Dinner Tonight Archives

Lynwood Café – Bar Pizza Restaurant Review

Lynwood Café in Randolph, Ma is arguably THE best bar pizza in New England. Bar Pizza is a thing in here and everyone has their favorites. Lynwood Café is a small, neighborhood pizzeria that I began attending as a toddler with my parents and I now bring my grown children. There is a key to longevity with Lynwood Café and it is consistency, they know what works and they stick with it.

Lynwood Café opened in 1949 as a neighborhood bar and once they decided to start making bar pizza, they never looked back. When you walk in, you are walking back in time. The old time charm of the place with its old phone booth, which now houses an ATM (they are CASH ONLY, so this is quite useful) and the shuffleboard game that every child remembers forever.

Love Fades, Pizza is Forever
-unknown

We do not live local anymore, but recently we were in the area and went for the first time in about ten years and we were not disappointed. The warm and friendly atmosphere and the fantastic pizza is just to die for. My lifetime favorite has always been the pepperoni and green pepper, but the hamburg, which I would never order anywhere else is amazing too. My late father was a big fan of the Linguica pizza, which I have never seen in any other pizza place. I have always wanted to try the Boston Baked Bean but I haven’t taken the leap yet.

One tip: skip the bottled beer. I am not usually a draft beer person, but the draft beer at Lynwood Café is the coldest beer I have ever had and it always has been. Another tip: the draft beer comes in little glasses, so order two. Beer and pizza have never been so good.

When I met my husband I told him I was taking him to have the best pizza in Massachusetts and he thought I was crazy. We joke that after he had it was when he decided I was the one he wanted to marry.

REMEMBER: CASH ONLY!

I would highly recommend checking out Lynwood Café if you ever have the chance. If you want to see more restaurant reviews, check out my blog Sunday Chefs.

The Best Chicken Pot Pie

This Chicken Pot Pie is the best that I have ever had. My family and friends have been constantly asking me to make it again. This recipe is easy, but a bit time consuming. The best part is you can make it in bulk and it freezes fabulously.

Recently a friend and her family were going through some difficult times and I wanted to make them dinner. I needed something to make in bulk, because I wanted to get three meals out of it. One for my family and two for them. I needed something that would travel well and would also freeze well if they wanted to eat it at a later date. After many hours of contemplation.. Chicken Pot Pie was the answer.

I haven’t made one in years, but I was willing to give it a try. I told everyone if it doesn’t come out good, don’t tell me! Let’s be serious when it comes to comfort food and home cooking, chicken pot pie is in the top ten of all recipes, so I figured it was a good choice.

The most indispensable ingredient of all good home cooking:

Love for those you are cooking for.
Sophia Loren

My thought process was to go to the store and buy some rotisserie chickens and use them to speed up the process (Next time I will do that), but because it was so early in the morning the store did not have any. So I needed to go in a different direction. Therefore, I bought one whole roaster chicken and two large split breasts. I came home and rubbed them with olive oil and salt and pepper and put them in the oven at 375 degrees until they were cooked through. While this was going on, I prepped the vegetables. For the carrots, I decided to roast them instead of blanching them. This was a great idea and they came out great. I will do this again. But you could blanch them or even use frozen if you are in a pinch. I sauteed the diced onions until translucent and add the chopped celery later. That is what I love about this recipe, it is so adaptable to whatever your needs are.

With the pie crusts that I bought (Yes, I bought them, I know my limitations and pie crusts are not my thing. No matter how hard I try) I had enough for 4 pies. My advice is to be prepared for this and have extra on hand. This recipe would also work as a one crust pie. You could put the filling in a casserole dish, cast iron pan or even little individual ramekins and top it with the pie crust, phyllo dough sheets or even biscuit mix. Any of these would work and you could also use a gluten free option to make it gluten free friendly.

Because this recipe made four pies instead of three, I froze one uncooked for a later date. We had it yesterday and it was wonderful. I will be making this recipe again. I served it with rice pilaf and cranberry sauce. It is a perfect home-cooked meal for any day of the week. I would love to hear back if you make it, so feel free to reach out.

