This week’s single cooking project from my collection of recipes was yet more pickled eggs; this week has been busy, so, I took the photos from one of the extra projects I did last weekend while I was still at the cottage, cooking a large number of breakfast sausages for the freezer, and the subject of this post, English muffin breakfast sandwiches.
This is a bit of a no-brainer of a recipe, since as I was mounting this post, I saw a photo of a virtually identical sandwich printed on the bag of English muffins!
If you don’t cook breakfast sausages in advance to keep in the freezer, begin with the cooking of some sausages in the number of sandwiches you will be making for breakfast. You may also use the resulting grease, appropriately drained and wiped up from the skillet, later when the egg will be fried, instead of the specified olive oil.
Making the sandwiches:
First, a frozen, cooked sausage was taken out, and allowed to partly defrost:
The sausage was sliced along its length:
The two sausage halves were then cut in half crosswise, and then put aside for a moment:
An English muffin was taken out (notice the picture of this recipe on the label):
Since I keep English muffins in the freezer, I placed the English muffin in the microwave oven …
… and the microwave oven was set to a short time period to partly defrost the English muffin:
The English muffin was sliced into two halves, and put aside for a moment:
A slice of processed cheese was taken out and unwrapped, and placed on the counter to warm up to room temperature (note that natural cheese sliced off the block may also be used):
The corners of the slice of cheese were folded over toward the centre, to resize the cheese to the English muffin, and then put aside for a moment:
Olive oil was poured into a cast iron skillet on the stove:
The olive oil was spread over part of the surface of the skillet:
The stove was turned to a medium heat:
While the skillet was heating up, the English muffin halves were placed in the toaster oven:
The toast oven was set to the time setting required to toast English muffins:
An egg was taken out:
The sausage pieces were placed in the skillet, and the egg was cracked into the skillet:
The egg was fried, and edges folded into the centre to resize the frying egg to the English muffin:
I like fried eggs turned over, so the egg was flipped over:
At this point, the English muffins were almost toasted:
The toasted English muffins were taken out of the toaster oven:
The folded over processed cheese slice was placed on one of the English muffin halves:
The fried egg was transferred on top of the processed cheese:
The sausage pieces were placed on top of the fried egg:
The other half of the English muffin was placed on top of the sausage pieces:
I was pleased to have on hand the pictures from making the crisped rice treats I made last weekend at the cottage!
Making the Crisped Rice Treats:
First, margarine was taken out, and some margarine was picked up on a paper towel:
The margarine was spread in a 13″ x 9″ x 2″ cake pan:
The greased pan was then put aside.
6-1/2 cups of crisped rice breakfast cereal were measure out:
The crisped rice cereal was transferred to a mixing bowl and put aside:
5-1/2 cups of mini marshmallows were measured out:
The marshmallows were put aside.
A large, heavy pot was taken out:
The stove burner was set to a low heat:
Two dollops of margarine were “measured” out:
The margarine was transferred to the heavy pot:
The margarine was melted in the heavy pot:
Once the margarine was fully melted, the mini marshmallows were added to the heavy pot with the melted margarine:
The stove setting was raised to medium heat:
The marshmallows were constantly stirred while melting, to avoid burning:
While the marshmallows were melting a few feet away and being constantly watched, a cutting board was taken out, to use as a trivet a few moments later:
Very soon, the marshmallows were completely melted, and well mixed with the margarine:
The pot of melted mini marshmallows and margarine mix was transferred to the cutting board:
The crisped rice cereal was transferred to the melted marshmallow and margarine mix:
The crisped rice cereal and melted marshmallow and margarine mix were thoroughly mixed together:
The mixture was transferred to the greased 13″ x 9″ x 2″ cake pan:
The mixture was allowed to slightly cool, but while still warm, it was spread out evenly in the baking pan with a stiff stainless steel egg flipper:
After cooling completely, the contents of the pan were cut into various bite-sized pieces:
Finally, the treats were transferred to a sealable plastic container:
This past week’s cooking projects from my collection of recipes included yet again more bran muffins for mom, crisped rice treats (which will be the subject of a future post since I also took photos of the process, to keep for future use), and the subject of this post, my pepperoni pizza.
