Pizza Pot Pie: Party in your mouth

So I don't want to say that this is the best meal I've ever made, but I WILL admit that I've never thought so much about a meal after eating it. Since Friday night, anyone who has been around me has heard about this creation and seen the look of longing in my eye...*siiigh* AHEM

A certain Chicago restaurant made pizza pot pies famous, and I've been craving to go back there for a while, but seeing as I'm on a tight budget, Tom and I decided to try and make our own. I have to be honest, these were better than the restaurant's popular pie.

Since I'm not a real adult yet I haven't quite finished my collection of necessary kitchen supplies, I didn't have any ramekins to make these in. Instead of opting to make one big pot pie in a baking dish (which I can imagine still tastes great), we found these soup mugs for pretty cheap at target. They worked perfectly! Tom's instincts told him that we should use vodka sauce instead of pizza or marinara and I do believe this inclusion made this in to the glorious meal experience that I am now bragging about. These are the ingredients we ended up with

1/2 jar of vodka sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
Handful of cherry tomatoes, chopped
1/2 package fake beef tips/strips (This was the first time I've ever tried Gardein's Beefless Tips, and I was very impressed.)
1/2 package shredded Mozzarella and Parmesan (we opted for a combo package, but one or the other would do)
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
1 bag garlic pizza dough from Trader Joe's

We preheated the oven to 400 degrees, then combined the onion, cherry tomatoes, and garlic in to a sauce pan. We let those items sizzle for a while, then added our fake beef tips, which I thawed in the microwave for about a minute before throwing them in the pot.

We then threw in the 1/2 jar of vodka sauce and about a tablespoon of Italian seasoning, and stirred until everything was well mixed. I rolled out the pizza dough using a wine bottle since I still don't have a rolling pin and cut the top of our pies by simply placing the upside down soup mug on the rolled-out dough, and cutting around the mug, about one inch out from the rim.

We started packing our pies by beginning with a layer of our cheese, then a quarter of the sauce mixture, per pie, another layer of cheese, the rest of the sauce and topped it with more cheese (I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I'm quite the cheese fanatic). Your ingredients don't need to be at the very top of the cup, but they should be close to the top.

I gently placed the dough on top, we cut it to vent, and sprinkled some more Italian seasoning over the top. After placing them on a baking sheet, we popped them in the oven!

They were in the oven for about 30 minutes, and we knew they were ready to be consumed when they looked like this:

Some recipes call for you to turn these upside down and empty them on to a plate before eating, but we just dove in with a fork. These pot pies, with a side of Yuengling and a serving of Friday the 13th part 7, made for an excellent Friday evening!

Mexican Casserole Love

So I guess now is the time to admit the love affair I've been having for the past four years...with burritos. Growing up in Pittsburgh did not provide a lot of opportunities for genuine Mexican food. My main exposure was through Taco Bell and Chi Chi's, which I loved, of course, but when I moved to Chicago and found a burrito joint on every corner, my passion for this tortilla-rolled delicacy really took flight. I could eat one almost any day of the year, however I restrict myself to about once every other week, due to that whole "extremely fattening" thing. 2 Amigos is my current favorite joint, and at a whole 4 doors down from my boyfriend's place, has become quite the temptress.

Anyhow, after seeing a recipe for Mexican Casserole, I knew I had to make my own version. All the recipes I perused called for different ingredients, so I just combined all of my favorites in to this absolutely delicious (albeit, not very healthy) dish.

The oven was preheated to 350 degrees. In a pan I heated together a can of refried beans, half a package of fake ground beef, 2 cloves garlic, minced, half a green pepper, chopped, 1/2 an onion, chopped, and about half a can of corn. I didn't sautee anything, just heated up so the beans were softer and everything was nicely mixed together. Doesn't that mixture look just plain scrumptious?

 In a casserole dish I placed a large flour tortilla on the bottom, then layered about half the bean dip on it and topped it off with a healthy dose of shredded cheddar cheese.

 Then came another tortilla, topped by the rest of the bean mix. Instead of cheese on top of this part, I sprinkled a decent serving of roasted red pepper seasoning, then topped the whole casserole off with another tortilla and a LOT of shredded cheddar.

It baked in the oven for about 40 minutes, and we just kept an eye on it until it looked like this. Then consumed the crap out of it (with a bunch of sour cream, of course)!

This ended up being the perfect meal for a night in with a movie. I'll probably make this in a bigger casserole dish for my next party. What are your favorite burrito ingredients that you'd include in your own Mexican casserole?

Dang, now I want a burrito...

Gnocchi, spinach and pine nuts: Easy and AWESOME

A friend of mine recently told me about this recipe that I immediately wanted to try. I love a well-done Gnocchi dish, but I also hate complicated recipes, so this one was perfect for me. I fed it to my (male) roommate and boyfriend and they both told me it was the best thing I’ve ever made, and they’ve tried my pierogi pizza (stay tuned…).

I promise to start including pictures, but for now, here are the deets:

Prep/cook time: about 15 minutes

Serves: 2 

1 16 oz pkg gnocchi
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp pine nuts
2 minced garlic cloves (or if you date someone like my boyfriend, way more)
1 10 oz pkg spinach (or however little/much you’d like, but more is better because it really melts down)
salt and pepper to season
1/4 c (or more if you’re me) shredded Parm cheese (Motz would probably work well here too)

cook the gnocchi til it floats, drain and set aside
throw butter, garlic and pine nuts in a skillet/wok, cook about 3 to 4 minutes over medium heat until the nuts are lightly browned, add gnocchi and spinach about 1-2 minutes, then add salt and pepper and cheese. 

gnocchi should brown a little on the outside and the cheese should melt and spinach should wilt.

Now, I doubled this recipe because there were three of us eating. It still turned out good, but because of the amount of gnocchi, it was hard to put in all the spinach, as the wok was just too full. If I ever double the ingredients again, I’ll probably cook the first half separately, as to make sure everything gets coated well and I get in my desired amount of spinach.