Personal Pot Pies from your Freezer!

Many times have looked longingly at the sales paper pot pies that go on sale for a great price and look to be brimming with warm goodness on those pictures! The vegetarian ones are delicious, but very hard to find, full of fat and often cholesterol, made with white flour (which I try to play down in favor of the nutritional goodness of whole grains), and are SOOO expensive - perhaps $3-$4 per tiny pie. I make yummy pot pies for the family, but would love to have them ready for the boys to pull out for them for when I'm sleeping after a long night's work.

Many times, too, I've brought home neat "tv dinner" type foods that are bake in paper, and wondered how I could safely repeat this. So I've experimented

and come up with something that you can do at your own risk.

Also, I've had folks request a tender whole grain pie crust. The key to the tenderness of this might be it's thinness, but it's much lower in fat than the more tender recipes I have, and it's delicious for salty or sweet pies.

Personal Pot Pies (for now and later)

1 cup water
1 large onion, chopped
1 pound frozen mixed vegetables
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
3 cups milk gravy
2 tablespoons chicken style Seasoning
3 tablespoons imitation bacon bits
½ salt salt, or to taste
1 recipe pie crust (see below)
non-stick cooking spray

Directions
1. In a large pot, boil onions and mushrooms, covered, in one cup of water until onions soften and begin to turn clearish, 3-5 minutes. Add vegetables and cook all on medium heat for about 3-5 more minutes.

2. Stir in gravy, chicken style seasoning, "back bits" and salt and heat through. Remove from heat.

3. Divide pie crust dough into 6 even balls. Divide each of these into 2 balls about 1/3 and 2/3 in size. Roll these into very thin circles (6 small six large), or (the easiest way) press them on a tortilla griddle.

4. *At your own risk*
You'll need 6 20 ounce "heavy duty" paper bowls.
Spray paper plates with non-stick cooking spray and press the larger circles into the bowl.

5. Spoon in a heaping cup of the vegetable-gravy mixture, and wet the top, inside edge of the bottom pie crust with a bit of water. Lay the smaller crusts over the "pie" and press the two crusts together, either with your fingers or a fork. Poke 2 or 3 times in the top with a fork to release steam as the pie cooks.

6. At this point you can wrap the pies you will not eat now in plastic cling wrap and then in foil. Freeze these for later use.

7. To bake, preheat oven to 350.
Unwrap completely if necessary and set bowls on a cookie sheet, not touching each other.
If baking from warm or thawed, bake for 15-18 minutes, or until edges are golden.
If baking from frozen, bake for 20-25 minutes, or until edges are golden.


DISCLAIMER:
Paper bowls are NOT rated as oven-safe. If you are more comfortable doing this in a aluminum or glass dish, please do. I have purchased and used many dishes that come in paper plates. These are cheap and seem ideal for storing in the freezer for minute-man use. I experimented carefully with this method and it has turned out beautifully for me. Your results may vary, and I'm not responsible for excessive flames. ;-) ***At your own risk!!***


Pot Pie, Etc. Crust

3 cup whole wheat flour
⅓ cup white flour
1 ½ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup oil
½ cup cold water

Directions
1. Mix all but water very thoroughly.

2. Mix in water and work with hands until smooth.

Surprising Cantaloupe Frost - Aaaaahhh!

Why, why are you still wasting all those cantaloupe seeds?? This odd spin on sweet summer cantaloupe is one of the most delicious, refreshing summer treats around our place. We usually save the seeds from two cantaloupes to have enough to satisfy us all... It takes a cheesecloth or loose weave fabric bag to make, so be prepared. Did I say - SO YUMMY!

Cantaloupe Frost

1 cantaloupe
1 - 1 ½ cup water
2 cups ice
3 tablespoons sugar

1. Remove the seeds and "goop" from the cantaloupe and put them in a blender. Blend with the 1 or 1 1/2 cup of water until very, very smooth.

2. Squeeze this liquid through a cheese cloth and discard the seed residue. Add 3 T of sugar and stir well.

3. Add the sugar and ice and blend tip smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.

Orange Sunshine Cake

So this isn't as a healthy as some, but way healthier than anything like it! :-) Consider it a birthday cake worth indulging in once a year. ;-)

Orange Sunshine Cake was invented to celebrate the birthday of one of the sunniest parts of my life!

Orange Sunshine Cake

1 orange cake box
3 tablespoons light colored Chia seeds
⅓ cup oil
1 ½ cups water
1 large cool whip
1 can orange juice concentrate
1 ½ cups white chips

1. Stir Chia seeds into water and microwave for 2-3 minutes, stirring halfway through.

2. Mix Chia gel, oil and cake mix and bake in three small pans until a fork comes out clean (times according to package mix).

