Vegetable Pot Pies

Hello all! I've got my chef's hat on today and decided to make myself some comfort food. I found this delicious recipe in one of the vegetarian cookbooks that had been gathering dust in my parents' kitchen cabinets, and decided to adapt it with a slightly healthier twist. By using less oil and fat, and adding more "whole" ingredients, I think I took this recipe from fantastic to phenomenal.

On an eerie note, the Creepy Twin Brain has struck again between my best friend, Nazlı, and I. (You can check out her fun food blog, Good Food for Good Soul, here!) We have this habit of thinking exactly alike without any prompting or warning. As I was typing this, she called to see what I was up to, and I told her about my successful kitchen foray. She laughs and goes, "I was looking at pot pie recipes last night and was calling to tell you we should make vegetarian ones together". No lie.

So that leaves me with the question, am I being controlled by gypsy Turkish mind tricks? And is it really a bad thing if I get delicious food out of the deal? Thoughts?

Ok, let's get out of the twilight zone and into the kitchen. Here's what you need and what you'll need to do to get yourself some yummy, gooey, and healthy veggie pot-pies!

(A traditional instruction list is situated at the bottom of this post, for all you quitters.)

Individual Vegetable Pot Pies
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Total cooking time: 45 minutes
Yield: 6

Ingredients

• 1 medium potato, peeled, cut into small cubes
• 1 large carrot, peeled, cut into small cubes
• 1 cup small broccoli florets
• 1/2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1 red pepper, cut into small cubes
• 3 1/2 tbsp margarine (or your favorite non-dairy substitute)
• 2 tbsp whole-wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups almond milk (or another non-dairy substitute) 
• 1 cup cheddar cheese (I used Galaxy Nutritional Foods' Rice Shreds... tastes exactly the same and only 70 calories for 1/3 cup!!!)
• 2 egg yolks
• Black pepper, to taste
• 2 sheets ready-rolled puff pastry
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp sesame seeds (the original recipe called for poppy seeds, but I couldn't find them and swapped)

Now, seeing as I am only one person, and own only one rameken, I decided to make only one pot pie at a time. These are surely best eaten the same day that they are baked, and, though I could try, it's not likely I could devour all six in that time frame. Simple fix for an abundance of food? Tupperware, duh! Then you have something to dig into the rest of the week! 
 

"Before everything else, getting ready is the secret to success" ~ Henry Ford

Before you take the leap into cooking, make sure to prepare all of your ingredients. There are a lot of things happening simultaneously in this recipe, and it will work in your favor to have everything chopped, peeled, and measured from the get go!

After you've prepped your kitchen, preheat your oven to 415 degrees Fahrenheit and defrost your pastry sheet. I bold this because, true to form, I skipped this part. I urge you not to.

Next, steam your potato, carrot, and broccoli until tender. Drain well and place in a large bowl. At the same time, heat your oil in a frying pan and cook the onion and red pepper over medium heat for about 2 minutes, until they're nice and soft. Transfer them to the bowl.

Tip: if there's too much oil left over in your pan, don't just blindly dump it into your veggie mix. Hold the pan level and use a fork to lift your onion and pepper bits up and out. This will save you from extra fat consumption and will let the awesome flavors of the vegetables take center stage.

Now you're ready for your cheese sauce.

Yes, it is supposed to look like this! Take a breath, chef.

Heat the margarine in a sauce pan and add the flour. Stir over low heat for 2 minutes, or until lightly golden. If you look at the photo above, you'll notice things look kind of weird. But, rest assured, all is going well and your sauce is going to be phenom. 

Add your milk gradually; stir until smooth. I used a whisk to better combine my ingredients (how kitchen savvy am I?). Continue stirring over medium heat for 3 minutes, or until the mixture boils and thickens. Boil for another minute, then remove from the heat and cool slightly. Add the cheese and egg yolks (here is a tutorial on how to separate the yolks, just in case you need it) to the sauce and stir to combine. Season your sauce to taste. I only used black pepper, but there's room for salt, cayenne pepper, or anything else your tastebuds crave. Just be sure to add with caution and taste test along the way!

