Sunday is Yumday!

I made three meals for Sunday because I couldn't decide what I felt like eating. It all started Friday at the market. I bought a bunch of brocoli rabe. It had a tag on it with a recipe for rabe pizza. I love white spinach pizza, so I thought the rabe might be good too. So I bought some mozzarella cheese and planned on making it. When I got home I realized the tag on the rabe had a different recipe on it. I grabbed the wrong one. The recipe was for Penne with Olives and Rabe. That sounded good too. I also had a roasted chicken breast and some puff pastry crust in the freezer that I've been wanting to use for Chicken Pot Pie.
What a dilemma. That's when it hit me, just make all three.


Last week I bought some pizza dough and didn't feel like making pizza so I shaped it, baked it, wrapped it up tightly and froze it plain. I knew it would come in handy. Since it was aready cooked, all I had to do is defrost it and prepare the rabe topping.

I started by washing the rabe and cutting it up in small pieces. Then I boiled it in a large pot of salted water for about 8 minutes. I took the rabe out with a slotted spoon and transferred it to a strainer. I reserved about half a cup of cooking water in a measuring cup and brought the pot of rabe water back up to a boil. Then added the pasta (I used a shape that looks like gnocci).

Next I sliced 4 large garlic cloves and chopped another 5 in small pieces(for the chicken pot pie). Heated 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and added the sliced garlic. Cooked it for about 2-3 minutes on medium low heat, and added some sliced olives, salt, pepper and the broccoli rabe. I took out about half of this mixture and set it aside. Now I added the reserved cooking liquid to the rabe in the pan, added my cooked pasta and mixed to coat. I transferred this to a serving bowl and added grated parmesan cheese. One done.

I added some grated Asiago Cheese to the reserved rabe mixture, brushed the top of my pizza crust with olive oil, added some mozzarella cheese and spread on the rabe. Added more mozzerella cheese and a little more oil. Put it in a 400 degree oven and cooked for about 10 minutes. Two Done.

Now the Chicken Pot Pie, on Friday I already prepared my veggies. Cleaned and chopped carrots, celery, mushrooms, and brocoli stems. I put the carrots, celery and brocoli in a small bowl and microwaved on low for about 6 minutes. So I melted 2 tablespoons of Smart Balance Spread and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cooked the mushrooms. I took them out of the pan and added the reserved chopped garlic. This cooked for about 2-3 minutes on medium low heat, then I added a 1/3 cup of flour and wisked for 2 minutes. Added one 14 ounce can of low sodium chicken broth, 1/3 cup of reserved rabe water, a splash of white wine, 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme, 1/2 teaspoon of mustard and dash of paprica. Cooked 10 minutes, added my chopped cooked chicken breast, cooked veggies and the cooked mushrooms.

This mixture went into a pie plate and was topped with the puff pastry. I brushed the top with a beaten egg and put in a 425 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Three done!

Mom provided the blueberry pie and I topped it with Breyer's Natural Vanilla Ice Cream. YUM!

So needless to say I won't be cooking this week with all these leftovers. I can't say I mind!