A post that is an ancestor to my current project of creating photo posts of my personal recipes was for my pepperoni pizza, the same recipe for this post; however, it was a simple posting with only some photos of a few of the steps, and the post was created more on a dare after I randomly texted said photos to my brother, who replied “A blog post, perhaps?”
Note that in this post, while some photos below may betray the order in which they were actually taken relative to the others (although all were taken in the same session), some ingredients’ preparation steps are presented at the beginning as part of the mise-en-place steps for the sake of the narrative. Also note that these pizzas were made at the cottage, hence the use of different kitchen equipment.
Making the pizza:
An oven rack was placed on the top position in the oven, and the oven was preheated to 450F:
Olive oil was added to two #8 cast iron skillets:
… and the olive oil was evenly spread over the skillets’ surfaces with a paper towel:
I keep cooked bacon in the freezer; a few slices of which were taken out (or at this point, cook some bacon):
The cooked bacon was sliced:
… and then the bacon was chopped finely:
The finely chopped bacon was transferred to a bowl and kept at hand:
An onion was taken out:
The onion was trimmed:
The onion was halved:
The onion was then sliced thinly:
And the onion was chopped finely:
Then, the onion was transferred to the bowl with the chopped bacon:
And the chopped onion and chopped bacon were mixed together:
The bowl of chopped onion and chopped bacon was then put aside.
Mozzarella cheese, a grater, and a bowl were taken out:
The mozzarella cheese was grated:
… and the mozzarella cheese was put aside.
I use pre-sliced pepperoni purchased at the store; if you are slicing your own pepperoni, now would be a good time to slice 30 slices of pepperoni, and place the sliced pepperoni on a plate or in a bowl, to be put aside.
Flour was measured out:
The flour was placed in a mixing bowl:
Baking powder was measured out:
The baking powder was added to the flour in the mixing bowl:
Shortening was measured out:
The shortening was added to the flour and baking powder in the mixing bowl:
Salt was measured out:
The salt was added to the flour, baking powder, and shortening in the mixing bowl:
“Italian style seasoning” was measured out:
The Italian seasoning was added to the flour, baking powder, shortening, and salt in the mixing bowl:
The shortening was broken up with a fork …
… until the shortening was broken up to roughly the size of peas, and the rest of the ingredients were well mixed:
Milk was measured out:
An egg was taken out:
The egg was cracked into the measuring cup of milk:
The egg and milk were mixed together with a fork:
About a third of the liquid was added to the flour mix:
The wet and dry ingredients were mixed together:
The rest of the liquid was added half at a time, mixing after each addition of liquid, resulting in a sticky to somewhat stiff dough:
The dough was divided between the two oiled cast iron skillets:
The two dough balls were lightly floured:
The dough was flattened out in the skillets by hand, covering the entire surface of the bases of the skillets:
Edges were formed in the dough along the edges of the skillets:
Pizza sauce was taken out:
The sauce was spooned out of the can:
The sauce was transferred to the pizzas:
… and evenly split between the two pizzas:
The sauce was evenly spread over the two flattened dough in each skillet, within the edges created around the pizzas:
The pepperoni was taken out:
Pepperoni slices were layered on top of the sauce, generally not overlapping over each other:
The chopped onion and chopped bacon mix was divided between the pizzas:
The chopped onion and chopped bacon mix was evenly spread over the surface of the pizzas:
The grated mozzarella cheese was divided between the two pizzas:
The grated mozzarella cheese was evenly spread over the surface of the pizzas
The two pizzas, skillets and all, were placed on the top rack of the preheated oven:
A timer was set to 23 minutes:
The pizzas’ positions in the oven were switched partway, and after 23 minutes, the baked pizzas were removed from the oven using oven mitts — the skillets are VERY HOT! — and placed on a cutting board:
The pizzas were removed from the skillets using an egg flipper, and returned to the cutting board:
The pizzas were sliced (in this case, in six pieces each):
A yummy lunch is served:
Lunch was yummy!
