Dinner Disaster!!

Yesterday was certainly an interesting day, especially last night! You could say that forces were working against me with dinner last night, or maybe I'm just really blonde. Both could be easily argued. TJ and I woke up much later than I had intended, but I'm going to choose to blame that on the fact that I was up until almost 3am working on my 1st blog entry... So even though we woke up late, the day wasn't too bad, well that is when you compare it to the evening, but I'll get to that here very soon!

We had to go to Sam's Club and to one of those recycling things where you can take your bags and bags of soda cans that you've been saving on the side of the house since before Christmas (yeah, TJ did that... I don't drink soda so you can't blame it on me!). We thought we'd try the one where you can put each can individually into the machine. My oldest sister said you get more money that way. Apparently she also must have told a lot of other people because we weren't the only ones there sadly. So after waiting and then being told that one of the machines was totally full and would be closed for the rest of the day, we said pooie on it and went to Sam's Club.

Is it just me, or does Sam's Club (and Costco for that matter) sell way too many yummy things? I swear all we intended on getting was kitty litter, one of those atomic clocks that reads the temp outside and inside, and a box of pizza rolls. Yes, they're greasy, but I don't care. They are amazing! But after what ended up being almost an hour and way too much money later (sorry Dad!) we were on our way home to unload the lovely pork chops, baby back ribs, frozen pizza, pizza rolls (yes I really did need both, I swear!), quesadillas, etc.

After we unloaded everything, we were off to the other recycling place that only does it by the pound. Unfortunately for us, it's closed on Mondays. But it's okay, because I had forgotten a very important part of my recipe for that night! I was going to make Easy Chicken Pot Pies from my new recipe book I ordered from my sister in AZ (she sells Pampered Chef, please visit her if you need awesome cooking stuff!). The item in question was the frozen puff pastry sheets. You can't very well have a chicken pot pie without a crust! So we went in, picked that up along with some E.L. Fudge cookies (they were on sale, and they are so addicting. I've been eating those since I was a kid! Yes, not that long ago... I know... lol) and a bag of gummy worms.

Then we finally got home and I was able to get to work on my 2nd blog entry! Of course, that's when TJ casually reminded me that I had also needed to buy more chicken stock at the grocery store. I mean, really? You remind me now? *sigh* So he ran back out to the store while I was typing (and then had a lovely conversation with a good friend! <3 those!). When he got back home he snuck into the loft with something behind is back. Turned out it was these gorgeous roses!! Yesterday was our anniversary so he wanted to surprise me. Not a major milestone anniversary, just our 3 year and 4 month, but hey, little milestones count in my eyes too. <3

After my dad called and said he was about 45 minutes from home I went to go get dinner started since the pot pie takes about an hour in the oven. So as I am cutting chicken into pieces I ask TJ to clean up the dishes in the sink so the kitchen wasn't such a sty. He said he'd love to but he had something blocking him on the couch. This is what I found, Picasso the orange kitty and Sophie the dog helping him watch Cops and inadvertently stopping him from cleaning the dishes :P Although Picasso did get moved right after I took this picture lol

This recipe is called "easy" chicken pot pie because it uses prepared ingredients like rotisserie chicken and frozen puff pastry sheets. However, I didn't have a rotisserie chicken sitting around, but I had plenty of chicken breasts in the freezer so I pulled out 3 and decided to cook them up.

I seasoned them with some salt and pepper as they cooked. I figured it would add some flavor, too bad I'll never know. :'(

Next I had to add butter and flour to a "4-qt casserole". Remember that part, it will be important, I promise. You whisk these until smooth.

Next you are supposed to cook it over medium-high heat for 6-8 minutes or until the mixture is light golden brown while whisking occasionally. This was going fine. I got it to the golden brown and was getting ready for the next step when TJ asked me if I smelled something burning. I couldn't and there was nothing visible so I dismissed it and moved onto the next step. Next I had to add my chicken stock to the mixture. Yeah... that's where chaos hit.

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Apparently, when the recipe said "4-qt casserole" they basically meant a smaller version of a stock pot. Who calls any kind of pot a "casserole"? I don't know about you, but when I hear "casserole" I think of some kind of baking dish, not a pot. Unfortunately, that mistake almost made me have a heartattack. Thank goodness TJ was in the kitchen with me or I probably would've burnt the whole damn thing down!

