It’s a month into the school year, and my life is already filled to the brim with the mundane, hectic stresses that come hand-in-hand with school. And I must admit, when I looked at my to-do list for the past weekend and saw that writing another blog post had to be done in the midst of college applications, SAT practice tests, physics labs, and calculus tests, I was not excited.
But the more I thought about it, the more excited I became to get back into the kitchen and cook. I’m determined to continue to make this blog one of the most meaningful things that I do, and to discover all that I can in the few months that I have left at home with my family. Thinking about eating college cafeteria food all the time without daily home-cooked meals, and the love that I know goes into each bite, is quite depressing, honestly. And with this thought in mind, I pulled myself out of my homework and walked downstairs to see what my mom was planning on making for dinner.
We decided to make one of our family’s staples, with a twist. It was a cold, rainy, raw Sunday, and we were both in agreement that we wanted to make something to warm us all up. As I flipped through our box of recipes, we found a recipe for Chicken Pot Pie that we would eat all the time when I was younger. My sister and I always liked it because we thought we were getting away with eating dessert for dinner since there was pie in the name, and I can remember countless meals with a steaming plate of chicken, vegetables, and gravy sitting before me.
Yet we haven’t had a Chicken Pot Pie in years, since I no longer eat meat, and the recipe had long since been forgotten. But being the innovative chefs that we are, my mom and I decided to revamp the classic recipe: a tofu pot pie for me.
I was really excited and couldn’t believe that we hadn’t thought of this sooner. Once cooked, it’s simple to substitute tofu for things like pieces of chicken. I had some leftover chunks already cooked in the fridge from a meal made earlier in the week.
We started to make the pies by combining vegetables, broth, milk, and flour in a pot. As the ingredients simmered, I was able to chat with my mom, which we never have time to do anymore. Between school, sports, homework, and work, a moment where we both are present, doing the same thing, is incredibly rare. And there’s something about stirring a pot of soup while talking about trivial matters that calms you to your core. I wasn’t thinking about the upcoming week or all that I had left to do but rather was focusing on creating something meaningful for the rest of my family.
When the soup was done, the next step was to add the tofu and pour the mixture into pie dishes before cooking them for an hour in the oven. As they came out, golden brown and oozing liquid gravy from the cracks in the crust, I was slightly apprehensive: would the tofu pie taste as good as the one that I remembered?
And did it ever! I couldn’t tell a difference at all in the overall taste of the recipe. We learned that a classic favorite can easily be adapted to suit a vegetarian’s needs. The rest of the family loved it as well, and now the Tofu Pot Pie has been added back into the repertoire of dishes to make.
While I have no idea where the recipe came from or when we got it, I can say that today, we made a new family recipe. We changed a favorite to reflect our changing tastes, and now we have an additional way to enjoy a quintessential meal. In doing so, I have stamped my mark in the Horak family kitchen, and now my altered-recipe can be passed down through the generations. Who knows — maybe one day, my great-grandchildren will be asking about the origins of the Tofu Pot Pie!
But the more I thought about it, the more excited I became to get back into the kitchen and cook. I’m determined to continue to make this blog one of the most meaningful things that I do, and to discover all that I can in the few months that I have left at home with my family. Thinking about eating college cafeteria food all the time without daily home-cooked meals, and the love that I know goes into each bite, is quite depressing, honestly. And with this thought in mind, I pulled myself out of my homework and walked downstairs to see what my mom was planning on making for dinner.
We decided to make one of our family’s staples, with a twist. It was a cold, rainy, raw Sunday, and we were both in agreement that we wanted to make something to warm us all up. As I flipped through our box of recipes, we found a recipe for Chicken Pot Pie that we would eat all the time when I was younger. My sister and I always liked it because we thought we were getting away with eating dessert for dinner since there was pie in the name, and I can remember countless meals with a steaming plate of chicken, vegetables, and gravy sitting before me.
Yet we haven’t had a Chicken Pot Pie in years, since I no longer eat meat, and the recipe had long since been forgotten. But being the innovative chefs that we are, my mom and I decided to revamp the classic recipe: a tofu pot pie for me.
I was really excited and couldn’t believe that we hadn’t thought of this sooner. Once cooked, it’s simple to substitute tofu for things like pieces of chicken. I had some leftover chunks already cooked in the fridge from a meal made earlier in the week.
We started to make the pies by combining vegetables, broth, milk, and flour in a pot. As the ingredients simmered, I was able to chat with my mom, which we never have time to do anymore. Between school, sports, homework, and work, a moment where we both are present, doing the same thing, is incredibly rare. And there’s something about stirring a pot of soup while talking about trivial matters that calms you to your core. I wasn’t thinking about the upcoming week or all that I had left to do but rather was focusing on creating something meaningful for the rest of my family.
When the soup was done, the next step was to add the tofu and pour the mixture into pie dishes before cooking them for an hour in the oven. As they came out, golden brown and oozing liquid gravy from the cracks in the crust, I was slightly apprehensive: would the tofu pie taste as good as the one that I remembered?
And did it ever! I couldn’t tell a difference at all in the overall taste of the recipe. We learned that a classic favorite can easily be adapted to suit a vegetarian’s needs. The rest of the family loved it as well, and now the Tofu Pot Pie has been added back into the repertoire of dishes to make.
While I have no idea where the recipe came from or when we got it, I can say that today, we made a new family recipe. We changed a favorite to reflect our changing tastes, and now we have an additional way to enjoy a quintessential meal. In doing so, I have stamped my mark in the Horak family kitchen, and now my altered-recipe can be passed down through the generations. Who knows — maybe one day, my great-grandchildren will be asking about the origins of the Tofu Pot Pie!