Daring to do it: Savory Pot Pie

This month's Daring Bakers challenge was nothing new to me, but was so super amazing.  It was the return of a favorite dish which I had sadly not thought of in way too long...

Hannah of Rise and Shine was our October 2013 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she challenged us to bake our own double crusted savory pot pies. Using any from-scratch crust and filling we choose, we were allowed to get completely creative with our recipe, showing off the savory flavors and fillings from our own home or region.

I love pot pie.  I mean, really, I love a flaky pie crust, so how can you go wrong with a dinner stuffing into one, or two, of them?!  I used to make pot pies pretty regularly.  I remember doing it in the apartment where Hubby and I used to live.  I don't remember making one, though, in the last four or so years.  WAY too long! 
I was all set to make my vegetarian for dinner last Friday night.  On Thursday night I set the tofu pressing, I made the triple batch of crust dough, I had it all set up so that when I came home from work I would chop and saute the veggies, make the gravy and bake it all up.  Then life laughed at me.  I had a little knife oops at work (I know, I am in a preschool with one-year olds, how can that be where I oops with a knife?!) and wound up with two stitches in my hand.  And a husband not letting me use a knife for a few days!
But I finally got the pie made, and man was it worth the wait!
Crust bottom, rolled out and ready:

The filling -  onion, carrot, celery, zucchini, broccoli, garlic, tofu and white beans, and the veggie gravy on top:

Into the crust it goes:

(Sorry - I have no idea why these two pictures are oriented strangely!)
Covered and vented:

Baked up golden, crispy and yummy:

Flaky crust, tender filling:

 I loved this challenge.  I am so happy to have pot pies back in my life!  This is definitely going back into the meal plan rotation!
Hannah gave us some amazing recipe options in her challenge.  I am really interesting in the Mediterranean Pizza Pot Pie!!
Thank you, Hannah, for reminding me how amazing pot pies are!  I loved every minute of the challenge.  And, next time, no stitches to hold me back!!
See what my fellow Daring Bakers made this month, and please treat yourself to a pot pie of your own!!

Surprise! Quickbread

I don't know about you, but I don't necessarily put the word "sourdough" and "quick" together.  So when I saw that this month's project for Sourdough Surprises was sourdough quick breads, I giggled at the oxymoron, then drooled over the tasty possibilities. 
And then I waited.  I am not sure what I waited for...  time? inspiration? energy?  Well,  I waited a bit long.  I made my quick bread today.  On posing day.  But it still counts, right?!  I made Cinnamon Sourdough Muffins.  But I made them it as a loaf instead of muffins.  Because I wasn' patient enough to deal with the muffin tins!  (Pretty much the same general reason why I make cookie bars instead of cookies!)
I actually started last night with the starter mixture.  Equal parts starter and flour.  Eve is a pretty wet starter, but even after an overnight, my mixture seemed pretty thick:

Then I added in (most of) the other ingredients - egg, brown sugar (instead of honey), salt, vanilla, oil, cinnamon.  I wasn't so worried about how thick it was anymore!

When these two mixtures were well combined it was time to add the magic - baking soda!  Just look at those bubbles:

Before baking I decided to add a layer of cinnamon sugar to the top of my loaf, because how can more cinnamon hurt a cinnamon bread?

Out of the oven and cooling, this smelled amazing:

Sliced and ready to taste:

Really good.  I kept nibbling at this until I had to leave the house this morning.  Even my four year old, who doesn't love sourdough as much as I do, was asking for seconds.  This was an awesome treat!!
Check out what my fellow sourdough friends made this month, you are sure to find something to tempt your tummy!