Add the sauce to the vegetables and stir to combine. Fill your ramekin with the mixture, and refrigerate the left overs for later. Cut a circle from the pastry sheet to--

Uh oh, did you forget to defrost like I told you? We're cut from the same cloth, aren't we? Well, here's a quick fix: take them from the freezer as soon as you remember, and leave them on top of your preheated oven to speed the thawing process. If they're still not ready when you are, use that time to do some clean up. You'll be glad you did later.

So, cut that circle from your pastry sheet to fit the top of the ramekin and press the edges to seal. Really try to make a tight seal there because, mid-bake, the sauce can bubble over and create quite the mess. Mine did exactly that.

(Quick fix: Simply put the ramekin in a cake tin or other oven-safe baking dish to prevent the overflow from burning to your oven floor!)

Brush the pastry top with the lightly beaten egg and sprinkle your seeds on. Make sure you refrigerate the beaten egg for use on your leftovers! It should keep for up 2-3 days if you mix in a little bit of water and seal the container tightly.

Now, bake the pot pie for 25-30 minutes, or until beautifully golden brown. I suggest a solid 25 minutes for cooling, as well. I know the wait will be tough, but not having a singed mouth (aka- "pizza flap") is the gift that keeps on giving. Lift the pastry cover up with a fork to give it an extra nudge in the cooling direction.

Then, the best part! Dig in!

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 415∘F and defrost one puff-pastry sheet.
2. Steam the potato, carrot, and broccoli until just tender. Drain well and place in a large bowl. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the onion and red pepper over medium heat for 2 minutes, until soft. Add to the bowl.
3. Heat the margarine in a sauce pan and add the flour. Stir over low heat for 2 minutes or until lightly golden. Add the milk gradually, stirring until smooth. Stir over medium heat for 3 minutes or until the mixture boils and thickens. Boil for another minute, then remove from the heat and cool slightly. Add the cheese and egg yolks to the sauce and stir to combine. Season to taste.
4. Add the sauce to the vegetables and stir to combine. Fill ramekin with vegetable mixture, and refrigerate the rest for the future. Cut a circle from the pastry to fit the top of the ramekin and press the edges to seal. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Refrigerate the beaten egg for future use (will keep up to 6 days).
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Home on the Range

This past weekend I trekked home to celebrate my parents' August birthdays. And you're right-- two Leos under one roof is just as dangerous as it sounds! But it sure can be exciting. There were no major battles this visit, which set the stage for some good conversation and even better food!

Jordan, my "little" brother, known to the ladies as the "Silver Fox" due to his beautifully premature gray head of hair, picked our birthday celebration location. His expensive taste led us to a great seafood restaurant on top of Pittsburgh's picturesque Mount Washington, called Monterey Bay. Sticking with family tradition, we abandoned our pre-made reservation in favor of a table in the bar area, where we landed a truly spectacular view with the bonus of some good 'ol rock-n-roll to serenade us.

Black & Yellow

As a soon-to-be 10 year vegetarian, there was very little I could dive into on the restaurant's menu (the cocktail list is an entirely different story-- Champagne + Grey Goose + Chambord = French Kiss? Oui oui!). While my family grappled with the extensive list of seafood and the un-listed chef specialties, I decided to go out on a limb and try the crazier of my two salad options. I thoroughly enjoyed my bed of baby spinach, topped with pistachios, blood oranges, goat-cheese-stuffed medjool dates, and a blood orange vinaigrette. I didn't get a picture of it because I was too busy scarfing it down, like a lady. 

We ate, we drank, we laughed, we joked, and Mom and I even splurged on desserts (to DIE for). If conversation dwindled at any point throughout the rest of the weekend, one of us was compelled to comment on how amazing our family dinner on the Mount had been. 

