Decadent Chicken Pot Pie and Think, Act and EAT locally!

Hi everyone. I will first give you an amazing recipe and THEN tell you about my week. My hope is that you will feel inspired to read it after the prize of the recipe (like donating to a charity after they send you your own personalized address labels).

Decadent Chicken Pot Pie (stolen from Paula Deen):
Ingredients

* 4 sheets frozen puff pastry
* 1 egg, beaten
* 4 chicken breast halves, or 2 cups leftover cooked chicken
* Seasoned salt and pepper
* 2 tablespoons cooking oil
* 1/3 cup butter
* 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 quart heavy cream
* 1/4 cup chicken base (like McCormick brand which has no MSG-basically concentrated chicken flavor)
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 1/2 small yellow onion, minced
* 1 cup frozen green peas, cooked
* 1 cup chopped cooked carrots
* Pinch fresh grated nutmeg, optional

Directions

Special equipment: 4 (2-cup) individual baking dishes
Crust:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut each sheet of frozen puff pastry into 1-inch strips, 8 inches long. On a large cookie sheet, weave strips into a lattice large enough to cover each pot pie. Brush beaten egg onto each lattice square. Bake for 5 minutes, or until dough has risen and turned light golden brown. Set aside until ready to assemble pies. Leave oven on at 350 degrees F.
Filling:

Season chicken with seasoned salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and saute until cooked through. Remove from heat and cut into chunks. Alternatively, you may use precooked chicken.

In a large saucepan, melt butter and then slowly add flour, stirring until consistency of peanut butter, but not brown like a roux. Slowly add cream and keep stirring. Add chicken base, garlic, and onion and stir until thickened. Add peas, carrots, nutmeg, if using, and cut up chicken. Remove from heat. Fill 4 individual oven-proof bowls with chicken mixture and then top each with a pre-cooked lattice square. Bake for 5 minutes or until bubbly. Any remaining pie filling may be frozen.

This is an amazingly rich and tasty recipe that is magnificent to look at and exquisitely easy to make.

Now for my foodie/philanthropy/musical week:

Taste of Newark fundraiser benefiting my Board Member friend Wendy Lacey's Link Community School in Newark: http://www.linkschool.org/
Fantastic food spread at friend Karen Sack's Volunteer Lawyers For Justice http://www.volunteerlawyersnj.org/ fundraiser
Delectably delicious pot luck at Maggie and Bob's intimate House concert featuring singer/songwriter, Amy Speace (in photo above) http://www.amyspeace.com/and accompanist, James Mastro-they were truly inspiring. (My pot pie is under the lovely lady with the pony tail on the left). Please support alt artists by hosting a house concert!!!

Yes, food does lure people in but it is also about the charity :-). Live large and give generously!

One more thing for Montclairians: Healthy School Lunch campaign: Elaine Beyless is organizing a letter-writing event which will be at approximately 8:30am on Tuesday, Dec. 1. Anyone who is interested can email her at kidsneedrealfood@verizon.net and she will reply with the details.

Shrimp Salad with Melissa's Tahini Dressing

Hi everyone. Today, I am going to give you not ONE, but TWO recipes, you lucky folks! I'm also going to let the video do all the talking. Enjoy!

Shrimp Salad with Avocado and Melissa's Tahini Dressing:

1/2 lb any size cooked shrimp (I used Medium sized)If your shrimp are raw, place them in boiling water for a few minutes until they turn pink and let cool
1 small tomato, chopped small and seeded
1/2 avocado in a small dice, about 1 cm cubes
Roughly 2 cups washed and torn salad greens
2 TBS walnuts, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl, just for you, place washed salad greens.

In a separate bowl, place cooked shrimp, cubed avocado, tomatoes and walnuts. Add salt and pepper to taste, stir until combined.

Place shrimp mixture on top of salad greens and top with dressing.

Melissa's Tahini Dressing:

Makes 3 cups (I halved this by using ...1/2 of all the ingredients!)

