Donut Army

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, I sure do loves me some pot pies. I particularly love this recipe because I can divide it up into several smaller pot pies, freeze them, and then have them on hand for cold nights, or days when I'm under the weather. Just perfect. Freezer Chicken Pot Pies Cook's Country 1 1/2 lb chicken breasts, boneless, skinless 2 T vegetable oil 5 1/2 c stock 2 T unsalted butter 1 onion, chopped 3 carrots, peeled and chopped 1 rib celery, chopped 1/2 c flour 1/4 c milk 2 tsp thyme (fresh), minced 2 T lemon juice 1 15-oz boxes Pillsbury Ready to Roll Pie Crust 1 1/2 c peas, frozen ** Note -- Feel free to vary the ingredients and their proportions in this recipe. The worst you can do is put too much stuff in for the amount of liquid that complements it. Big deal. For the version pictured below, I added some mushrooms, and I probably quadrupled the amount of celery -- I just add as much as I have on hand, and as much as I would like to eat. Heat 1 T oil in

The name says it all - it's a basic (but tried and true) recipe with endless variations. No frills, but tasty and easy to make, even for beginners. I ate it all week long and never tired.   Basic Multi-Vegetable Soup Garden Variety 3 T olive oil 2 medium onion, chopped 1/2 c celery, sliced 1 carrots, scrubbed and sliced into 1" coins 1 potato, scrubbed and cut into 1/2" cubes 2 c tomatoes, diced (fresh or canned) 6 c stock 1/4 tsp pepper 1 tsp basil (dried) 3 c mixed vegetables (see below), diced Heat olive oil in large heavy soup pot over medium heat. Add onion, celery and carrot. Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add potato, tomatoes, broth, pepper and basil. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes. Add vegetables, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Some suggested combinations: Cauliflower, green beans, shredded cabbag

I owed a friend of mine a big thank-you for a favor he'd done, and I asked what he would like for me to bake for him as a gift. He said he wanted some of my mother's sugar cookies. My mom's sugar cookies are delicious, but since I had just made a large batch for Christmas and still had some in the freezer, I thought I would make this batch more interesting by turning it into a taste test. The basic recipe calls for vanilla extract and orange peel as the key ingredients. I decided to make three different bathes of the base recipe: 1. vanilla extract + orange peel 2. orange extract + orange peel 3. lemon extract + lemon peel Again, I am a fan of mis en place preparation -- lay everything out on the counter so that you know you have all your ingredients, and, so that they are ready to go when you need them. Plus, it makes clean-up a snap.        When doing a taste test like this, it's also important to keep your samples labeled. You don't know if they act

I was reading a lot about olive-oil based baked goods over the weekend -- olive oil cupcakes, olive oil cakes, etc. I realize that replacing the fat in any baked sweet with olive oil isn't that dramatic -- it would be like replacing the vegetable oil in a cake with something infused or otherwise slightly scented. But to me, it seemed like it would be so jarring -- too grassy. So, of course, I had to try it. I found this recipe, which worked well for me since I have a drawer full of clementines in my fridge. For many of you, you may know these fruits as the box of Cuties in your produce section. These are clementines, or, sometimes called seedless tangerines. The original recipe is below. I did not measure my zest or clementine juice; instead, I just used 3 pieces of fruit and went from there. My cake was heavy on the citrus (which I don't mind), but light on the olive oil flavor. I highly recommend measuring the citrus so that it doesn't overpower the expensive ol

I had a guest in recently who requested that we make curry one evening. I checked out what we had in the house and threw this together -- it's a variation Chicken Curry Gourmet Magazine , February 2007 1 1/2 lb chicken (skinless, boneless) 1 tsp salt 2 T vegetable oil 3 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped 2 tsp curry powder (Madras) 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper 1 c coconut milk 1 14 1/2 oz can tomato (sliced, diced, chopped, anything) 1/4 c currants 10 oz okra** 1/2 c cashew nuts ** We couldn't find any okra, so, we threw in carrots and mushrooms. Curry is very forgiving. So, use whatever is on hand, so long as you think the flavors will go well together. Heat oil in a 12" skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown chicken, turning over once, about 5 minutes total. Transfer chicken to plate. (If using hard vegetables, saute them in the pan now to soften them up a bit first -- about 5-7 minutes.) Stir garlic, curry and cayenne into fat in sk

