Pot Pie Bowl

This probably could have been made better with the addition of chicken pieces, but was completely yummy on its own. I used the leftover chicken broth from the chicken roast? (see previous post) and thickened it with flour, adding white wine for flavor and boiling it down a bit to make a rich gravy. Then I just tore up a fresh baked pilsbury biscuit and added some steamed veggies. Stir and you basically have a homemade pot pie in a bowl (minus the chicken). Pretty genius if you ask me. 

Chicken Roast?

I'm not really sure what to call this. Basically I made the pot roast I watched mom make last night, but with chicken instead of beef and opted to keep the broth for maybe something soup-ish tomorrow instead of for gravy tonight. It turned out to be very tasty. And the best part is, I completely winged it! I may prove to have a learning curve yet! I'm pretty excited because this is one baby step closer to being able to improvise with impunity, which is truly the goal here. 

Swiss Steak

Swiss steak never looked so good! I'm just now starting to realize that all of the big, fancy, special occasion meals that I thought were challenging works of culinary skill are actually pretty easy. They just take some additional ingredients/chopping time and cook for longer than the average dinner. This has always been one of my favorites so I'm glad it was a success. I do wish I had bought a higher quality meat than chuck roast, but I can fix that for next time. 

Raisin Cinnamon Bread

It grew!

I need to remember how long this takes to make so I don't end up staying up late every time. Still yummy though. Well I'm assuming. I haven't cut into them yet. I hope Mom and Dad like it. :)

Red Variation of Pasta Carbonara

So this was an interesting experiment. It was supposed to be creamy carbonara pasta but once I gathered all the ingredients I discovered that my Alfredo sauce had gotten moldy. So I decided to go ahead and try it subbing in regular spaghetti sauce instead. Also since I had pork thawed I subbed in pieces of pork medallions instead of bacon. So it's onions and garlic sauteed in the leftover pork grease and white wine. Then the cooked pasta gets coated in that mixture before adding the sauce which is made by whisking a couple eggs into pasta sauce. After that you melt in some cheese and fresh parsley. Then top with bacon/pork pieces. I decided to stir them in and added a bit more cheese and parsley to garnish. The overall effect was interest. It was rich and creamy but I'm not sure the sauteed items made much of an impact. That may have to do with the sauce substitution though. My only problem with this recipe is that I've never used eggs in such a way so I was worried about how well they'd get cooked. 

This picture was just cool because it actually caught the steam coming off the top. 

Breaded Pork Tenderloins (with cheesy scrambled eggs and pan-seared veggies)

This is a meal I always forget about but is very tasty. And I even found a use for the leftover eggs after I was done breading. Yum all around. I probably could have done a better job with plating but I was too hungry. Still at least I have nice pretty plates now, courtesy of my Aunt Ellen. Thanks!