1 c. canola oil
½ c. tahini (can get in any supermarket-just ask for it)
½ c. apple cider vinegar
¼ c. soy sauce
¼ c. lemon juice
¼ c. water (optional to thin it out)
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp. dried basil (I didn't use)
1 tsp. dried oregano
¼ tsp. salt
¼ c. fresh parsley
1 tbs. sesame oil
1 tbs. chopped chives

Put all ingredients except chives in blender or food processor. Blend. Add chives.

Hollaaaaaaaaa if you Like Challah (and Philanthropy)

Hi everyone! Just a reminder that I will be hosting a How to Use Your Cuisinart workshop to make dips and soups on Nov. 18th, Wed. from 9:30-11:30AM. Please email me if you are interested at alma@takebackthekitchen.com

Well, I am in a GREAT mood because I now know how to make Challah! How often can we say that we spent a morning at a workshop learning how to make Challah bread, learned about United Jewish Communities Women's Philanthropy http://www.ujcnj.org/section.aspx?id=1 and lost it to the point of tears when surrounded by friends who spoke of their various volunteer activities throughout their lives that have had a big impact on them? Wow.

Well,to be honest, one of the most amazing aspects of the workshop was that the Challah making teacher, Toba, has 7 children under 12 years old but STILL made it to my house with her assistants by 8:45AM and transformed my kitchen into a Challah making factory in minutes. I'm in awe. She planned ahead, was organized and enlisted the support of friends to help her. We had an easy time learning because we were among friends, the process was demonstrated to us right in front of our eyes and we could be hands on, and we knew we would have an awesome reward at the end. The only problem is that we learned that it was dangerously easy to make....

Here is Toba's Recipe and we know you will like it!

Toba's DELICIOUS Challah:
(the measurements in the parentheses are for a larger Challah)
1 Tbsp. Plus 1 Tsp. Yeast (4 Tbsp. Yeast)
1 1/3 C. Warm Water (4 C. Warm Water)
1 Tbsp. Sugar ( 2 Tbsp Sugar)
4 C. Flour ( 5 lb-2 Cups)
2/3 C. Sugar (2 Cup Sugar)
1 Egg (3 Eggs)
1 Tsp. Salt ( 1 Tbsp. Salt)
1/2 C. Oil (1 1/3 C. Oil)

1 beaten Egg to Glaze Challah

Dissolve Yeast with sugar in warm water. Allow to rise. Combine flour sugar and salt in big bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in eggs, oil, and yeast mixture. Mix until a dough forms and you can't see the flour. Knead for 7-8 minutes, turning it over often. Let rise for 1 1/2 hours. Shape by braiding it and let rise 45 minutes. Glaze with the egg mixture with a brush and bake at 350 until golden brown. Approximately 30 minutes. If it seems raw in the middle, put it back in, cover it with tin foil and keep cooking until center is cooked through.

Bailie's Spaghetti Squash with Pine Nuts And Parmesan

Hi everyone. I want to tell you about one of my proudest cooking moments. Yesterday, my niece Bailie who used to live with us, sent me an excited message on facebook. She wanted to tell me about an excellent recipe she had just made from Spaghetti Squash that turned out great. Watching Bailie as a healthy eating 21 year old warms my heart. I like to think that some of our homemade cooking/meals rubbed off on her :-).

Here is the recipe and we hope you like it. As you will see below in the video, we did not have much success with the kids but we will persevere! It was DELICIOUS!!!! Thank you, Bailie!
P.S. Here is a video which shows how to do it-it's not me!http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Food/Tools-Tips/Kitchen-Bytes-Spaghetti-Squash.html
Bailie's Spaghetti Squash With Pine Nuts And Parmesan:

2 cups shredded spaghetti squash
approx. 2 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
sprinkle salt
few grinds black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 TBS grated parmesan cheese
2 TBS toasted pine nuts

Slice the squash in 1/2 the long way and scrape out the strands of spaghetti with a fork. This will be a bicep workout but try to keep scraping until you get close to the shell. Set aside.