While I had specifically returned to Steel Town to celebrate my folks, the timing happened to coincide with a less-than-celebratory series of events my family is facing. Our beloved ball chaser, squirrel hunter, toe licker extraordinaire, Maggie, is beginning to quickly decline from liver disease. Even at the ripe age of 12, Maggie has had the energy of a young puppy. Ignoring her arthritic joints, she has been known to rocket off her chair in the kitchen, out the back door, and up the hill in our back yard after enemy squirrels. We always forget how old she really is and have to think about it when visitors ask us her age. 

May the odds be ever in your favor, vermin.

As recently as this May, however, things began to change. When I returned home from college, I pointed out that she looked awfully bloated and suggested a visit to the vet. The vet did some tests and came to the conclusion that Maggie's liver was no longer working properly, and that fluid was leaking from it into her abdomen. The best we could do for her was to drain it. Each time the fluid was tapped Maggie seemed to go right back to her sprightly self. The worrying thing, though, was that the amount of fluid was increasing and time between drainings was decreasing. It has been a consistent 750 mL drain lately, which is the amount of liquid in your basic wine bottle. Unfortunately, my dog isn't filled up with Italy's finest Chianti; she's gorged with ammonia-laden liquid which is beginning to affect her neurological system. 

On the Monday before I flew home, my dad called to inform me of the drastic changes that Maggie was going through. All of a sudden she was becoming disoriented, walking in circles, and even appearing to go blind for brief spells. Her lack of appetite has her at a painful 13 lbs, and her breathing is labored, at best. The vet had been consulted and, after performing another abdominal tap, suggested that my family start making decisions about the rest of Maggie's life.

If you know my dog, I know you are just as flabbergasted as I was. How did this insane, spunky, yappy terrier turn so fast? 

If you know my parents, the fact that they decided to prep me with this news, rather than hide it, signals that things are getting deathly serious. Really-- last year I was on the phone with my mom, just chatting away, while she left out the fact that she was in the emergency room with my grandmother, who had broken her femur and laid undiscovered on her bedroom floor for four hours before a neighbor came over. My parents do NOT tell me these things over the phone. So it hit pretty hard when I got this call. 

I was prepared for the worst when I finally made it home. My parents had Maggie's stomach tapped in hopes that it would perk her up for my visit. I think it did the trick, because, for the most part, I was met with my waggy best friend again. True, she really wouldn't eat, and she stood for long periods of time with her nose against walls (weird, right?), but she spent some quality time gnawing on her toys and even ran off after a squirrel. I was so unbelievably happy that I could see these glimpses of the real Maggie, rather than the sad decline my parents had been dealing with. 

I'm pretty sure that today was the last time I'll ever hold my dog. Probably our final chin-scratch and stinky-breath dog licks. I hope that when I return home in November for the holiday she'll be there to greet me, but Disney prepared me with all that "Circle of Life" stuff, so I'm not getting that hope up too high. But, gee, wouldn't just one more holiday with that pooch be the ultimate reason to be thankful?

Life is full of ups and downs; we all know this. It's important to remember those up-swings, though, because the downs have a tendency to drag you with them. Don't take your time for granted. Make the most out of it, because then you'll have something strong to hold on to when life takes on a gloomy turn. I have a great family dinner to cling to, and, even though our family may be shrinking in the near future, it's memories like these that make it possible to smile at the time you've had, and make peace with the time you're going to lose.

The Worst Irish Soda Bread Ever.

I am going to start this post off defending my baking skills. I am particularly good at whipping up a solid batch of cookies or an exotic cheesecake (with NO cracks on the surface, thank you very much). But bread is a different story.

Bread and I do not get along. There is something so cosmically wrong with our relationship that we need an intervention. Earlier this summer, I attempted a loaf of Marbled Banana Bread that was a pretty epic failure. I neglected to add baking soda, so my loaf didn't rise, and I was left with a beautifully marbled banana brick.

