The sun is actually out today, so I am hoping it starts to melt, but with these temperatures in the negatives, I think it might take awhile. We did actually get out on Tuesday. The really cold air had not got to us yet and it was still snowing pretty hard. It snowed all day long and we thought we would get out and go sledding!
It was a lot of fun, but there was actually too much snow to sled. It wasn't all packed down yet and it was just loose, so you would go and then catch all that loose snow and it would stop you. But is was really fun to get out and not to mention the hill was packed with people!
After pretty much pushing yourself all the way down, walking up that huge hill was not fun! It was definitely our workout for the day!
The roads were horrible when we got out Tuesday and that was only the beginning of the storm. So over these past couple days they have only got worse.
Since we have been stuck inside the past few days.. we have done a lot of cooking! It has been fun and I have some good recipes to share!!
Monday Mitch had to work, and since it was raining all day, I stayed in and tried some new recipes!
The first one I am going to share with you, you might think is a little strange, but I promise if you try it you will love it! It is a recipe to make sweet pickles! My grandma makes these all the time and Mitch's first time to try them was this summer, and he fell in love with them. She knows how much he likes them so she always makes us a batch when we are in Tulsa, or sends them to us. So I thought I should probably learn how to make theses!
You start out with a 32oz jar of Kosher Dill Pickles. ( We couldn't find 32oz so we used a 46oz and just altered the recipe a little bit).
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cinnamon stick (crushed)
1 1/2 tsp. Pickling Spice
Next, you rinse the pickles in a colander, and take out any bad or smashed pickles.
Then, let them drain and pat them dry. Cut the tips off each pickle and then cut them into 1'' pieces .
In a mixing bowl, mix the sugar, crushed cinnamon stick and pickling spice together.
Next, rinse out the original jar the pickles came in and make layers of pickles in the jar. Sprinkle the mix over the layer. Continue making layers of pickles sprinkling the mix over each layer. Repeat until the jar is full.
Now for the last part, screw the lid on tight and turn upside down on counter. The next day turn the jar right side up. The third day repeat. On the fourth day taste and enjoy! Refrigerate.
I made these on Monday, so we get to enjoy them today! The waiting part is always so hard for us, but they turned out great and now we get to eat them!
For dinner on Monday, I tried a new chicken recipe. It is Chicken Breast and Garlic Balsamic Vinegar and it turned out so good! I will be making it again. I highly suggest you try it.. you will not be disappointed! Here is the link... Awesome Chicken Recipe!
We also made bruschetta for an appetizer, but since when we went to Wal-Mart to get all our ingredients was the day before the snow storm... they were out of everything... Including sour dough bread loaves. The only thing they had was a mini loaf, so we had to make it work! So we made mini bruschetta, it was just as good!
Tuesday Mitch was off, so what did we do? We tried some more new recipes. Ha! But I guess Tuesday wasn't our day. Nothing we made seemed to turn out like we wanted!
Our first attempt was to make snow ice cream. Seemed like a good idea right? Well we looked up a recipe online and it didn't turn out!
So since it doesn't call for many ingredients, and well were weren't going to run out of snow anytime soon, we looked up a different recipe and tried it again. Once again, it didn't turn out! Ha! We gave up after that! Ha!
So for dinner, Mitch wanted to pick out something from one of our new cook books. He says we don't use them enough! So he picked out chicken pot pie.
I had an easy chicken pot pie recipe, but he really wanted to try the one out of the book (even though it called for twice the ingredients and most of them were stuff we didn't have). But we made it and well you guessed it... it didn't turn out quite like we expected! Ha!
It was really good, but just really runny. It was more like chicken pot pie soup! But I will admit the flavor was amazing! It called for puff pastry sheets and I liked it so much better! And it made two, so one is in the freezer and we can just pop in in the oven whenever we need to! I will post the recipe at the end.
That night we decided to make brownies and yes, they did turn out! Mitch loves peanut butter and chocolate so I tried a new recipe, Peanut Butter Brownie Cups! They are super easy..