3. Melt white chips in a microwave and stir in with 1/2 of the Cool Whip until smooth and chill in refrigerator until room temperature.

4. Mix white chip mixture, remaining Cool Whip, and orange juice concentrate until all are well blended.

5. Ice each layer of the cake, then all around and on top. Yum!

Stroganoff Stew

Ok, I know it's still summer, but I've been too busy to intentionally cook for the season. Sometimes you just create with what you have on hand. Hopefully this will satisfy your tummy (as it is unapologetically yummy!)... if it seems too hot out for stew, spoon it over toast and that should help. Enjoy!!

Stroganoff Stew

12 cups water
2 cups Textured Vegetable Protein
1 ½ cup hot water
¾ cup cashews
¼ cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 tablespoon beef style seasoning
½ teaspoon garlic
2 tablespoons yeast flakes
3 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 pound curly noodles
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced

1. Stir textured vegetable protein (TVP) granules or chunks into 1 1/2 cups hot water and set aside.

2. In a large pot, bring water to boil and set aside 1-2 cups of this hot water. Add noodles and mushrooms to the large pot of hot water and stir.

3. Pour 1-2 cups of the hot water into a blender and blend with cashews and herbs, and salt (blend all but TVP, noodles and mushrooms). Blend until very smooth, 2-3 minutes on high.

4. When noodles soften (5-6 minutes for white noodles or 10 minutes for whole wheat), combine all and cook, stirring often, until mixture begins to thicken, 3-5 minutes.

(*This is delicious over crisp toast, as well.*)

Low Fat & FAST Veggie Taco Meat

This vegetarian taco meat is low fat, cholesterol free, super quick to make, cheap, and your kids won't know the difference (neither will your spouse if you don't tell)!!! "TVP" is textured vegetable protein, and can purchase in different sizes and flavors at a health food store or online. It's very cheap and is a staple for hunger prevention in foreign aid programs.

Here's one place to get it (though I've seen it cheaper - and it's dry so VERY light, so you get a lot when you reconstitute it): http://www.nuts.com/cookingbaking/beans/soybeans/soy-protein.html?gclid=CLvllZOlgLgCFcJj7AodcH8A5Q

Veggie Taco Meat

3 cups TVP (brown ground type)
4 cups hot water
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 ½ teaspoons paprika
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoons cumin
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons oil, for frying

1. Stir all but oil together in a large bowl and then allow to set for at least 15 minutes.

2. In a large skillet, heat oil on medium heat and add "taco meat" evenly.

3. When mixture begins to brown on the bottom, 2-4 minutes, stir well. Stir occasionally, browning to desired darkness.

Summer Goodness! - Green Tomato Cream Soup

Summer is full of goodness! I really dislike the heat, but I can put up with a little roasty-toastiness in exchange for the most amazing foods all year. I love all summer fruits - berries, melons, stone fruits - I'm sure I could happily live on them alone. I love fresh garden tomatoes, garden herbs (fresh mint tea and rosemary bread!), green beans, zucchini bread, fried squash - and... GREEN TOMATOES. I love green tomatoes. Often I just dip slices in a little plain flour and then pan fry them (and salt lightly) on a hot griddle. They're faster, easier, and healthier than the breaded, deep fried kind, and I like them just as well! I'll try to post some of those this summer.  But for now, here's another neat thing to do with summer's green goodness:

Green Tomato Cream Soup

1 Green tomato, chopped
2 cups cabbage, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 small jalapeno, chopped
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons margarine
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chicken style Seasoning
¼ cup cashews
4 cups of water

1. Sauté all veggies in margarine and 2 cups of water until soft, about 10 minutes.
2. Blend cashews in 1 to 2 cups of hot water until very smooth, about three minutes.

3. Combine all and blend until very smooth, then bring to a boil. Lower heat and cook for another five minutes.

Rosemary Pesto Toast

This is a delicious new recipe is from Mike's special birthday meal today! His favorite herb (without competition) is rosemary, and this pesto is wonderful.
 
Rosemary Pesto Toast

½ cup soy mozzarella cheese
What half cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh rosemary, stems removed
¼ teaspoon salt
5-10 pieces whole grain bread, depending on the size

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Blend all (but bread) in a blender until smooth.

3. Spread mixture on bread and place on a cookie sheet and toast for 7-10 minutes.