A dish from my childhood basically. King Ranch Casserole! 
Of course I kicked it up a notch or two........
Of course I kicked it up a notch or two........
What's for Dinner?
- Thread starter ffemt128
- Start date
Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:
Terrible picture, but watching the TEXAS ohio state game. Munchie food for the game. 
Mrs. WM81 requested chicken pot pie, so that was dinner last night. I've never been fond of the dish, as the commercial ones are all crust with a tiny bit of bland filling. This is my third time making a pot pie in the last few years, so I researched recipes and got one off AllRecipes.
I followed the recipe exactly, except for changing everything.
It was useful for proportions, but any recipe that says to boil chicken and throw the stock out is NOT to be followed.
Fried the chicken, caramelized shallots, sauted the vegetables (carrots & potato), and made the gravy in one pan. Assembled it in a 9" cake pan, not a pie plate, so each piece is a meal. I'm going to make it again in a couple of weeks, refining what I did this time.
Getting the first piece out picture perfect quality doesn't happen ... but Mrs. WM81 said it was the best one she's ever had. [To be fair, all she's had before this is commercial frozen ones and my first 2 attempts, which were still better than frozen.]
Preserving flavors by making everything in one pan (do one thing, remove it, start the next ...) and caramelizing the shallots is the big win.
I followed the recipe exactly, except for changing everything.
It was useful for proportions, but any recipe that says to boil chicken and throw the stock out is NOT to be followed.
Fried the chicken, caramelized shallots, sauted the vegetables (carrots & potato), and made the gravy in one pan. Assembled it in a 9" cake pan, not a pie plate, so each piece is a meal. I'm going to make it again in a couple of weeks, refining what I did this time.
Getting the first piece out picture perfect quality doesn't happen ... but Mrs. WM81 said it was the best one she's ever had. [To be fair, all she's had before this is commercial frozen ones and my first 2 attempts, which were still better than frozen.]
Preserving flavors by making everything in one pan (do one thing, remove it, start the next ...) and caramelizing the shallots is the big win.
The thing I love about recipes is that you don't need to prove your cooking skills to post a recipe. Sometimes it is glaringly obvious they are absent within the instruction. Other times you have to figure it out the hard way.
If you want to wind me up, show me a mushroom soup recipe with a can of mushroom in the ingredients. You will get a fun response.
Reviews are definitely my favorite part. I didn't have A.B,or C and I wasn't going to simmer for 2 hours. I put it in the microwave for 2 minutes and the meat was SO tough.
This recipe sucks!
I have also only made this a few time over many many years. Better than frozen, but I never dazzled myself. The one thing I did get right was presentation. If you make it again a cheap ramekin set for individual servings makes it fun!
Next time save me a piece, would ya?
This recipe has mostly 5 star reviews. Which makes me question the reviewers.
I consider that tastes vary. I know one person who cooks with no seasoning -- her food is as bland as can be. Her taste buds work, but she doesn't want food that has taste. I'm not understanding that.
The thing is that the recipe I started with was exactly that, a starting point. I read the negative reviews -- a couple were laughable, but three pointed out what to me are glaring problems with the recipe. Then I applied my experience in cooking, and produced a really good result. Unfortunately, some of it was "winging it", so I need to do it again and do better measurement so I can record it.
Side note -- when I was just out of college (university), the woman I was dating lamented that her grandmother died, and with her a large chunk of the family recipes that existed only in her head. I realized how many recipes existed only in my mom's head, so for the next 3 years, we scheduled time on weekends to make recipes. She cooked while I measured and recorded. When my mom departed the mortal coil 15 years later, all her recipes were safely recorded. I printed books to distribute within the family.
I make it a point to record the recipes I either like or invent. My sons are contributing their recipes, and my plan for next Christmas is to print books through Lulu to send to various family members.
Peach Melba pie;
Another Saturday night, Red Meat, potatoes and roasted cauliflower. Had to use the gas grill cause the wind was blowing enough to be worried about lighting coals but still tasty. Found what I think is a pretty good old vine Zin, commercial and affordable (under $20) called St. Francis Old Vine Zin.
Mrs. WM81 requested pressure cooked beef, so I got out a package of Costco stew beef.
We had a couple partial packages of mushroom, so they went in!
We had a couple partial packages of mushroom, so they went in!
Not good at fluting the edges, but the rest of it came out good looking for a guy who rarely makes pies! 
Was the bark better than the bites? 
Christmas day we baked a ham for dinner, and froze the bone and leftovers afterward, as we had no time for it.
We defrosted them today, and I made a bean soup. To be honest, it came out thick enough to be a stew, but it tastes the same, either way.
We defrosted them today, and I made a bean soup. To be honest, it came out thick enough to be a stew, but it tastes the same, either way.
Chicken thighs with lemon-caper-garlic sauce.
Sunday night........ Football night...... In Amurica! LOL
It's colder than a well diggers arse in the Klondike's as they say so what could be better than a Hot steaming bowl of ..........Mrs IB's Blanco Chili!
No red chile was harmed in this recipe! Lots of white meat including ground turkey, ground chicken and ground pork. Chicken broth brings up the liquid level. Lots of the usual suspects including great northern beans, hominy, onion, garlic, cumin and of course green chile!
It's colder than a well diggers arse in the Klondike's as they say so what could be better than a Hot steaming bowl of ..........Mrs IB's Blanco Chili!
No red chile was harmed in this recipe! Lots of white meat including ground turkey, ground chicken and ground pork. Chicken broth brings up the liquid level. Lots of the usual suspects including great northern beans, hominy, onion, garlic, cumin and of course green chile!
Pan fried catfish filets
Aldi 16" pizza with pepperoni, sausage, bell peppers, black olives,red onions- $7.69. Not the best! Looks can be deceiving!
We have tried Aldi's and Costco's take-home and bake pizzas. Both were disappointing.
We haven't made pizza in a while ....
she has hypersensitive taste buds. That is why she chooses bland. I have a hypersensitive sense of smell which means I can't be surrounded by incense, perfume or aromatherapy. I can smell a natural gas leak from a mile away. Your "bland" queen has a hyper-sensitive tongue.
My wife is supersensitive to acid and tannin in wines. She likes rich fragrant wines so I try to make her slightly flat wines for my palate e.g. California Petite Sirah blends destemmed and uncrushed, blended with anything that is lower in alcohol and ripe e.g. Washington Cabernet Franc, Washington Cabernet Sauvignon, Amador Cabernet Sauvignon. She also likes muscats so I made her a Washington Sheridan Chardonnay blended with my own Siegerrebe-Ortega blend (Siegerrebe is really fragrant and low in acid). She rates the Chardonnay Muscat a 9 out of 10 which I don't because I like more acid in my whites. But this wine isn't my wine. It is hers.
Last edited:
Similar threads