The rest of the pizza slices were placed on a cookie sheet:
The cookie sheet was placed in the freezer:
Once frozen, the extra pizza slices were placed in a freezer bag and returned to the freezer, to eat during future lunches:
This week’s cooking project from my collection of recipes was a half-batch of my version of what in English-speaking Canada we call shepherd’s pies, while in French-speaking Canada, we call it paté chinois; in the UK, it would be properly considered a cottage pie.
I developed this version in the very early 1990’s after working in a summer camp kitchen, where we made camp-sized quantities of a basic version with cooked ground beef, cream-style corn, and mashed potatoes; I liked the dish but added onions, ketchup, peas, and carrots, and kept to the spirit of large quantities in order to cook for the freezer.
Note that in the text below, while there may appear to be a distinct sequence of separate steps to be taken one after the other, presented as such for the sake of the narrative, many steps were actually performed simultaneously and / or heavily overlapping with each other as given steps were finished and new steps begun. This was all the more the case given that I had performed a number of mise-en-place activities in advance: Ground beef was measured out and bagged separately, a week in advance on the day that I’d bought several packages of ground beef on sale, and before all of it was put in the freezer; potatoes were measured out, peeled, and cubed the night before the main cooking day; and carrots were prepared and sliced the night before the main cooking day.
Making the pies:
Last week, after stocking up on ground beef on sale, I set up my kitchen scale, putting a plate on the scale and setting the scale to zero:
I measured out two pounds of ground beef …
… and the ground beef was placed in a separate bag and placed in the freezer, ready for this week’s cooking project:
The night before I did the main cooking, I set a pot on the kitchen scale, and set the scale to zero:
Five pounds of potatoes were measured out:
The pot of potatoes was filled with water:
The potatoes were peeled:
As the potatoes were peeled, they were placed back into the pot of water:
The peeled potatoes were then individually taken out and placed on a cutting board:
The peeled potatoes were sliced lengthwise:
… the potatoes were then cut into large cubes:
… and the potato cubes were placed back into the pot of water as they were cut:
The water in the pot of potato cubes was drained:
Fresh water was put in the pot of potato cubes to rinse the potato cubes:
The rinse water was drained, and the pot filled again with fresh water, covering the potato cubes:
On the main cooking day, the stove was turned on:
… the pot of potatoes was placed on the stove:
Salt was measured out:
… and put into the pot of potatoes being brought to a boil:
The potatoes were brought to a boil:
A timer was set to 20 minutes, the time the potatoes were boiled:
The night before I did the main cooking, carrots were taken out:
The carrots were cleaned and trimmed:
The carrots were run through a food processor with the slicing blade tool:
The sliced carrots were transferred to a pot:
Water was added to the pot of carrots, covering the carrots:
On the main cooking day, a second burner on the stove was turned on:
The carrots were put on the stove and brought to a boil:
A timer was set to five minutes:
… and at this point I remembered to add salt to the pot of boiling carrots:
After five minutes of boiling, the carrots were drained, and the pot was placed in the fridge to help cool down the carrots:
On cooking day, onions were taken out:
The onions were trimmed:
The onions were chopped coarsely:
The onions were placed in an electric skillet:
The ground beef, which was measured out and frozen last week, and defrosted beginning the day before cooking day, was placed in the electric skillet with the chopped onions:
The electric skillet was turned on:
Salt was added to the beef and onions in the electric skillet:
The beef was broken up and mixed together with the onions and salt, while all the ingredients were frying:
Part way through the cooking of the beef and onions, ketchup was taken out …
… and ketchup was added to the frying beef and onion mixture part way through:
At this point, some oven proof baking pans were laid out:
And once the beef, onion, and ketchup mixture was fully cooked …
… the cooked beef, onion, and ketchup mixture was transferred to the various oven-proof baking pans:
The baking pans with cooked beef, onion, and ketchup mixture were put aside until later.