In a large skillet over low-med. heat, add oil. When the oil gets hot, add the minced garlic. Sautee it up and before it turns brown, add 2 cups of the spaghetti squash and sautee for a few minutes.

When squash is heated through, add black pepper,salt and stir.

Remove from skillet and top with crushed red pepper, toasted pine nuts and parmesan. Yum!

Nancy's Every Changing Chicken Salad and a Chat With A Real Home Ec Teacher...

Nancy's Chicken Salad:

* chicken cooked and deboned ( 2 cups chopped )
* mayonnaise 1/2 of a table spoon
* 1 bunch scallions chopped well in to the ends of the greens
* 1 generous tbs ginger spice jelly mixed with 1 tbs juice of any pickles.blend together
* mix........ then add
* 2 tbs black cherry preserve
* Mix and serve ..

why ever changing .. some times fresh cherries are perfect. Or dried cranberries or ..........what ever you are in the mood for . Chicken is very accepting and of course non judgmental.

These are the wise words of Nancy Simonic, a former home economics teacher who feels that she will always be a home economist. Nancy lives in my town and she is passionate about the importance of home economics programs in schools.

She loves to share her knowledge of cooking and has even set up her home in a demonstrating kind of fashion; She has her prep and cooking island perched high above on a platform to make sure that no one gets in her cooking way. She is not opposed to others helping her in the kitchen, she actually welcomes it, but if you are to be on her "perch" you need to take it seriously. Respect everyone's space, be self-sufficient up there or sit down below and watch :-).

She explained that even though she stepped down from her home ec career in the early eighties after the school board deemed home ec not important enough to be paid for with tax dollars, she still believes that all the valuable knowledge one learns in classes like cooking, sewing, wood shop and metal shop can lay the foundation for succeeding in any career. For example, how can one maintain a career if they cannot be self sufficient in their home? Kudos to Nancy!

One more thing: Nancy, herself, is a successful home chef and entrepeneuse (is that a word?). She feels that her accomplishments are, in part, due to her ability to tolerate failure. She is able to try, without much fear, new things in life AND in cooking, because her parents always encouraged her to experiment, make a mess, and it was all O.K. because it was part of the learning process. What a great message to impart to our children.

Another excellent point she made was to use visuals when teaching cooking to our kids. She found that when she had long, red, beautiful eighties nails, her students paid excellent attention! I will have to try that one. Thanks, Nancy!!
P.S. Make sure to check out my video and recipe for making Raymond's Style Home fries at http://www.baristanet.com/baristakids/blog/take-back-the-kitchen-raymonds-potatoes--at-home/#more You can weigh in on the discussion of whether or not cooking potatoes IS actually Taking Back Your Kitchen!

My Cuisinart Workshop and Amazing Pumpkin Pie!

 

Hi everyone and welcome to all my new blog subscribers from the Montclair Community Pre-K festival! I hope you all survived this weekend's sugar.

Before I tell you about my pumpkin pie to die for, I want to tell you about a workshop I will be facilitating: "How to Finally Use Your Food Processor that Has Been Sitting in the Box since it Was Ordered From Your Wedding Registry"
Wed., November 18th
9:30-11:30 AM.
Fee: $30.00 per person
Please email me if you and your pals are interested at alma@takebackthekitchen.com

So, I'll be quick-this pie rocks! I found it on line but modified it with a rich heavy cream and a homemade graham cracker crust. Please consider making your own crust because it tastes so good and really is simple. 3 ingredients-that's it!

I made it with my daughter who was very proud to bring it to her class party (see video below). When only half was eaten, I wrapped it up, left with it, and gave it to a friend outside who said she had not made her husband a cake for his birthday that day. A perfect ending to a perfect pie day!

Pumpkin Pie:

Ingredients:

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg plus 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 stick melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, optional

* Whipped cream, for topping

Directions

For the filling, combine the melted cream cheese and pumpkin. Add all the other ingredients and stir until fully combined by hand or, preferably, in a mixer.

