Recipes

Chicken Pot Pie

2 cans all white chicken, drained

2 cans Veg-all, drained

2 cans cream of chicken soup

Tony Chachere's seasoning, to taste

4 deep dish pie crusts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set pie crusts out to thaw. Mix chicken, Veg-all and soup. Add Tony's seasoning to taste. Divide mixture between 2 of the pie crusts. Top the pies with the remaining 2 crusts. Trim off any excess crust and prick top of crust with a fork in 5 or 6 places. Bake in oven until brown, about 1 hour, depending on oven. Let pies sit 10-15 minutes before serving. These pies freeze really well. If you are going to freeze the pie, remove from oven when lightly browned. When ready to use, thaw and bake until crust has finished browning. My cousin Marilyn shared this recipe with my mother and me. Easy and delicious these pies have become a family favorite. Keep the ingredients in the pantry and freezer and they are wonderful for those days you want to fix something easy.

Witches Fingers (soft pretzels)
These are really fun at a halloween party for kids or adults!

1 1/2 C. warm water                          4 T. melted butter
1 T. sugar                                           10 C. water
2 tsp kosher salt                                 2/3 C. baking soda
1 pkg. active, dry yeast                       1 egg yolk
4 1/2 C. all purpose flour                    1 T. water
                                                           pretzel salt
sliced almonds
red food coloring

Combine 1 1/2 C. water, sugar and kosher salt in a large bowl. Sprinkle yeast on top and let stand  5 minutes until it foams. Add flour and melted butter and knead until well mixed. Place in a greased bowl and cover. Let sit for an hour until doubled in size. While dough sits, paint several dozen almond slices on one side with the red food coloring. These will be the fingernails.
Pinch off small pieces of dough and make logs about the size of a finger. Using a sharp knife, make several shallow cuts about an inch from the end and several more about an inch and a half from the first. These are the finger joints. Bring 10 C. of water and baking soda to a boil. Place the "fingers" in the boiling water, a few at a time, for 20-30 seconds. Remove to a cookie sheet, with the finger joint lines facing up. Gentle press an almond "fingernail" into place on the end of each finger. Beat egg yolk with 1 T. of water and brush each finger with the mixture. Sprinkle with pretzel salt and bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until browned.





Roast in Spaghetti Gravy

One of my family favorites is a roast cooked in spaghetti gravy. This dish is from my husband's grandmother who was Italian. It is simple, delicious and filling. It is a great way to cook an inexpensive beef roast that might otherwise be tough. The meat flavors the sauce so nicely, you don't need a lot of seasoning.

1 beef roast, 3-4 lbs.
1 T. olive oil
4 cans of tomato sauce, 15 oz. each
1 T. of sugar
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced (to taste) you can use garlic powder if that is what you have
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a dutch oven or large deep pot. Brown roast a couple of minutes on each side. Add all other ingredients and stir well. Turn heat down to low and let roast cook all day, stirring and turning roast occasionally. If you put a lid on the pot to reduce splattering be sure to leave it partially open so the sauce can thicken. If your pot is deep, splattering shouldn't be a problem. I put mine on in the morning to have it ready for dinner, so it cooks about 9 hours. I would say a minimum of five hours because you want the roast to fall apart. Once you notice the roast is starting to fall apart, use two forks to shred the meat. Continue cooking at least 30 minutes after you shred the roast. Serve over spaghetti. This recipe is easy to adapt for larger crowds, just buy a larger roast (or several small ones) and use enough sauce to cover the roast(s) most of the way. If you manage to have leftovers it makes wonderful poboys and it freezes well. A 3 pound roast will feed 7-10 people, depending on how many of them are teenage boys.






Sun dried tomato and cilantro butter

8 T. unsalted butter
3 T. finely diced onion
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 T. chopped fresh cilantro
1 T. chopped fresh parsley
1 small garlic clove, pressed
4 T. finely chopped sun dried tomato
sea salt, to taste

Melt butter in a small skillet, add onion and saute until tender. Add remaining ingredients and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Spoon over baked or grilled fish. This would also be good on chicken or tossed with pasta. For a different taste, use fresh basil in place of the cilantro. The picture below shows it served over grilled black drum with a sensation salad.