At this point, the potatoes had been boiling for twenty minutes, and the pot was drained:
Margarine was taken out, and a dollop of margarine was scooped out with a spoon:
The margarine was added to the boiled potatoes:
Salt was again measured out:
And the salt was added to the boiled potatoes and margarine:
Milk was measured out:
And the milk was added to the boiled potatoes, margarine, and salt:
The boiled potatoes, margarine, salt, and milk were mashed together with a hand masher:
The mashed potatoes were put aside until later.
The night before, cans of cream style corn and a can opener were taken out:
On cooking day, the cream-style corn cans were opened, and the cream style corn was spread over the cooked beef, onion, and ketchup mixture in the baking pans:
Frozen peas were taken out:
Frozen peas were sprinkled over the cream corn layer in the baking pans:
The pot of cooled carrots was taken out of the fridge, and the carrot slices were layered on top of the peas:
The still warm mashed potatoes were spread on the top of the pies in the baking pans:
Freezer bags were labelled:
The shepherd’s pies were placed in the freezer bags, save one (top row, centre), which was covered in wax paper so that I could put it in the fridge for supper later in the day:
The shepherd’s pies destined for the freezer were placed in a freezer:
Later on, when it was time to make supper, my countertop convection oven was set to 350F:
The shepherd’s pie which was put aside earlier was placed in the countertop convection oven:
Once the shepherd’s pie was baked and the mashed potato top browned, the shepherd’s pie was taken out of the countertop convection oven:
And finally, the yummy shepherd’s pie was served and eaten!
A white bread cycle producing the same product using the same ingredients has been default programme and the first baking programme in all my bread machines. However, please check the settings on your bread machine to be certain to choose the white bread setting.
This recipe closely tracks the recipe for plain white bread that came with the first bread machine I purchased in 2001.
An important aspect this recipe is to add the ingredients in the order listed, particularly the water and milk mix first, then the flour, and then the rest, especially if you will be using the delayed baking function. Also, the original source recipe stressed the importance of keeping a certain distance between the salt and the yeast.
Note that in making this recipe for this post, I turned on the bread machine to run right away on the standard white bread cycle that takes three hours; however, many machine models offer a delayed start function, for instance to allow for the preparation of the ingredients the night before, and having the bread ready at a later time the following morning.
Making the bread:
Six ounces of water were measured out in a measuring cup:
Six ounces of milk were measured out, and added directly to the water in the measuring cup:
The microwave oven (1200W) was set to one minute:
… and the water and milk mixture was warmed up in the microwave oven:
The warmed up water and milk mixture was transferred to the (cleaned) bread machine basket:
Four cups of flour were measured out:
… and the flour was transferred to the bread machine basket, fully covering the water and milk mixture:
Four tablespoons of sugar were measured out:
… and the sugar was transferred to the bread machine basket, on top of the other ingredients:
A teaspoon and a half of salt were measured out:
… and the salt was transferred to the bread machine basket with the other ingredients:
Margarine was taken out, and two dollops of margarine were spooned out of the container:
The margarine was transferred to the bread machine basket with the other ingredients:
Three quarters of a teaspoon of bread machine yeast was measured out …
… and the bread machine yeast was transferred to the the bread machine basket:
At this point, all the ingredients were in the bread machine basket, and the bread machine basket was placed in the bread machine:
The white bread setting was chosen (programme #1 on my bread machine), and for a two pound loaf; the programme was started, without delay:
The lid was shut, and the bread machine was allowed to do its work.
Three hours later, the bread was ready …
The baked bread was gingerly shaken out of the bread machine basket:
The baked bread loaf was placed upright on a trivet to allow it to cool:
A baking tray was taken out:
Once the bread had cooled, I began slicing the loaf of bread …
… using a bread slicer with a guide, to allow for consistent slices of bread:
The bread slices were placed on the baking tray:
A sheet of plastic wrap was placed on top of the layer of sliced bread:
The loaf was fully sliced, and the bread slices alternated with plastic wrap:
The tray of bread slices was placed in the freezer:
The crumbs created from the slicing were placed into a container with other bread crumbs and dried bread pieces, for future use in other recipes:
… and when the bread was frozen, I placed the bread slices in freezer bags:
The bags of bread slices were placed back in the freezer to have for when I want to make sandwiches and the like.