Check out my other pages here on my Recipes page of my blog Sunday Chefs.

The Best Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

My most requested meal to make. Easy to make in bulk and freezes fabulously!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 7 30

Cook Time 45

Course dinner, Main Course

Cuisine American, english

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

1 6 lb Roaster Chicken You could use a rotisserie chicken already cooked, boneless chicken breasts or split chicken breasts
3 tbsp. Olive Oil
1 32 oz. Chicken Broth I use the low salt version.
2 or 3 Chicken Bouillon Cubes
1 stick Butter
1 large White or yellow onion Chopped
3/4 cup Flour
1/4 cup Heavy cream
2 cups Carrots Roasted in oven whole with olive oil, salt and pepper, then diced
3 stalks Celery Diced
1 10 oz Package of frozen peas Not defrosted
1/4 cup Parsley Minced
1 tsp. Thyme
1 Egg For egg wash
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2-4 Pre-made pie crusts (regular or deep dish) You need both a top and bottom for both pies.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place your chicken on a cooking sheet. Rub with olive oil and add a generous amount of salt and pepper and roast for: About 40 minutes for split breasts with bone in, 30 minutes for boneless breasts and about an hour at least for roaster chicken. Once the chicken is cool, remove the meat and diced into 1/2 cubes. (Save the bones to make stock!)
If you bought a rotisserie chicken, you can skip ahead to this and just remove the meat from the bones and dice.
In a saucepan heat the Chicken Broth/Stock and add the bouillon cubes. Heat until bouillon cubes dissolve.
In a large pot with a heavy bottom, melt the butter over medium/low heat and sauté the onions until translucent. (About 10 minutes).
Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly (this is very important) for about 2 minutes.
Add the chicken broth and stir until smooth and thick. Add 2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper and the cream.
Now add the vegetables, herbs and chicken and mix well.
Let it cool down a bit and divide evenly into pie crusts. I found with the pie crusts that I used it made more than 2. Add the top crust, crimp the edges and brush with the egg wash (In a pinch, milk will work in place of the egg wash).
Cut three slits in the top of the pie to release the steam as it is cooking.
Cook for an hour at 375 degrees.
Use a meat thermometer to make sure the interior is at least 165 degrees.

Notes

There are so many ways to adapt this recipe. My original intention was to use chickens (I was making a lot), but there were none. But it would cut out a lot of time if you used them.

You could also make it a one crust pie and add the filling to a casserole dish or a cast iron pan or even little ramekins and top with pie crust or puff pastry which would be wonderful.

ALLERGY TIPS: As far as allergies are concerned, you could use gluten free flour or substitute some corn starch for the flour. I have also recently seen gluten free puff pastry, which I am dying to try. I have a family with carrot allergies, so you could leave that out also. I like recipes that are easily adaptable and this is one of them.

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Summery Chicken Pasta Salad with Red Grapes

This Summery Chicken Pasta Salad with Grapes is the perfect dish for cookouts, hot summer nights, easy lunches or any day you want something quick and wonderful

What I love about this recipe is it is so easy and very different from your usual pasta salad. It is very lemony so the red grapes are needed to balance it out. There is nothing better on a hot summer night then this. It is so cool and satisfying. This summery pasta salad is the perfect one dish meal for any occasion. A pasta salad this easy is something you need in the rotation. Get a rotisserie chicken, break it apart, add it to your favorite pasta with chopped spinach and chopped grapes along with the wonderful dressing in the recipe below and you are good to go. A warm summer night just calls for this cool and satisfying Summery Chicken Pasta Salad with Grapes/

My good friend Pam has always made this summery pasta salad and I finally convinced her to share the recipe with me. So she will get full credit for her culinary prowess.

Check out my other products here on the RECIPES page of my blog Sunday Chefs.

Summertime is always the best of what might be
Charles Bowden