I have said it before, and I will say it again: I grew up hating cauliflower. It was served to me boiled to death. Later, in grad school, I fell under the terrible rumor that white foods lacked nutrients and therefore should be passed over in favor of dark green foods. My entire relationship to cauliflower changed with this recipe. I am not over-stating the fact. Previously relegated to a poor-man's broccoli to be dipped into ranch dressing, it is not something to be featured and adored. This two-step, but simple, preparation technique was given to me by Jacques Pepin, quite possibly the one person you want around you to take away the scary nature of French food. I mean, seriously -- can you get any simpler list of ingredients than this? Cauliflower (Chou-fleur) Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques 1 head cauliflower Butter Cut the cauliflower into florets. Drop florets into a large pot of boiling, salted water and boil 10-12 minutes, until stem can be pierced with po

It's likely that many of you have never made your own applesauce. I assure you, there is nothing to it. And, if you want to feel a bit creative in the kitchen, while also making your house smell delish, you should try making some homemade applesauce. It's one of the few dishes you can set on the stove and walk away from (but don't go far) while it cooks down. I know - it's counter-intuitive to add peppercorns to your applesauce. But the whole chai spice combination goes well with apples. It produces a very dark-colored sauce, and is a nice change from the traditional versions.  I often make applesauce, but today felt like using a variation I'd read about in Cooking Light . For some reason, the recipe itself isn't coming up on the Cooking Light website, but, here 'tis. Chunky Chai Applesauce Cooking Light , November 2008 1/2 c apple cider 2 lb apples, peeled, cored and chopped 1 c brown sugar 1 1/2 T lemon juice 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/8

I found an old recipe from Vegetarian Times that called for roasting eggplant and tomatoes. The cheese filling included ricotta, mozzarella, and tofu. As I was assembling the lasagna, I realized I didn't want to follow the instructions. That is a great thing about lasagna -- it's very forgiving. Use what's in the fridge for the vegetables, and use what's in the fridge for the filling, too. Very, very forgiving -- don't be scared. In my experience, Vegetarian Times -- especially from the late 90s and early 2000s -- is extremely hit-or-miss in its recipes. And I approach their recipes with great skepticism. Indeed, I approached this recipe with great skepticism and changed much about it -- dropping the tofu (which would probably actually be quite a good part of the filling) and, most importantly, drowning the noodles in tomato sauce. Roasted Eggplant Lasagna Vegetarian Times , October 2001 Original recipe: 1 1/2 lb eggplant, peeled, quartered legnthwise

Have you ever made something to eat and said to yourself, "Dang! Did that just come out of MY kitchen!?" That's what I've been saying ever since I made this dish earlier in the week. Great the first day, great as leftovers. And not that complicated too make (does take some slightly less than ordinary spices for some kitchens). This dish has a wonderful smoky flavor that comes from the beans. I chose to use yellow split peas for the color contrast against the spinach. Delish! Spinach Dal Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant 1 1/2 c red or brown lentils, or, yellow or green split peas 4 c water 2 dried chiles, whole 1/4 tsp turmeric 1/2 tsp salt 2 T ghee or vegetable oil 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 1 c chopped onions 4 c chopped, fresh spinach 1 tsp peeled and grated ginger root 1 T fresh lemon juice 1/2 - 1 tsp garam masala salt to taste Wash the lentils (or peas) in several changes of cold water. In a medium pot, cover them with the water and add the

This is a dish I've been making for years. Actually, now that I think about it, I've been making this for two decades. It's just that good, and that simple. Good for serving when you have guests, and good as a stand-by when you don't have much in the house. It comes from that perplexing cookbook Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant . Perplexing because why did they print a book with over 700 pages in it, and then give it such cheap binding? Did they not know that the binding would tear from the weight of the pages? But, this cookbook has given me many of my favorites -- including the best banana bread recipe bar none, and, this warm pasta dish. Saffron Butterflies is a nice, light, creamy pasta dish with strong overtones of saffron. That's what gives the dish such a great taste. We Westerners have saffron too infrequently, in my opinion. So when we do feature saffron in a dish, it tastes exotic, unusual, and hard to place. Precisely why this dish is a treat to serve