I normally keep cooked meatballs in the freezer for use with pasta dishes such as spaghetti, or eat them on their own along with other foods.
I have no recollection of why I chose to add peas, corn, or rice to the mix when I began making these meatballs many years ago, other than presumably at the time I thought that their addition was a good idea, and that incidentally doing so helped make more meatballs with the same amount of ground beef; as for the onions and egg, I have always liked onions with ground beef, and the egg acts as a binding agent to help keep the meatballs together, especially while cooking.
Making the meatballs:
A mixing bowl was placed on a kitchen scale, and the kitchen scale was set to zero:
Two pounds of ground beef were measured out:
The bowl of ground beef was put aside for a moment.
An onion was taken out:
The onion was cleaned and trimmed:
The onion was sliced thinly:
The onion was then chopped somewhat finely:
The chopped onion was transferred to the mixing bowl with the ground beef:
An egg was taken out:
The egg was cracked into the mixing bowl:
Frozen peas were measured out:
The frozen peas were added to the mixing bowl:
Since I didn’t have any frozen corn kernels on hand, I separated out some corn kernels from a bag of frozen mixed vegetables:
The frozen kernel corn was added to the mixing bowl:
Rice was measured out:
The rice was added to the mixing bowl:
Salt was measured out:
…. and the salt was added to the mixing bowl:
The ingredients were thoroughly mixed together by hand:
An electric skillet was turned on (as well as a stove burner for my cast iron skillet for the meatballs that wouldn’t fit in the electric skillet):
The meat mix was formed into balls from 1-1/2″ to 2″ in diameter, which were placed in the electric skillet (as well as a cast iron skillet off camera), with enough spacing between them to allow for easier manipulation later when turning them over:
As each side of the meatballs were cooked, the meatballs were turned over to cook on another side …
… and the meatballs were turned over again to cook yet on another side:
When the meatballs were fully cooked …
… the meatballs were transferred to a cookie baking sheet, somewhat spread apart from each other to allow for quicker cooling in the freezer …
… and the cookie baking sheet with the meatballs was placed in the freezer to cool the meatballs and begin to freeze the meatballs:
A clean, resealable freezer bag was re-labeled to reflect the new contents, meatballs of course:
Once partly frozen, the meatballs were placed in the freezer bag:
… and the bag of yummy meatballs was placed in the freezer for future eating.
Margarine was taken out and some taken up with a knife:
A frozen slice of bread — not two as called for in my recipe, because the bread I make in a bread machine is tall enough to justify cutting it in half when making sandwiches (see below) — was taken out, and the margarine was spread on it:
The slice of bread was cut into two halves:
Two slices of processed cheese (or “American cheese” slices) were taken out and unwrapped, and placed on the counter to warm up to room temperature (note that natural cheese sliced off the block may be used):
Every once in a while, I buy a large 2kg case of breakfast sausages, cook them all up at once, and then I keep them in the freezer for future eating. I do the same thing with bacon for my mom. If you don’t do so, at this point and according to your preference, cook up some breakfast sausage(s) and/or some bacon.
I then took out a frozen cooked breakfast sausage, and let it warm up a few minutes on the counter:
The sausage was then sliced into four strips along its length:
The sausage was put aside for a few moments.
