Food Cubes

I got a set of silicone baking forms. I think they were for cube shaped muffins. I used them to make something like hot pockets. I used to make these in batches and keep them in the freezer unlabeled. That way I could grab a couple for a meal and not know which ones I was going to get. I can't find the original product. They were like these large tall cube muffin pans.

Beef Stew Cubes

Ingredients:

• Basic Pizza Dough, Pie Crust, or Puff Pastry
• Roast Beef(Pre-cooked. Leftovers are good here. Whatever cut you like and is in your price range.)
• Carots
• Onions
• Celery
• Potatoes
• Peas
• Flour, Starch, or Gravy Mix
• Water and any Drippings from the Beef
• Salt and Pepper to Taste

Directions:

Set the dough aside. Dice everything else into about 1/4" chunks and simmer for 10 min. You don't need a lot of water and you don't need to cook everything until tender. You just want to make a little gravy and let all your ingredients flavor it.

Roll out half of the dough. You need enough to cover the pan and fill the hollows. Spoon the mix of diced ingredients and gravy into each pocket. You want to fill the pocket, but you don't want too much gravy in them. Gravy contains water. Water turns into steam. Steam makes your pockets puff up and be hollow. moisten the edges of each pocket and top with a sheet of the remaining dough. At this point your Cubes should be sealed, but still connected together. Gently cut them separate. A pizza cutter, pair of scissors, or dull knife work good here. If you want muffin topped cubes leave the dough as it is now. the edges will puff up a bit and the cubes will have little hats or wings. If you want them to look more like sci-fi food cubes then tuck the edges into the cube hollows so the outside shape is as smooth as you can and consider covering with tin foil or a silicone baking mat. Bake at 300°F to 350°F for about 40 min. After the first few batches you'll find good settings for your oven. Remove, cool, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze. You can microwave them to reheat and eat later.

Here are some other variations.

Chicken Pot Pie Pockets

Ingredients:

• Basic Pizza Dough, Pie Crust, or Puff Pastry
• Cooked Chicken (Any kind just cook it and remove the bones and skin.)
• Onions
• Garlic
• Carrots
• Celery
• Peas
• Potatoes
• Poultry Seasoning (Sage, Thyme, maybe Rosemarry)
• Cream or Half and Half
• Salt and Pepper to Taste

Directions:

Basically the same as the Beef Stew Pockets, but you only need to pre-cook and cut up or shred the chicken. Make sauce out of the seasoning, cream, salt, and pepper. You don't need to precook the sauce, just mix it up and maybe warm it so it mixes easier. Dice everything else to 1/4". Lay down your bottom dough layer, stuff each pocket with veggies and meat, spoon over some sauce, wet the edges, lay down the top dough layer, seal and cut.

Italian Pockets

Ingredients:

• Basic Pizza Dough, Pie Crust, or Puff Pastry
• Italian Sausage (pre-cooked)
• Pepperoni or Hard Salami
• Onions
• Garlic
• Mushrooms
• Canned/Jarred Sauce (mushroom, original, or something else plain)
• Mozzerella (shredded, diced, or chopped up string cheese)

Directions:

You know the deal by now. Cook all the meats that need it. Dice everything to 1/4". Leave out or substitute any ingredients you don't like. Fill the pockets with the diced ingredients and cheese first then spoon over the sauce. Do the pocket dance and 40 min later you've got pockets chilling on the counter.

Cheeseburger Pockets

Ingredients:

• Basic Pizza Dough, Pie Crust, or Puff Pastry
• Ground Beef
• Onions
• Mushrooms
• Shredded or Cubed Cheese
• