Roast Pork with apples

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/roast-pork-loin-with-apples-recipe.html

This was amazing. I baked it longer until 160 and used an oven thermometer that was left in the roast. It will need at least another 15 minutes of cooking time for that temp. Make sure to insert thermometer so the tip reaches the bottom half of the roast. THe veggies surrounding it make it slower to cook than the top half.

Double the veg and apples. I didn't have apple juice so used chicken stock, and it was excellent. Apple juice would have made it sweeter than it was. I'll have to experiment and see if David still likes it as much. Served 4 adults with enough leftover for a 5th. I had a 2.5 lb roast.

Chunky Celery Soup

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/chunky-celery-soup-recipe.html

Chunky Celery Soup

While this soup was good, the celery was overwhelming to me. David liked it more than I did. The wild rice did add a nice flavor, but I would have liked this soup much more if I'd used only half the amount of celery and added some roasted chicken to it. I will do that next time.

Chicken Pot Pie

I have made this pot pie several times and it is really good.

The original recipe is here: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Delicious-Chicken-Pot-Pie-10744

I use milk instead of half and half.

This made about 3 quarts because I added more vegetables. It barely fed 6 adults (3m/3f). It would have fed 4 more comfortably.

I used:

3 large chicken breasts

1 large onion

4 stalks celery

5 med carrots

4 med potatoes

fresh thyme

And then did what the recipe said. You could decrease the butter to make it lower fat. I usually use just a couple tablespoons of butter, and mostly milk instead of half and half. I do like to put in a bit of half and half or cream though, for the richness.

The crust I use for this comes from a comment by BothFex:

"Sift together 1 C. flour and 1 t. salt. Cut in 1/4 lb. cold butter or marg. till resembles coarse crumbs. Whisk together 1 egg yolk and 2 T. ice water add to flour mixture and mix till it just comes together. Let rest in fridge for 20 minutes then roll out and top pie."

I don't always let it rest, but it comes out flaky and good.

Update:

I always have the problem of the filling spilling out on top of the crust. When this happens, the crust is soggy and nasty. The solution I believe is to use pie dishes and fill them completely. Then put on a top crust only, and there is the rim for the crust to wrap around. When I make a huge pot pie in a 4 or 5 qt pot, the crust often falls too low and gets soggy. It has happened enough times that I need a different method. Alternatively, I could use a 2 or 3 quart glass casserole dish and fill it completely. Then put crust on top so that the edges seal. Sealing the edges is important so liquid can't get on top of the crust. Any leftover filling can be baked separately without crust. The most important things are to completely fill whatever container you use and then make sure the crust is large enough to extend beyond the edges and be sealed.

Another update:

I made this again but did it according to the measurements specified in the original recipe (except used less butter and milk instead of half and half). I used whole wheat flour in the pie, and half wheat half white in the crust recipe. It turned out really well. It was a touch too runny, so maybe a bit more flour would be good for thickening next time. This fit pretty well into a 2 quart glass dish, but was just shy of making it. The crust didn't drown this time, I think rolling it out large enough so it goes over the rim of the dish is key.

Another update- 5/1/2013:
Made again as in the last time, using original recipe in 2 qt glass dish, worked perfectly. Roll out dough large enough to go over the rim and fold under like a top crust on a regular pie. This time I used all white flour. The sauce was not too runny once it had time to cool slightly. I would recommend allowing 20-30 minutes of cooling time on the counter to avoid the initial runny sauce, it will still be really hot. It was a while ago that I made it last time though, and it might just be that white flour does better at thickening than whole wheat flour.

Kale and White Bean Stew

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/healthy/nutritiousdishes/lowcholesterolhearthealth/recipes/food/views/Kale-and-White-Bean-Stew-351254

This was pretty good considering how healthy it is. DH lamented the lack of meat (at which point I said I had planned on adding ham but he had eaten it). I swapped chicken broth for the vege broth. The fresh thyme is important for flavor. I put fresh tarragon in at the end and that made for a great flavor as well. Tarragon is awesome, by the way. It is great in yogurt sauce for gyros.

Chicken Noodle Soup

So, I sort of don't have a recipe for chicken noodle soup. This is what I do (approx):

Chicken broth. A quart maybe? Leftover chicken drippings from baked chicken are good to throw in as well.

A few carrots. 2-3.

A few celery stalks. 3-4.

Onion. 1.

Some noodles. I used 4 oz of bowtie pasta. But, whatever. My super fave noodles (hard to find depending on your location) are from the freezer section--Grandmas frozen noodles. They are awesome and swell up really fat.

leftover cooked chicken (a cup or two?)

Boil chopped veges in the broth. Then add pasta. You could put in some thyme or sage or something. If you've got it.

the end.

P.S. Every time I make chicken noodle soup the broth seems to get all absorbed. So, maybe put in extra broth:)
If grandma's noodles are not to be found, Mrs. Weiss' Kluski Enriched egg noodles are fantastic. I just put in the whole 8 oz bag and it works well for ~4 qts (or less) of soup. I like to add a can of cream of chicken soup sometimes too to make it creamy like my turkey noodle soup recipe.