A burner on my stove was turned on to a low to medium heat:
A cast iron skillet was placed on the stove, and a bit of olive oil was poured into the cast iron skillet:
The olive oil was then spread over a part of the cast iron skillet:
At this point, I placed the slices of breakfast sausage in the cast iron skillet:
An egg was taken out:
… and the egg was cracked into the cast iron skillet:
The egg was fried, and — I like eggs over — when it was ready to be turned over …
… the cast iron skillet was somewhat re-positioned, and I lifted the fried egg with a flipper …
… and the egg was turned over and fried on the other side:
When the fried egg was finished cooking, it was transferred to a plate:
… and the fried sausage slices were also transferred on top of the fried egg:
The free oil and grease in the cast iron skillet were wiped up with a paper towel (watch out, the cast iron skillet is hot!):
A slice of the bread with the margarine was placed in the hot cast iron skillet, margarine side down:
One of the slices of processed cheese was placed on the slice of bread, and “made to fit”:
The fried egg and sausage were placed on top of the slice of processed cheese:
The second slice of processed cheese was placed on the slice of bread, and “made to fit”:
… and finally, the second slice of bread with margarine on it was placed on top of the slice of processed cheese, margarine side up:
After a few moments, the sandwich was flipped over, and the bottom side, now the top, had been nicely browned:
After a few more moments, the sandwich was lifted out of the cast iron skillet and served on a plate:
Back in the mid 1990’s, my church published a cookbook with recipes from the membership. I began making a zucchini with bacon and onion sauce dish submitted by a fellow parishioner in the mid- to late-2000’s, and, besides finding it tasty, I was pleasantly surprised both at how easy it was to make, and, even more surprisingly, how it immediately came across as a restaurant-quality dish. In fact, shortly after, I happened to be at a restaurant, and ordered a similar dish as an appetizer!
Note that the amounts of some of the ingredients shown below are sometimes greater than listed in the recipe, in order to have some of the sauce leftover.
First, bacon was taken out (in this case, half slices):
The bacon was sliced crosswise / diced:
The bacon was then placed in a cast iron skillet:
Onions were taken out:
The onions were cleaned and trimmed:
The onions were quartered:
The onions were then chopped coarsely:
The onions were then placed in the cast iron skillet with the bacon:
The stove was turned on to a low to medium heat:
A pot was filled with water:
Salt was measured out:
The salt was added to the pot of water:
The stove under the pot was turned on high to boil the water in the pot:
The water was brought to a boil, and put aside.
Tomatoes were taken out:
The tomatoes were cleaned and trimmed:
The tomatoes were quartered …
… the tomatoes were further chopped:
… and the chopped tomatoes were placed in a mixing bowl:
Sugar was measured out:
The sugar was added to the mixing bowl with the tomatoes:
More salt was measured out:
The salt was added to the bowl with the tomatoes and the sugar:
Water was measured out:
The water was added to the bowl with the tomatoes, sugar, and salt:
… and the bowl with the tomatoes, sugar, salt, and water was put aside.
Three zucchinis (in this case, grey zucchinis) were taken out:
The zucchinis were cleaned and trimmed:
The zucchinis were cut in half along their length:
… and the zucchinis were put aside.
Soon, the bacon and onions were beginning to be cooked and caramelized:
… and the tomato mix was added to the bacon and onions in the cast iron skillet:
… and the ingredients in the cast iron skillet were mixed together:
The ingredients were brought to a simmer:
The ingredients were reduced, during which the tomatoes also disintegrated into the sauce
At this point, the salted water was brought back to a boil:
… and the zucchini halves were added to the boiling water …
… and the zucchini halves were boiled for ten minutes (obviously, the photo was taken about eight seconds after the timer was set):
At this point, the sauce had sufficiently reduced to my liking, and was ready for serving:
I made chicken pot pies (a family favourite) this past weekend, along with crisped rice squares, two batches of bran muffins for mom, and some cooked ground beef and onions frozen in ice cube trays in the freezer. The chicken pot pies I make are more chicken cottage pies than what most people consider to be chicken pot pies, because there is a potato topping instead of a flaky crust; additionally, the sauce in the filling is somewhat less liquid than most people would expect from a chicken pot pie.
This recipe was added to my collection of recipes in the mid to late 2000’s as another making-a-lot-in-advance freezer food project, based on a recipe I’d found on the internet and adjusted for amounts to make freezer quantities, and using commercial chicken broth instead of making my own.
