food on the table

Oh, I'm glad today is over.  Things are slooooooowwwww in landscape design world right now.  It seems that with a faltering economy there aren't a whole lot of people who want to throw money at creating beautiful outdoor spaces.  I guess they are more worried about keeping food on the table, etc.  And because things are slow in the office, that's what I spend significant amounts of my day thinking about too, food on the table.  Not that I'm worried about my job security, although I probably should be, I just like to think about food.  On my table.  And what fun new recipe I'm going to try that will get said food onto said table.

But before I jump to the dinner recipe I thought about all day and then crafted when I got home, lets start with breakfast.

Breakfast:  Oats!  And Vanilla Honey Chamomile Tea.  This was a typical bowl of oats that I l.o.v.e. I'm in a bit of a rut with my oats, but I don't mind at all.  :)

• 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup water, pinch of salt, splash of vanilla and sprinkling of cinnamon


• 1 small mashed banana


• 1 tsp ground flax seeds


• 1 spoonful of natural peanut butter (I used up all of my almond butter!  But must thin out other condiments before replacing...)

Lunch:  Veggie Wrap with

• 2 tbsp roasted garlic hummus


• 1/2 cup of roasted spaghetti squash


• red bell pepper


• baby spinach

This combo was FABULOUS!  I will definitely be repeating tomorrow...sorry in advance!  I also had a navel orange (the one whose zest graced my bread last night) with 1/2 cup of Fage 0%.



Snacks:  C'mon...did you expect any different?  How could I resist this bread?!?  I nibbled on 2 slices throughout the day.  I think this is my favorite bread that I've made so far on the blog. Fav-or-ite.



Last week I saw this recipe for Chicken Pot Pie with Cornmeal Crust on Running With Food.  I love Jen's blog because not only is her photography gorgeous and her writing entertaining...the girl can cook!  Her recipes are the kind of down-home, simple comfort food that we crave regularly in our household. After freezing for most of the day at my drafty desk in a slightly boring job (these days anyway), comfort food was exactly what I needed.

Dinner:  Chicken Pot Pie with Cornmeal Crust [recipe here] with a side of Collard Greens, and a glass of cabernet.





The pot pie recipe is deliciously easy and I followed it nearly to a tee.  One step that Jen forgot to mention is when to cook the chicken.  I chopped it up and tossed it in the saucepan with the veggies to sauté for 5-7 minutes before adding the Cream of Mushroom soup mixture.  I also added fresh parsley to the filling.  After the filling simmered for about 10 minutes, I added one tablespoon of cornstarch (dissolved in 2 tbsp cold water) to help the mixture to thicken up a bit.



I dropped dollops of cornmeal batter across the top of the filling to make "biscuits", and baked the dish for 20 minutes at 425*.





While the pot pie was baking, I quickly prepared the collard greens by removing the stems and rinsing the leaves.  I then sautéed some garlic in olive oil in a big soup pan. Once the garlic was fragrant, I added the damp collards to the pot and covered it.  I let the collards steam for 5-7 minutes on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.





Dinner was EXCELLENT!!!  This pot pie recipe is definitely a keeper.  I was hoping to be able to try Jen's stuffed acorn squash recipe with the leftover pot pie, but there isn't much left!!!  My hubb REALLY liked it.  :)

I hope you've all had a great day and evening!  I was able to do a little baking tonight for a friend's birthday, which I will share with you tomorrow.  Not my own recipe, but VeggieGirl's Fig Blondies!  They are sure to be a hit, the last VeggieGirl recipe I tried was amazing.  Goodnight!