OMG Mindy and Leah were a Tad Ambitious!

Me looking FINE...actually forgot my hair was all combed forward bahahahaha

So before the whole idea to actually blog came about for the new cookbook, I (Leah) picked out some recipes I thought I would make, possibly to just portion out into lunches I could freeze for future use...I picked three:

• Chicken Potpie Chowder
• Chicken & Wild Mushroom Skillet
• Beef Bowlrito

They are fairly basic recipes. but it took us the entire afternoon to make them. We made the Chicken Potpie Chowder first, ate some for lunch then froze the rest in individual containers. Next was the Beef Bowlrito. I realized that this would be trickery to pre-make for lunches as I would need to prepackage a bunch of toppings, so likely better as a dinner one night, then lunch the next day sort of meal....or buy some fancy multi container containers. The last one we created was the Chicken & Wild Mushroom Skillet for dinner which we completed a little after 6:00 pm.

What we learned is not to listen to Leah as she is way too ambitious on what we should do on an afternoon. We did double every recipe so that we could each have a portion for our houses. I will try to cover these in the order we created with any of our modifications.

Final Chicken Potpie Chowder

1. Chicken Potpie Chowder: 
(I don't want to post the recipe in case I am breaking copyright, but I will link the website to the recipe)
Most of my modifications from recipe is that I really am picky about big chunky onions, and celery. So I used my chopper and pretty much pureed some, and diced some....but super small. I totally recommend a small chopper if you are finicky like me. It is a huge time saver!

We cooked the chicken on the stove, frying it, seasoning it with thyme, sage and salt. The recipe just says cooked chicken breast. I was a terrible describer to Mindy who picked up some ingredients I had missed, like creamed corn. She bought the larger cans (598mL) and the recipe called for (398mL) so we had more creamed corn then was needed, and I think it sweetened it a lot. 

I messed up thinking the recipe wanted peas and corn, but it was peas and carrots. I shopped at Superstore and they don't have that blend, so I bought a blend with carrots (very few and full baby carrots), green beans, peas, lima beans and corn. This changed the colour of the chowder, so it does not have much pop. This did not make it taste bad, so I do recommend try your own favourites. 

The recipe also asked for half-and-half cream, but I used half heavy cream and half 2% milk...not worried about calories here! 

We totally forgot the parsley, so its still sitting in my fridge. Overall the recipe is tasty, and easy to make. I would probably thicken it up more the next time. We ate this for lunch and everyone liked it, and I froze the leftovers for lunches. 

Beef Bowlrito

2. Beef Bowlrito

I honestly was wanting to not make this as I realized this would be a tricky one to prepackage and freeze for lunches (my main objective).

Cilantro-Lime Rice: We used basmati rice instead of the brown rice the recipe asked for...I am not a lover of brown rice. Mindy also suggest you could just sub lettuce instead of rice too for a salad. I also did not use fresh limes, but bottled lime, skipping the lime zest...I am not "zesty", but you can always try. I enjoyed the rice, I like cilantro, which is in this, as it gives a nice fresh flavour. 

Spiced Beef: Again I pureed the onions, adding the fresh garlic with it to save time. I also am not super "measurey" so I kind of "eyed" what I thought was a cup...I had frozen ground beef that was not fully thawed so it took longer to cook and had more liquid. 

We topped it all with corn, black beans, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, and shredded cheese. Mindy tried to get fancy so used a sprig of cilantro and diced tomatoes for a nicer presentation. This would also be great wrapped in a tortilla. 

This was really easy to make, and was fresh and tasty. I totally think it will taste fine cold, so I am taking my leftovers for lunch. I kind of stir mine up before eating. 

Sorry just about forgot to take a picture!

Chicken & Wild Mushroom Skillet

I was so not feeling like cooking anymore at this point and got a bit sloppy. For some reason we had a lot of sauce, like a lot! Wendy made this same recipe and said she did not have as much sauce as she would have liked, so I must have did something to it, and I think maybe I added more chicken broth than was needed. 

I forgot to pound the chicken breasts to even thickness, and I remembered this as I went to bed. I pureed the onions, and used white onions (or whatever you call those cheap ones in the mesh bags). I do not recommend this as it made the dish really oniony, like it took over the flavour. Wendy used red onions and chopped hers, and she said hers was not so oniony. 

I am not a foody. So I just used dijon mustard w/white wine instead of the grainy dijon mustard. Apparently Mindy says it will give a different flavour and texture....she's fancy and knows these things.

I used cremini mushrooms instead of the "wild mixed mushrooms", and anyone who knows me, knows I don't like mushrooms...so I did not really care. I don't mind flavouring of mushrooms, but I don't eat them. 

We made mashed potatoes and green beans to go with the chicken, which was great. I would definitely make again but I would beat the chicken and watch I wasn't adding too much liquids, and NOT puree the onions (and add less). 

Overall, most dishes were good. I would modify some more, mainly thickening the chowder and the sauce with the chicken & wild mushroom skillet. We doubled all the recipes so the chicken & wild mushroom skillet sauce was runnier then I like, I like a gravy. 

When Landon came over he said my house was hurting his eyes because of all the onions, LOL. My daughter also said the same thing, so I told them they would make terrible Slavics! I also got the following text from Mindy after they left: 

Mindy texted me the following:

I don’t know - I will go on and look later! Landon and I both smell like big stinky meatballs from being at your house 😂 so we are going to take showers and put PJs on before we settle in for the evening