Note that below, while there may appear to be a distinct sequence of steps to be taken, presented as such for the sake of the narrative, many steps were actually performed simultaneously and / or overlapping with each other as given steps were finished and new steps begun. Also, note that I was again cooking at the cottage, using water from containers, because the water system is turned off during the winter.
First, water was put in a large pot:
Then, ten pounds of potatoes were taken out …
The potatoes were peeled …
… and the peeled potatoes were placed in the pot with the water:
Four peeled potatoes were put aside for later use in the filling:
The rest of the potatoes were quartered …
… and placed back in the pot of water:
The water was drained from the pot, and fresh water was added to the pot, covering the potatoes:
Salt was measured out:
… and the salt was poured into the pot with the quartered potatoes:
The stove was turned on for boiling the potatoes (rear burner), as well as frying the chicken breasts (front burner) (see next section):
… and the potatoes were brought to a boil …
… and kept boiling for twenty (20) minutes:
In the meantime, chicken breasts were taken out …
Olive oil was lightly poured into a cast iron skillet …
… salt was added to the cast iron skillet …
… and the chicken breasts were placed in the cast iron skillet and salted, to be slowly pan fried:
While the chicken breasts were cooking, occasionally being turned over several times in order to avoid burning on the outside while leaving the centres under-cooked, vegetables were prepared.
Carrots were taken out:
The carrots were cleaned and trimmed:
The carrots were then cut along their length twice, quartering them and creating spears:
The carrots were then chopped coarsely:
… and finally, the chopped carrots were placed in an electric skillet, and put aside:
Onions were taken out:
The onions were cleaned and trimmed:
The onions were roughly quartered:
… and then the onions were chopped coarsely:
… and finally, the chopped onions were placed in the electric skillet with the carrots, and put aside:
The peeled potatoes put aside earlier were taken out:
The potatoes were sliced along their length:
The potatoes were again sliced along their lengths, crosswise, in order to make spears:
The potatoes were sliced into small cubes, about half an inch:
… and finally, the cubed potatoes were placed in the electric skillet with the carrots and onions:
Olive oil was added to the carrots, onions, and potatoes in the electric skillet:
Salt was added to the vegetables and olive oil:
The vegetables, olive oil, and salt, were mixed together:
The vegetable mix and electric skillet were put aside until after the next step (mashing potatoes).
At this point, I turned my attention back to the potatoes, which were almost finished boiling.
Milk was taken out and measured:
The boiled potatoes were drained:
… and the milk was poured into the pot of still steaming boiled potatoes:
Margarine was taken out, and a couple of dollops of margarine were measured out:
… and the margarine was added to the potatoes and milk:
Salt was measured out again:
… and the salt was added to the pot of boiled potatoes, milk, and margarine:
The potatoes were mashed with a hand-held masher:
The mashed potatoes were covered and put aside for later.
Back to the mixed chopped vegetables, the electric skillet was turned on …
… and the mixed chopped vegetables were fried.
In the meantime, the chicken breasts had become nicely cooked and browned:
The chicken was removed from the cast iron skillet, and put aside on a plate for a few moments.
Water was poured into the cast iron skillet to deglaze the pan:
The cast iron skillet with the deglazing liquid were put aside for a few moments.
During this time, the vegetables began frying nicely:
A box of commercial chicken broth was taken out …
… and the chicken broth was poured over the frying vegetables:
The deglazing liquid from the cast iron skillet was poured into the electric skillet with the vegetables and chicken broth:
The liquid in the electric skillet was brought to a boil:
The vegetables and liquid were covered and simmered for about 20 minutes.
