Chickpea Potato Curry

Rob is away and has the car, and I've been really busy, so I haven't been able to go grocery shopping. So this afternoon I had to look at what I had in the fridge and cupboards and think about what I could make with it. I googled what I had an voila! This recipe came up.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups veggie broth

2 cans of chickpeas

1 can of tomatoes with chilis

6 baby Yukon potatoes, chopped into cubes

1 medium onion, diced

1 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tsp minced ginger

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Add ingredients to pot and stir well.
2. Simmer on medium heat for 35-40 minutes

Notes

Well, there were a few things I had to change.

1. I only had one can of chickpeas, so instead of a 2nd can, I used a cup of frozen peas.

2. I didn't have any potatoes, only a sweet potato. So I used that instead.

3. I didn't have canned tomatoes with chilis, just a can of diced tomatoes. So I used that and added a few dashes of hot sauce.

4. I didn't have ground coriander.

Aside from not having exactly the same ingredients as the recipe called for, this turned out great. I made some rice to go along with it and really enjoyed it! Admittedly, I might have made it a bit too spicy for my tastes, but it was still delicious!

Baked Panzerottis

This recipe is from the Food Network show Eat, Shrink, and Be Merry. The idea of the show is that they take unhealthy foods and make them healthy. Rob and I both often have pizza cravings, and I was hoping this recipe would satisfy those cravings and save us some money!

Ingredients

Dough:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 tbsp of ground flaxseed (I used whole flaxseed)

1 envelope of quick-rise yeast

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 warm water

2 tsp olive oil

2 tsp honey

1 egg, lightly beaten (to coat the dough before baking)

Sauce:

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 cup minced onion

2 tsp minced garlic

2 cups plain, low-sodium tomato sauce

1 small can of tomato paste

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp honey

salt and pepper to taste

**You could just buy a jar of pizza sauce instead of making your own if you'd like. I won't judge.**

Filling:

The recipe uses ground turkey and turkey sausage. We wanted to make our panzerotti vegetarian, so we use the following:

1 can of diced pineapple, drained and squeezed (too much pineapple juice will make a soggy panzerotti)

1/2 green pepper, shopped

5-6 white button mushrooms, sliced

1 cup of shredded cheese (we bought a pre-shredded Italian blend)

Directions

Dough:

1. Mix dry ingredients well in a large mixing bowl.
2. In measuring cup, mix water, honey, and olive oil.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon.
4. Tip onto a flour surface and knead for 2 minutes.
5. Lightly grease a bowl with olive oil. Place dough in bowl and cover. Let rise for 15-20 minutes, until double in size.

Sauce:

1. Saute onions and garlic in a pot with olive oil until onions are soft.
2. Add in remaining ingredients and stir well.
3. Let simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes.

Okay, so now for the assembly!

1. On a piece of parchment paper or a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a large rectangle, about the size of the cookie sheet that you will bake the panzerotti on.
2. Transfer dough to a floured cookie sheet.
3. Spread 1/3 of the sauce down the centre portion of the dough, leaving 3 to 4 inches on each side.
4. Spread some cheese on the sauced area.
5. Spread fillings and top with remaining cheese.
6. Down each side of the dough, cut 8 strips that you can "braid" over the sauce and fillings.
7. Take a strip from one side and fold it over the fillings. Repeat on the other side. Alternate sides until you've braided the dough. It should look like a giant strudel.
8. Be sure to seal the ends of the panzerotti so the sauce doesn't leak out.
9. Brush the dough with the lightly beaten egg.
10. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.
11. Serve with remaining tomato sauce for dipping.

This was a great recipe... a little time consuming, but still delicious. Next time I would buy sauce instead of making my own, in order to cut down on the prep.

Mushroom Pot Pies

One of Rob's favourite meals (pre-vegetarianism) was pot pies. However, since he's turned vegetarian he hasn't been able to eat them, since most contain meat. So I decided to make some veggie-friendly pot pies!

I cheated a bit on the crusts and bought Pilsbury's pre-made pie crusts. They come in little packages containing two flat circles of pie dough, so I bought two packages of pie crusts.

I bought a package of 6" tin pie plates from the baking aisle of our local grocery store and greased them lightly. Then I unrolled the pie crusts and cut them into circles to fit into the pie plates. I was able to cut out 14 circles from the two packages of dough that I bought. I lined 7 pie plates with the dough, and reserved the remaining 7 circles for the top crusts of the pie. We'll get back to those later. Now for the filling!

Ingredients

• 6 tbsp margarine
• 10-12 white mushrooms, sliced
• 10-12 cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 5 portabella mushroom caps, sliced
• 4 potatoes, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1 medium white onion, diced
• 2 shallots, diced
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups of veggie broth
• 1 cup frozen peas
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Melt 2 tbsp butter in a large saucepan on medium heat.
2. Add mushrooms and stir until juices are released.
3. Add potatoes, reduce heat, and cover until potatoes are softened.
4. Pour mushroom/potato mixture into a bowl and set aside.
5. Increase heat to medium and add remaining butter to pot.
6. Add celery, onion, shallots, and thyme, cooking until the onions are soft.
7. Add in flour and stir constantly until blended, about 2-3 minutes.
8. Slowly add broth, whisking consistently as you pour so that you make a nice thick gravy. **The mixture should be thicker than soup so that it doesn't leak out of the pie shells, but still with some fluidity to it (Not so thick that it will taste pasty in your mouth). Add more flour or broth as needed to get the desired consistency, whisking as you do so.
9. Add in potato/mushroom mixture and peas.
10. Season with salt and pepper.

Now for the assembly!!

1. Ladle mushroom stew into tart shells - just enough to fill (but not overfill) the pies.
2. Top each pie with remaining dough circles, pinching around the edges. to seal the pie shut.
3. Cut 2 or 3 slits in the top of the pie, to let steam out while baking.
4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 45-50 minutes, until crust is golden brown.

If you want to freeze your extra pies, set the completed pies on a baking tray and put in the freezer. Once they're frozen, wrap in plastic wrap and stack in the freezer. To cook from frozen, preheat oven to 350-375 degrees and bake for 1 hour or until crust is golden brown.

You can also add whatever other veggies you'd like to the pie - carrots, corn... whatever! You could also try a different mixture of spices - maybe add some crushed rosemary or sage... or both!!

These pies are really rich and hearty and incredibly delicious! A nice substitute for meat pies!