So here's what happened, and yes, laugh away at my n00bish mistake. *sighs* I, stupidly might I add, assumed that when they said "casserole" they actually meant my Deep Covered Baker. I should also mention that this recipe is from a Pampered Chef cookbook called "Dinner in your Deep Covered Baker". It has all sorts of fabulous recipes that I now have to wait to try because of the above pictures. But alas, I digress.

When I read that I had to heat the mixture up, I put it on the stove as it indicated. Apparently it had started burning the bottom of my poor little baker, which TJ smelled but I was totally unaware of. And when I added the chicken stock (which was also still kind of cold from the fridge), it shattered. In half. While catching on fire. Yeah, that's my kind of luck. While I was screaming and just overall freaking out, TJ walked over to the stove, shut the flame off (yeah, I screamed and got away from it and left the fire on. I know, I'm brilliant.), and put out the flames. He also managed to get a piece of the stoneware embedded in his wrist which took him 15 minutes to figure out why his wrist was hurting so much.

I would like to blame this mistake on my parents. They taught me never put metal in the microwave, never use regular soap in the dishwasher, and taught me how to properly wash my clothing. Did they teach me to not put ceramic/glass anything over an open flame? Yeah. That'd be a no. Or at least when they did I had zoned out for that  particular lesson, as is evident above.

So with dinner clearly not happening, dad, TJ and I went to Outback. My sisters and I found a gift card from my brother and his fiance to mom and dad for Outback from god knows how many Christmas's ago, so we finally used it! By the way, that's my daddy waiting on dinner to show up, and probably dreaming about how he lost out on his favorite food because of his super amazing daughter. Go me.

After freaking out majorly, I decided that I needed a drink. Bad. The waitress recommended this to me and let me tell you... ohemgee.

This. Was. Amazing. It's Sailor Jerry's rum (95 proof), Malibu rum, mango juice, and pieces of strawberry. It was so good I had two. I need to figure out how to make these because I really like them!

Dad let me order one of my favorite things, filet mignon and lobster tail. Good thing they were still having that steak and lobster special and that we had a gift card!

So overall, I had one heck of a day yesterday. I'm very sad I didn't get to make that pot pie, but I will post the recipe in case anyone wants to attempt it (and not make the same mistakes I did!!) Just remember these valuable lessons! 1) Don't put ceramic/glass over an open flame and 2) don't pour something cold into ceramic that's hot! :(

I swear, it's really quite a burden being this blonde.

I took the liberty of changing the 4-qt casserole to 4-qt pot, just in case someone were to make the mistake I did!

<3 Kate

Easy Chicken Pot Pie                                    [click to print]

Serves 8

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 cups chicken stock

2 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp dried thyme

2 garlic cloves, pressed

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

3 cups diced cooked chicken breasts

1 cup milk

1 medium onion

2 cups (16oz) frozen mixed peas and carrots

1/2 pkg (17.3oz) frozen puff pastry sheets (1 sheet), thawed

1 egg
1 tbsp water

Method

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Add butter and flour to a 4-qt. pot; whisk until smooth using a flat whisk. Cook over medium-high heat 6-8 minutes or until mixture is light golden brown, whisking occasionally. Add stock, whisking constantly until smooth. Add thyme, pressed garlic, salt and black pepper to pot. Simmer, uncovered, 6-8 minutes or until sauce is thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in chicken and milk.

Meanwhile, finely chop onion using a food chopper. Add onion, frozen vegetables and chicken mixture to a deep covered baker; mix well. Unfold pastry onto lightly floured surface; seal seams and roll to an 11 1/2-in. length. Using a pastry cutter fitted with a fluted wheel, score pastry lengthwise in half and then crosswise into four rectangles to make eight rectangles. (Do not cut all the way through pastry.) Lay pastry over filling; press edges against sides of baker to seal. Trim excess pastry. In a prep bowl, whisk together egg and water; lightly brush over pastry.

Bake, uncovered, 35-40 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Remove baker from oven; let stand, uncovered, 10 minutes before serving.