Harvest

For Poets United Midweek Motif – Abundance.

Harvest
“Skills can be taught. Character you either have or you don’t have.” Anthony Bourdain

A bushel basket full of freshly dug potatoes,
Yellow squash and zucchini,
Green beans and tomatoes, peppers –
Heaped up, running over.
The last of the harvest of my garden.
The vegetables have been shared with neighbors.
and now at the end of the season
the basket of goodies will be shared
at the Food Bank.
I use the abundance of my training as a chef
to share and cook there.
The smiles will grow like my garden.
Abundance in its purest form.

 

Vegetable Pot Pie

free Wikipedia image

Where’s the meat???? Well, you don’t need any for this recipe. Vegetable Pot Pie is healthy for people and animals. If you must have meat, add some chunks of cooked chicken. But honestly folks, you don’t need it. Lots of veggies in a warm thick sauce nestled between two pie crusts, making the house smell so good and driving away that cold weather outside.

You can add other veggies of course, but this recipe has classic pot pie veggies and what’s so good about it, you can use frozen bagged vegetable mixtures to save time and effort. And if you are really driven for time and want to simplify it even more, add the equivalent liquid amount of cream of mushroom or celery soup. Not as good and considering how easy it is to make a roux and add liquid, it would be a shame to take the canned soup shortcut.

If you have to cross over from vegan, a good extra touch is about 5 minutes before pulling from the oven, sprinkle a nice amount of grated parmesan or cheddar cheese on the top crust and allow to melt. Serve this with a hearty appetite. Get warm and comfy on the inside and smiley on the outside. Yowzer y’all, it’s good.

Vegetable Pot Pie
1 cup thinly sliced carrots*
1 cup frozen green peas*
1 cup small diced potatoes*
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery*
1/2 cup finely chopped onion* OR
*4 cups of comparable frozen vegetables
1/2 cup butter substitute, or heart smart type margarine
1/3 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
Freshly ground black pepper – a few good grinds
good pinch of celery seed
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 3/4 cups vegetable broth (I use the water I cooked the vegetables in)
2/3 cup almond milk (unsweetened, unflavored)
Two 9-inch unbaked pie crusts, lard free (I use ready made from the dairy case, room temperature and dusted with a little flour when rolling out)

Directions
Preheat the oven to  400 F. Line a baking sheet with foil to place the pie on before cooking; it will keep any filling from dripping into the oven and burning. In a medium saucepan, combine the vegetables. Cover with water, bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, drain and set aside. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the onions in the butter substitute until they are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour, seasoned salt, pepper, celery seed and garlic powder. Cook for 2 minutes to get the raw flour taste out. Slowly stir in the broth until smooth and then add the almond milk. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until thick, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the drained vegetables. Roll out one of the unbaked crusts to a 13-inch diameter and place in a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. Pour the mixture into the bottom crust. Roll out the second pie crust and place on top. Seal the edges and cut small slits in the top to allow steam to escape. Bake until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is bubbly, 30 to 40 minutes. If the top of the pie becomes too dark, loosely cover with foil and continue cooking. Cool for 10 minutes before serving

Super Summer Salad Saturday

Summer – how hot is it? It is so hot trees are running around looking for shade; the hens are laying hard cooked eggs, the melt time for a Popsicle is 20 seconds…

With this in mind, at this time of year, I cook as little as possible.  Salads, sammies, smoothies – you name it. In the South, we love our cold plates: tuna or chicken salad with sides of pickled beets, tater salad, coleslaw, bean salad, macaroni salad, sliced fresh from the garden tangy tomatoes – I keep bowls of layered salad, chicken salad, five cup salad, marinated veggies (see blog on Quickles) all through the summer.

