Rob Fahrni

Happy Monk

Woodstock’s

Jet over the valley.

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Husband and Wife

simplictycooking:

Chicken Pot Pie Done My Way

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 
• 2 carrots, peeled & diced to 1/4” cube 
• 4 celery ribs, diced to 1/4” cube 
• 1 yellow onion, diced 
• 1C corn or peas, frozen 
• 2 Tbsp butter 
• 3/4C heavy cream 
• 3/4C milk 
• 2C chicken stock 
• 1-2 Tbsp kosher salt 
• 1/2 tsp white pepper 
• 1/2 tsp onion powder 
• 2 Tbsp Italian seasoning 
• 3 Tbsp flour Splash of white wine 
• Puff pastry sheets 
• 1 whole egg 

Method:

1. Sauté chicken breast in 1 Tbsp of hot oil over med heat til slightly brown, remove from pan. 
2. Add new oil to pan, sauté all veggies with salt, pepper, onion powder, and italian seasonings (EXCEPT corn/ peas) until part way cooked. About 5-7 mins over med heat. 
3. Melt butter into veggies, and sprinkler flour over melted butter-veg mixture. Stir to make a paste. 
4. Deglaze pan w/ splash of white wine. Cook until wine is nearly gone. 
5. Add room temp milk, cream, and stock to veggies. Add chicken breast back in. Cook until thickens to sauce constancy.
6. Ladle into individual cups, and spray rim of each cup with pan spray.
7. Roll puff pastry out and prick with fork to prevent from over puffing. 
8. Place puff pastry over the top of each cup, brush with egg wash, and sprinkle with kosher salt. 

Bake @ 425 for 15 mins then drop temperature to 400 for another 10-15 mins.

simplictycooking:

Simple Spiced Pumpkin Apple Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 2C sugar
• 4 whole eggs
• 1 1/2C applesauce (sweet, unsweetened, or cinnamon… It doesn’t matter)
• 1 1/2C pureed pumpkin (you DO want the spiced one for this! NO plain!)
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground clove
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 1/3C all purpose flour
• 1 large apple, diced into small cubes (I used Fuji, a sweeter apple)

Method:

1. Cream together butter and sugar until it makes a paste, and scrape down bowl.
2. Add eggs one at a time, and make sure it is combined well. Scrape down bowl.
3. Add pumpkin, applesauce, and vanilla extract to butter mixture. Scrape down bowl.
4. Add all dry ingredients and mix well, but do NOT over mix! It will make the batter tough! 
5. Fold in chopped apples OFF the mixer.
6. Spray muffin pan with spray to prevent sticking, and fill muffin cups 2/3 of the way full with mixture. 
7. Sprinkle tops of each muffin with regular granulated sugar AND demerara sugar (the bigger grained sugar)

Bake @ 375 for 20-25 mins until center is clean

*Final Thoughts*

As most of you know, I am a HUGE fan of anything “fallish” in flavor, and this recipe is right up my alley! Now, if you want to substitute the apple chunks for raisins, it would be super yummy! I, myself, am a much bigger apple fan and prefer the apple chunks.

Another substituting idea is cut the applesauce and pumpkin to 1C a piece and add 2/3C of apple juice. This adds moisture and flavor to your muffins without making them too dense.

Slather the warm muffins with honey butter, and brew up a piping hot cup of coffee! Perfect for the cloudy afternoon snack, like today here in Yuma, or a simple and easy breakfast for the next day! 

Tired Kittie