Vegetable Pot Pie

Crust Ingredients:

3 cups whole wheat flour

2 Tbsp baking powder

6 Tbsp butter

1 cup milk

dried herbs (rosemary, thyme)

Filling Ingredients:

4 cups vegetable broth

1/4 cup flour

1/3 cup milk

1 potato, cubed

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 stalks celery, chopped

2/3 cup mushrooms, sliced

1 bag mixed frozen veggies

salt*

*Actually, I never put salt in recipes. I usually just have salt on the table so that people can add the amount of salt they want, if they so desire. 

Instructions:

1. Mix ingredients for crust. Roll out 2/3 of dough and place in greased 9"x13" glass baking dish, covering bottom and sides. Set remaining 1/3 of dough aside.

2. Cook potato, onion and garlic in a large pot over a medium heat for about 10 minutes.

3. Add the celery, mushrooms, and frozen veggies and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

4. In a separate pan, warm the broth. Add milk and flour and whisk until smooth. 

5. Add broth to vegetable mix. Sprinkle with spices (I used black pepper and dried parsley) and simmer on stove for about 10 minutes.

6. Pour vegetable mix onto pie crust.

7. Roll out remaining dough and cut into strips 1 inch wide. Arrange the strips in a woven pattern on top of the pot pie mixture. If desired, brush top crust with a beaten egg.

8. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour.

I've made chicken pot pie before, so this was a familiar process for me, but it was my first time using whole wheat flour for the crust. The whole wheat flour made a really good crust, I think. It made the dough slightly more difficult to work with, but the resulting crust was so flaky and delicious.

This recipe is for a huge pot pie; my friend and I purposely made a huge pie so that we can each have leftovers for a couple of days. This is one of those meals I'm looking forward to eating for the next couple of days. Really, who doesn't love pot pie? They're so hearty and gratifying, this was the perfect meal for this rainy Sunday.

Lentil Risotto - Slow Cooker or Stovetop Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup dried lentils

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice

8 cups water

4 Tbsp butter or margarine

1 yellow onion, chopped

salt and pepper

freshly grated Parmesan, to garnish

sliced green onion, to garnish

Instructions:

1. In a saute pan, heat the butter and saute the onion until golden brown (about 10 minutes).

2. Place lentils, rice, water, and onions in slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 2+ hours, or until rice and lentils are tender and water has been completely absorbed.

3. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with shredded Parmesan and green onion to serve.

This recipe is remarkably simple. However, I found that the 2 hours cooking time listed was not enough time. At the one and a half hour mark, hardly any water had been absorbed, so I moved the mixture to a large pot on my stove to finish cooking. I was making this for several dinner guests, and so I wanted to speed up the process and be finished by the time they arrived (I did not succeed at this). 

You could easily make this entirely on the stove if you don't have a crockpot. On the stove, just be sure to keep stirring so that the risotto doesn't stick to the pot. Based on my other risotto cooking experience, I would guess that it would take about 30-40 minutes to cook on the stove.

I served this with a side of stuffed mushrooms and some oven-roasted asparagus, which made a very nice, filling, and complete meal, as rice combined with lentils is a complete protein. Asparagus has recently become one of my favorite side dish vegetables; I'm pretty sure one of the main reasons for this is that it makes my pee smell funny for the next 18 hours or so, and this amuses me. No, actually I really like the flavor of asparagus. I roast it in olive oil and sprinkle lemon pepper on top, which is absolutely delightful.