Rosie’s Best

Did I ever tell you about the girl who lives around the corner, who has a food blog and has a burgeoning-yet-already-successful business selling homemade granola? Or about the time that I made a stray comment about a beautiful teacup making an appearance in one of her posts, and then I went away for the weekend, and when I came home that same teacup was sitting on my front stoop with a gracious handwritten note? No, I never did? Better late than never, right?

You can try some of Alicia’s scrumptious granola by ordering some from her Etsy shop, Rosie’s Best, or stopping by the Iowa City New Pioneer Co-op. Check out her food blog, Culinary Bliss, to keep up with the beautiful local and nutritious food she’s whipping up. Congrats on your success, Alicia!

Got PIE?

Stricken by a sudden craving while we were roaming the aisles at the local Hy-Vee, I decided that I needed to attempt to bake a fake chicken pot pie. Growing up, I’ve eaten countless of those little frozen pucks of meat, but I’d honestly never tried a homemade version. Now that I’m vegetarian, I wouldn’t be trying the meaty version, but I definitely needed to try my hand at a meatless one.

I don’t know why I’m still so scared of pie dough. It’s never as difficult to make as I think it’s going to be. I’m just a lazy wuss, I guess.

It was pretty much the ugliest pie ever.

Until it was done! Then it just looked delicious.

Homemade Chik’n Pot Pie

• Half of a medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 4 Tbsp butter (I used Kerrygold)
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 can veggie stock
• 4oz. white mushrooms, sliced thin
• 1 bag frozen mixed vegetables
• Fake chicken (I used Morningstar Farms’ Meal Starters Chik’n Strips)
• About 6 pinches dry sage
• About 1 pinch dry rosemary
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Smitten Kitchen’s All Butter, Really Flaky Pie Dough
• One egg, whipped, for eggwash

1. In a large skillet, saute the onions and garlic in the butter on medium heat until translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in flour until fully incorporated, and then slowly add the veggie stock until you’re left with a thick gravy. (While you’re doing this, you can be par-baking your lower crust in the oven. I baked it for 10 minutes at 325°.)
2. Add your sage and rosemary pinches now, and adjust to taste. Add mushrooms and bag of frozen vegetables and lower heat to allow to simmer.
3. Once the gravy is simmering again, add fake meat. Allow to heat up again to a simmer. Salt and pepper gravy to taste.
4. Dump the contents of your skillet into the waiting pie crust. Add the top crust to your pie, crimp the edges, cut three slits in the top, and brush the top with your whipped egg.
5. Bake pot pie at 375° for about 40 minutes, longer if necessary. It’s helpful to place your pie pan on top of a cookie sheet so that any overflow is caught and doesn’t dirty up the floor of your oven, smoking up and causing the smoke detectors to go off.
6. Enjoy!

NROM

Spring Break Mania: Day 3

I don’t know why I try to set non-guest goal activities for myself when I have people coming over. Isn’t that silly? Like I’m going to be tromping around with a dirty laundry basket while people are trying to socialize! Tonight’ll be my catch-up night, to finish the things from the other two nights this week that I didn’t manage to get to, plus a few extra. Tonight starts my 5-day weekend, too, ahhhhhhh! I think I’m going to drink an organic raspberry ale in celebration. And eat a salad. I’m so subversive.

THINGS TO DO WEDNESDAY

• Finish laundry
• Straighten bedroom
• Vacuum bedroom
• Order sink unit for basement bathroom
• Cook dinner
• Plan menu and grocery list for St. Patrick’s Day feast tomorrow
• Wash bedding
• Spot vac floors
• Sweep kitchen