1 pkg. fudge brownie mix
15 mini reeses peanut butter cups
Mix the brownie mix according to the box, and fill the muffin pan or muffin cups with the mix.
Next, press the candy down in the batter and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.
Wednesday, we had a little better day with our recipes! Since we were suck in, what better do to than make a big pot of soup. We made french onion soup and let it cook in the crock pot all day. It made our house smell wonderful! We started it around 12 and it had to cook for 8 hours, so since we couldn't eat until late that night, we decided to make a little snack.
We have a fryer, but haven't used it much, so Mitch thought we should experiment with it. We both love fried mushrooms, so we thought we should try and make them.
We found a batter and tried it out on a couple first and it they turned out so good! So we were excited and I am sure we will be making those often!!
So last night we wanted to try and get out and see how the roads were.. one because we were tired of being inside and two because Mitch had to work today so he wanted to see if he could drive on them. So since our snow ice cream didn't work out, we made a little trip to Braums.
These two things aren't recipes, but I thought I would share, because they are really easy and really good!
The first is Chicken Salad... I love making homemade chicken salad, but since I have tried this I haven't made my own. It is so good and makes great sandwiches.
We get it at Sam's and have yet to find it anywhere else. But if you like chicken salad.. try it!
Next is one of my favorite snacks!! For those of you who know me, I eat this... possibly once a day!
I love edamame!! I usually have to buy a large bag, but at Sam's you can buy a large bag of smaller individual bags.
Today Mitch made it to work and I am at home trying to get a lot of stuff done around the house. We are suppose to be going to Tulsa this weekend, but the streets there are still really bad, so we will see on Saturday! My parents are having a super bowl party and I am really looking forward to seeing all my friends, so I am hoping it all works out!
Also, Jenna... I wanted to thank you for posting those recipes on your blog! They look so good and I can't wait to try the spaghetti squash! And, I have been searching for a new dessert to make for Mitch on Valentines day and I am going to try your peanut butter pie! He loves anything peanut butter and it sounds delicious!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!
Chicken Pot Pie- sorry for the length of this recipe! Its pretty detailed, but its really good! I just have to figure out how to make it less runny!
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups diced yellow open
1 cup peeled, sliced carrots
1 cup diced celery
2 cups peeled, diced gold potatoes
2 cups mushrooms
3 cups chicken stock
1 tsp chopped sage
2 tsp thyme
2 tsp chopped celery leaf
Kosher salt and pepper
2 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 sheets frozen puff pastry
*Preheat oven to 400. Dice chicken breast and set aside.
Heat olive oil in med sauce pan over med heat. Add onions, carrots and celery. Saute for 4-5 min. Add potatoes and mushrooms, saute another 5 min. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to med-low and add the chicken pieces. Bring to a gentle simmer. Use a large metal spoon and scoop off any fat the rises to the top. Add sage, thyme, celery leaf, 2tsp salt, and pepper. Simmer for 10 min.
Meanwhile, make a roux, by melting butter of low heat in a small sauce pan. Add the flour and stir constantly with wooden spoon to mix thoroughly. Cook stirring constantly for 5 min. Do not allow the roux to brown. Add the cream and stir until thickens. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir the roux into the chicken/veggie mixture and simmer for 5 min. The chicken mixture should thicken and not look runny. Remove from heat. The dish can be prepared to this point up to 1 day in advance, refrigerate and brought back to room temp before baking.
Divide the chicken/veggie mixture evenly between the two pie pan leaving 1/2 inch space at the top so the pastry will not become soggy. Let the mixture cool. Remove the puff pastry form the freezer 10 min before using. Cut a 9in round from each sheet of pastry. Cover each pie with the pastry round, pinching the edges of the pastry over the edge of the dish to secure pastry to the dish. Make several incisions in the center of the pastry puff to allow steam to escape.
Place the pies on a baking sheet anf bake until pastry puff is golden brown, about 15-20 min. Let cool for 5 min before serving.
oh good, you wont be disappointed with the pie at all!! also, when I have made chicken pot pie in the past I use cream of mushroom or chicken soup... that may make it a little less runny! :) love the recipes, those brownies look AMAZING.
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