Crust:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs-one pkg.
1/2 cup melted butter
1/3 cup sugar

Pie Crust Preparation:
Combine all ingredients; press over bottom and up sides of 9-inch pie plate. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes.

Pour the filling into the warm prepared pie crust and bake for 1 hr. 30 minutes, (this is NOT an error-one hour and thirty minutes) or until the center is set. Make sure to fully cover the pie with tin foil so the crust doesn't burn. That pie is going to be in there for a long time! When it is done,place on your counter to cool and top with whipped cream if you like that-I don't...
P.S. Thank you, Kahane, for the great Halloween photo!

Healthier Oatmeal Bars and Cancer Help

Hi everyone. As it is National Breast Cancer Awareness month, I wanted to share some inspiring women, very helpful services, and recipes with you. First off, the lovely lady in the photo is Pam, a friend in our town who is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. She bravely decided to go to our school's Halloween party donning her PERFECTLY shaped bald head and her pink, breast cancer fairy costume. You go, girl! p.s. I am not the only one who thinks she is so great-check this out: http://portraitcommunity.blogspot.com/2009/10/pamela-cytron.html

Secondly, I recently met a writer, Jeanne Besser, who just happens to have written a cookbook with three nutritionists from the American Cancer Society. The book is called What to Eat During Cancer Treatment. What makes this book unique is that it has recipes that are focused on different side effects of treatment such as what to eat when you are nauseated, when you have a sensitivity to smells, etc. In addition, there are recipes that the entire family can enjoy. I am waiting for my copy so I can make sure to create helpful and delicious recipes for my friends and loved ones undergoing treatment.
Here is the link to get the book:

http://www.amazon.com/What-During-Cancer-Treatment-Family-Friendly/dp/1604430052

Here's a link for the Great-American-Eat-Right-Cookbook which is another book by Jeanne to prevent cancer:
http://www.amazon.com/Great-American-Eat-Right-Cookbook-Good/dp/094423593X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256671276&sr=8-3

Also, here's a blog that also helps with recipes for people with cancer:
http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2009/10/classic-comfort-food-during-cancer-treatment.html#more

Lastly, we have Gigi Gould, an inspiring cancer survivor who provides exercise sessions for post-op breast cancer patients. Although descriptions of some exercises are now available on the internet, Gigi stresses the importance of having an individualized program, and guidance to ensure that the exercises are done correctly to prevent injury and to gain the full benefit intended. She is a certified Pink Ribbon Program Exercise Specialist.

Gigi also began a Mutual-help group for women diagnosed with breast cancer. They meet every two weeks and the main goal is to provide on-going support for one another. In addition, they share new information about the latest studies, treatments, and nutritional information. Space for their meetings has been very generously offered by Dawn Diamond of the NJ Center for Healthy Living on Bloomfield Ave.in Montclair. For more info about her Pilates/Pink Ribbon Program sessions, please contact Gigi at movetorecovery@gmail.com.

Here is a link to an article that just came out about the benefits of exercise after breast surgery:

http://www.curetoday.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/article.show/id/2/article_id/1299

Here is a recipe that is a nice alternative to processed desserts for a bakesale. A volunteer at the Halloween costume party made them and they were so good, I asked her to email the recipe to me. Thanks, Elizabeth!

Oatmeal Jammy Bars:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks/6 oz) cold, unsalted butter cut into cubes
1 1/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cup store bought jam ( apricot and raspberry work great) - use more for sweeter version.

Preheat oven to 350*. Butter a 9-inch square baking dish. In large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda, using a whisk to combine thoroughly. Scatter the cubed butter evenly over the flour mixture and cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or two kitchen knives until mixture is moist and slightly crumbly. Add in the oats and toss evenly to mix.

Press 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Dollop jam in smaller spoonfuls over crumb mixture then spread to cover evenly. Crumble remaining dough evenly over the top, and press down lightly.

Bake until top is golden brown, 35-40 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack, and then cut into bars.

(1/4 cup ground pecans or almonds can be an optional addition to the dough. Add when oats are added. I do not put them in mine.)