In the meantime, back to the cooked chicken breasts, the chicken breasts were cut into rough cubes and smaller:
The chopped cooked chicken was then placed in a bowl, and put aside for a few moments:
A cup of flour was measured out …
… and poured into a mixing bowl:
Two more cups of milk were measured out:
… and poured over the flour in the mixing bowl:
The flour and milk were thoroughly mixed with a fork:
At this point, the vegetables and broth had been simmering for 20 minutes, and the chopped chicken was transferred to the electric skillet with the chopped vegetables and broth:
The ingredients were mixed together with a large serving spoon:
At this point, timing becomes important in order to mix things properly, before heat thickens the milk and flour mixture too much, making proper mixing more difficult.
The flour and milk mixture was added to the rest of the ingredients in the electric skillet:
The electric skillet was unplugged, and quickly, the ingredients were all mixed together, fully mixing all the liquids as well as the rest of the ingredients:
Previously, a number of baking containers were laid out:
The filling was spooned into the baking pans, to about half the depth of the baking pans:
The still warm mashed potatoes were spread on top of the chicken / vegetable / sauce filling in the baking pans:
Sealable freezer bags were identified:
The chicken pot pies were placed in individual bags:
And finally, the chicken pot pies were placed in the freezer for freezing, and of course future eating!
This week’s cooking projects from my collection of recipes included more chocolate buttercrunch (mostly) for mom, shortbread cookies for my brother, chicken soup, and, the subject of this post, three (or five) ingredient cheese biscuits. (The ambiguity about the number of ingredients lies in the recipe calling for self-rising flour, which you may or may not have on hand. If you don’t have any self-rising flour, you can easily make some yourself by adding two ingredients to regular flour; see below.)
These cheese biscuits are quite easy to make, such as for a light Saturday morning breakfast, or for afternoon tea. They are so tasty that six of the eight cheese biscuits I made this morning were eaten, while the other two frozen for another day, long before I started organizing and putting together this blog post. 🙂
First, I took out some parchment paper and lined a baking tray with a couple of stray pieces of parchment paper I had:
Normally, the recipe calls for self-rising flour; I didn’t have any, so a cup of flour was measured out:
The measuring cup with the flour was kept at hand.
A teaspoon and a half of baking powder was measured out:
… and placed in the measuring cup with the flour:
The measuring cup with the flour and baking powder was again kept at hand.
A quarter teaspoon of salt was measured out:
… and the salt was added to the measuring cup with the flour and the baking powder:
The flour, baking powder, and salt were mixed in the measuring cup with a fork:
And, because the measuring cup I was using has a two cup capacity, the measuring cup with the flour, baking powder, and salt was again kept at hand (see the next part.)
Greek yoghurt was taken out:
… and the greek yoghurt was spooned out of the container …
… and greek yoghurt was transferred into the measuring cup with the flour mixture until there was a cup’s worth of greek yoghurt added:
The measured out flour mixture and greek yoghurt were transferred to a mixing bowl:
The mixing bowl was put aside for a moment.
Cheese was taken out, along with a grater and bowl:
Cheese was grated:
… and half a cup of the grated cheese was measured out:
The grated cheese was transferred to the mixing bowl with the flour mixture and the greek yoghurt:
At this point, I remembered that I needed to preheat my countertop convection oven to 425F:
I continued by mixing the flour mixture, greek yoghurt, and grated cheese in the bowl with a fork to make a stiff (and sticky!) dough:
Balls of dough about the size of golfballs, without any further handling (nor any flattening out) were scooped out of the mixing bowl and placed on the baking tray:
… and the rest of the dough was portioned out to make a total of eight rough balls about the size of golfballs:
The baking tray with the biscuit dough was placed in the preheated countertop convection oven:
… and a timer was set to 18 minutes (obviously, the photo was taken about 10 seconds later!)
At the 16 minute mark, a couple of the cheese biscuits were taken out for mom, who likes the biscuits slightly less well baked than I do:
… and the rest of the cheese biscuits were taken out at 18 minutes, and placed on a cooling rack:
Regarding how tasty they are … as mentioned at the beginning of this post: “They are so tasty that six of the eight cheese biscuits I made this morning were eaten, while the other two frozen for another day, long before I started organizing and putting together this blog post. :)”