A lifesaver to me this time of year is my eight quart stainless steel Presto pressure cooker. I grew up with these being used and have no fear of them. I respect them and know how to treat them and in return, they are good to me. When chicken breasts go on sale, I will usually buy about 20 pounds at one time. I rinse off, and do two cookings in my pressure cooker. In about 30 minutes, I have cooked all that chicken. I purchase with the skin on, bone in for best flavor. Into the cooking water I add some celery, onion, salt, freshly ground pepper, chopped parsley. When the chicken has cooled, I pull it out and de-skin and debone, then put into freezer bags of two cups each. The rich broth is strained and frozen for future use. The cooked chicken can be used for future casseroles, salad additions, and my famous chicken salad. My mama taught me how to make this. Again, we go with the simplest is best policy: no grapes, cranberries, nuts, pineapple – good quality simple ingredients. To make enough for my husband, inlaws, folks at work and church, and for several meals and sammies, I use 3 pounds of whole chicken breast. This recipe makes a lot. Common sense will tell you how to break it down.

Celia’s Chicken Salad
Chicken breast, cooked, de-boned, skin off, and shredded
Hellman’s Mayonnaise – 1 cup, more if needed
3 stalks Diced celery
A few finely diced sweet gherkins or,
2 TBS sweet pickle relish
ground mustard to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Put shredded chicken into large bowl. Add celery, pickle, good heavy sprinkle of ground mustard, and a couple of tablespoons of the chicken broth. Add mayonnaise. Using your hands, mix all ingredients well. Mess but the best way. I use those thin disposable plastic gloves. The chicken will be tender enough it should basically just all blend together with the other ingredients. Wait about 20 minutes and taste. Adjust seasonings. Add salt, pepper, more pickle, celery, mayonnaise as needed. I personally like a lot of diced celery and about a tablespoon of pickle added. That’s it! Put into sealable container and refrigerate. Use for cold plates, stuffed tomatoes, sammies, bribes, etc.

Layered Salad – Classic Recipe
3 cups torn lettuce
1/2 shredded carrot
1 medium Vidalia, red, or equivalent in scallions, chopped
1 medium cucumber. chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup bell pepper, chopped
1 cup frozen small green peas, thawed
1/2 Hellman’s mayo
1/4 cup buttermilk ranch dressing
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheese
3 tbs. crumbled cooked bacon

In a 3 qt. trifle or deep bowl, layer ingredient, first ingredient into the bottom of the bowl, etc. Stop after you add the green peas. Mix mayo and dressing and spread over top of ingredients, going to the edge of the bowl and sealing. Add cheese and bacon. Cover and chill several hours before serving. OPTIONS: alternate toppings are freshly grated parmesan cheese, crumbled feta cheese, toasted sunflower seeds, toasted almonds, cooked chicken breast. The chicken breast would be one of the items layered into the salad  The beauty of this salad is that you can use what items you like, more or less of them, make in a deep dish or spread out on a 9×13 dish.

 

Five Cup Salad (not really five cups of stuff)
1 cup (11 oz. can) mandarin oranges, drained
1 cup (11 oz. can) crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup sour cream
1/2 chopped maraschino cherries
1/2 cup freshly grated or thawed grated coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. I save the mandarin oranges for last and gently fold in.Cover and refrigerate for several hours before serving. Serves about 6, so increase as needed. Variations: If desired, substitute half sour cream with half whipped cream, or Cool Whip to reduce the tartness of the sour cream. I personally like the tartness of the sour cream. Add more coconut, pecans, cherries to your own taste.

Daily Photo Challenge: Fresh! oh yeah

I ran away from work Friday and had a sabbatical for personal enrichment and development. In other words, I spent a whole day tooling around by my own little round self going hither and thither, in and out of places, looking and poking about and even at some point, I actually purchased a few items: fresh local produce, a couple of kanzashi, a lemon chess pie….among other things.

Yesterday’s Photo challenge was Fresh!  Today, I am beguiling you all with pictures from my favorite local stand – My title for this pictorial is:  Jewels of Summer.  You will find emerald, jade, peridot, opals, pearls, topaz, rubies, garnets.  And I will give you an example of some of the princely sums paid for these jewels:  sweet corn 3/$1, bell peppers (the size of a 16 oz. cottage cheese container!) 3/$1, cukes 2/$1, local peaches and nectarines – $1.49 lb.    So…enjoy my crown jewels!