Today, tragedy has struck my kitchen in the form of a wheel of 'sort of Paleo' Irish Soda bread. My deviations from the original recipe were mistakes. Biiiiig mistakes.

While initially skimming the recipe page, I decided that I'd substitute in some items I already had in my pantry in the name of saving a few bucks. Instead of almond milk, I used soy milk. Rather than almond flour, I used whole wheat flour. I replaced the caraway seeds with crushed walnuts (#yolo). Not too different right? That's what I thought. And I think I thought wrong.

Now when I got down to prepping my bread, I realized I didn't have any baking powder. I know, I know, what is my problem??  I was also too lazy to walk two blocks to the supermarket, so I went to my trusty friend, Google, for help. I ended up using a 1/4 tsp baking soda + 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice concoction that the internet told me to in place of the darned baking powder, and assured myself that everything would be okay.

I made a mess kneading the dough, but somehow, once it was in a nice bread-y ball in my pan, I thought, "Yeah, this is going to be great!", and popped that baby into the oven. Twenty-five minutes later I started to smell the beginnings of a burn, so I yanked it out. With my creation still looking promising (despite the burn smell), I left it to cool for a half hour before approaching it with my knife and plate.

Some photo fun, before disaster struck

As soon as I cut into the loaf I knew we had an issue. The soda bread looked suspiciously like my unrisen banana slab from last month, and the slice I took crumbled like the dreams of Jordyn Wieber at the end of the qualifying round for the Women's All-Around Gymnastic Finals in London (sorry girl, couldn't resist). Still, I tried to keep the faith, and grabbed some jelly and margarine from the fridge to supplement my creation.

Neither helped. It was awful. Salty with the consistency of crusty play-dough.

Now, as I sit on my kitchen counter pondering the fate of the rest of the cursed loaf, I am officially challenging myself to conquer BREAD.

I will make a delicious loaf of bread, sooner rather than later.
I will also read the recipe thoroughly and check my cabinets before proceeding.

Any and all baking tips are welcome and encouraged!

The Most Joyful Girl

When I'm idle I get antsy. In my relatively short life, I've used 'multi-tasking' as a gateway drug to 'over-tasking', often biting off more than I think I can chew. In many instances, however, I am pleased to find that I can handle just as much as I've bitten (my father would be only too happy to back me up on how big my mouth is), and maybe then some. Coming out of a challenge, no matter how big or small, gives me the most insane rush of joy. I live for that feeling.


After graduating with a B.A. in Theatre and a B.S. in Communicative Sciences & Disorders from my Undergraduate University (all in four years-- there's that over-tasking bug, again) this spring, I was jumping out of my skin with excitement at my impending out-of-state move to New York City for graduate school. By July 2nd, I was settled in to my new apartment and attending my first class as a grad: Neuroanatomy. Yikes.

While class was a bit intense, I made it through and even came out with a better appreciation for the human mind! Education at its finest. Plus, the short summer-semester time frame gave me a nice month long break to explore my new city. I've gone uptown, downtown, across town, and more. And there is still so much more ground to cover.

I've been blessed to have visitors nearly every weekend since I've been here. We've tackled everything from crossing the Brooklyn Bridge to appearing in a rap video. I kid you not. I'll share the experience once (if ever) the video becomes available.

On top of this, I'm starting to come into my own as a vegetarian chef and baker. The city has given me access to foods and ingredients I've never had before, and I've been spending some serious quality time with my new tiny kitchen.

All of my experiences in this new place have given me that sparkle of joy that I crave, and they've inspired me to share it.

Maybe I'll make you laugh. Maybe I'll teach you something new. Maybe I'll inspire you to challenge yourself. Or maybe none of those things will happen, and this blog will simply serve as another task on my To-Do list. Regardless, I'm looking forward to keeping busy.