your Michelin starred restaurant. I guess you could, but I wouldn't.  This cake is for those bad days when you need cake NOW.

Adapted from Mama's Minutia Blog.

1/4 c flour

1/4 c packed brown sugar

2 T cocoa

Dash of salt

2 T flavorless oil

2 T strong coffee, water, or milk

Mix up the dry ingredients.  Add the wet.  Pour half the batter into a ramekin, the other half into another.  Put one ramekin in the microwave for 30-60 seconds.  Plop ice cream (optional) onto the cake and eat that sucker.  Store the other ramekin in the fridge (cover with plastic wrap) or cook it and serve to your 4 year old.

So that's the basic recipe.  FYI: I do not own ramekins (hint, hint).  So I used these little bowls my mom bought for me last year.  I also did not have coffee made, so I used milk.  Finally, our microwave is terrible and requires extra cooking time. The cake needed the full 60 seconds.  A good microwave? I'd start with 30.

I made mine, ate it, and then later decided to blog about it.  Sorries, y'all. It was quite tasty and is very chocolate-y.  Katie loved it, too.

The cake won't bring about world peace, but it did me good tonight.

Shared this post at The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday, Type A Decorating.