Feeding the Family

As many of you know, I cook for stress relief, and I believe that homemade meals are healing.  At dinner tonight Katy, Karen, Bob and Mike all thought it might be fun if I posted what I made each day for Katy, along with recipes.  In the future I'll try to take relevant pictures, too, if you like this idea.

Today I made chicken pot pie with the leftover grilled chicken from a couple nights ago.  We didn't have any parsnips, so I threw in a yam.  The cheddar biscuit topping really hit the spot for all of us!  Plenty of veggies, too.

 For dessert I made brownies with a caramel swirl, from my own recipe:

To make the caramel, dissolve 1 cup of sugar in 1/2 cup water plus a half teaspoon lemon juice over medium heat, stirring constantly.  When it begins to boil, turn up the heat and stop stirring.  Swirl the pan occasionally until the sugar is a deep amber color.  Remove from heat and carefully pour in 1 cup of heavy cream.  The mixture will sputter and hiss, just keep carefully stirring.  Stir in 1/4 cup unsalted butter and 1 tsp vanilla extract, then set caramel aside.

For brownies, melt 1/2 cup unsalted butter with 8 oz chocolate chips either in the microwave (30 second intervals, then stir) or in a double boiler (stirring often).  Add 3/4 cup brown sugar to the melted chocolate mixture.  While that's cooling to lukewarm, sift or whisk together 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder.  Now add 2 eggs, one at a time, to the chocolate mixture and stir until mixture becomes glossy.  Stir in flour mixture and 4 oz chocolate chips. 

Pour batter into buttered and floured 9" square pan.  Using a small ladle, make little lines of caramel on top of the batter then drag a knife through, about once every 1/2" in both directions.  Bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes, until a knife in the middle comes out just barely clean.  Cool and enjoy!