Cozy

We woke up to more snow on wednesday and cancelled school. It was enough snow to cause traffic problems, do a little bit of sledding in, and make everything beautiful for a few hours. Aside from a few patches it has all melted and I am just fine with that. 

I'm part of a group of women that gets together once a month to check in about goals we've made - an accountability group - and I like to bring something yummy to share. We met last weekend and I wanted to make a cherry amaretti galette. They're really easy to make and delicious. I got a tetanus shot the day before and my shoulder HURT SO MUCH! I owe my kids some sympathy for all the shots that they've gotten that I've not been very empathic about. Whoops... So I bought pre made pie dough because rolling out dough was not going to improve my situation. I brought the galette to the meeting and was so disappointed with the crust. It was thin and tough, not flaky at all. The package came with two crusts, so I decided to use the second one on the top of a pot pie. I was already going to roast a chicken and what a great way to use up the leftovers, right? 

The pot pie I made was everything I've ever wanted a pot pie to be. I don't have a good track record with pot pies. The first time I made them I cooked one for dinner and froze the second. I remember it being tasty but a bit soupy. I was pregnant with our first child and trying to stock the freezer for her impending arrival. Well, have you ever heard that you aren't supposed to freeze things with certain types of dairy in them? I hadn't and the pot pie I had thawed really taught me that lesson. The sauce had separated resulting in a chunky/liquidy situation and well, we had something different for dinner that night, probably take out burritos. I've been shy about pot pies ever since. I made a skillet pot pie a few months ago where the filling consisted of shredded chicken and peas tossed with creme fraiche. It was good but the creme fraiche melted away during baking leaving moist, flavorful chicken and peas, but no sauce. I love sauce. I'm one of those people who sometimes eat french fries just so I can justify eating ketchup, same with baguettes and butte, and anything and mayo. I love mayo. A lot. So I turned to the internet and found a very simple recipe that called for cubes of cooked chicken, some veggies, a roux and store bought pie dough. The filling for the pot pie was so good that I just couldn't disgrace it by putting that terrible dough on it. Since my sore shoulder had healed I made the dough from the creme fraiche recipe because that dough is really good. My picky children wouldn't try the pot pie at all, despite having liked it in the past. Vincent and I had half tuesday night and ate the other half for lunch the next day. It was exactly what I wanted to eat on a snowy day. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with that extra store bought crust. Maybe cut out shapes with cookie cutters, sprinkle with sugar and turn them in to cookies? The big takeaway lesson is to always keep a batch of homemade pie dough in the freezer. 

To balance out the decadent pot pie (it had two sticks of butter in it), I made this Winter Spa Salad. It was so good that I fought back the urge to make myself a second bowl of it after finishing the first bowl for lunch, made my mom a bowl of it for her lunch and made myself a tiny version of it 4 hours later when my brain was getting fuzzy but it wasn't yet dinner time. I'm already looking forward to lunch tomorrow when I can make another one!