OMG Kitties

Want!

Vegetables and Fruits that Grow In Shade

http://organicgardening.about.com/od/vegetablesherbs/a/shadeveggies.htm
http://veggiepatchreimagined.blogspot.com/2008/12/vegetables-for-shade.html
http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/4DMG/VegFruit/vegshady.htm
http://www.oldhouseweb.com/gardening/vegetables-shade.shtml
http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/a-23-2006-03-07-voa2-83130862.html
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf16449960.tip.html
http://www.gardenguides.com/94344-vegetables-grow-shade.html
http://www.rickharrison.com/texts/info/shade_tolerant.html
http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=G6911
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fruit/msg0403065516147.html
http://fruitforum.wordpress.com/2007/06/02/what-fruits-will-thrive-in-shade/
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/feeling-fruity/fruits-shade_24154.html
http://www.shade-growing.com/fruit-for-shade/fruit-in-shade
http://ezinearticles.com/?Trees-Provide-Shelter,-Shade-and-Fruits&id=4150306

Food Storage

So, after searching for a chart that I once had (it's of course missing), I know that my 3-gallon buckets will hold 48 cups of food, approximately 18 lbs. of any one item. It obviously varies. Also, apparently a year's supply of food for ONE person is 25 gallons of beans, rice, flour, etc. That is kinda crazy when you think about it. I can't imagine the storage for that much food! The question is: do I start hoarding now, and hiding it in my closet, or do I wait until we move and have proper storage?

Chicken Pot Pie

So, R, here is my interpretation of chicken pot pie. I'll post it how I made it, with how I SHOULD'VE at the bottom.

Ingredients (as I used them):
-- chicken (either leftover roast, or chicken breasts)
-- 1# puff pastry
-- butter
-- olive oil
-- flour
-- onion
-- carrot
-- celery
-- potato
-- beet
-- parsnip
-- chicken stock
-- milk
-- spices (I used salt, pepper, fresh rosemary, oregano, and bay)

If your chicken is not leftover from a roast, chop your chicken breasts into chunks and fry them in olive oil, with some pepper and rosemary. After they cooked completely, I chopped them further (with the spatula) into 1 cm squares (approx.).

Before I went any further, after preheating to 375F, I draped one of the pieces of puff pastry in the bottom of my casserole dish (8"x12"), peppered the bottom with fork holes, and popped it in the oven to get lightly golden and puffy. After it came out, I deflated much of it with the same fork.

Pretty toasted puff pastry shell.

While the puff pastry shell was in the oven, I chopped all of my vegetables into a fine dice. All total, I used one beet, one potato, one parsnip, two celery stalks and two carrots. I considered adding some squash, but decided I was too lazy. I also chopped the onion at this time.

All my chopped veggies.

I melted 3-4 Tbs. of butter in the same pan that I fried my chicken in, and added a handful or two of flour.* Mixed together well, and let cook until a little until lightly golden. I then added the onion, and some more olive oil to let the onion cook down a touch.

Butter, flour and onions.

After cooking for a bit, I threw in the rest of the vegetables, the spices, a few cups of chicken stock, and a splash of milk (while the stock was still cold). I let this cook down a bit, until the carrots were just a little chewy. I also added some more flour as it wasn't thickening as much as I'd like ('cause I'd burned the roux in this method).

Oh beets, why must you turn things pink?

After everything cooked down as much as I wanted, I threw in the chicken, gave it a good mix, and then poured it into the puff pastry shell. Note, I also removed the bay leaf, as I didn't want a surprise when eating.

Tossing the chicken in.

I covered it with the remaining piece of puff pastry, trimming as necessary to get it to fit properly, and put it in the oven at 375F until it was done (approx. 20 mins.). Also, I added some vents in the crust with a knife.

In the oven (with a drip pan beneath it).

It then cooled on a rack to settle for about 10 minutes before eating.

All crispy and done!

Verdict? Delicious. Could use more spices, but that's how I cook in general.

Lookit how it begs me to eat it!

*= I should have cooked the onions in the butter first, then added the flour. And immediately after the flour was toasted, added in the stock THEN followed by the rest of the veggies. But it still tasted good.

Recipes to Save

Pot Pie #1
Pot Pie #2
Pot Pie #3
Pot Pie #4
Pumpkin Apple Bread Pudding
Banana Bread Pudding
Steak with Fondue
Bacon, Onion, Cheddar Biscuits
Make Ahead Muffin Melts
Black Ginger Blondies <--- I should make these for my coworkers at LUSH for Christmas! yay for vegan food blogs!
Irish Cream liqueur
Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Spicy Caramel Apple sauce and Vanilla Creme Anglaise

Alright!

I have all of the ingredients for pot pie. It shall be made SOON. As in, no later than this weekend. :-P

Grr

Well R, I intending on making pot pie yesterday. However, I didn't really have any veggies to go into it. So after sleeping until 4pm (it's my only day off in a month), we get our shit together to go to the grocery store. Only to find it closed. And the next one. And the next one. Why isn't there a single goddamned grocery store that's OPEN on Thanksgiving? The high holy day of food?

So yeah, we went out for Indian.

Who knows when this damn thing is getting made.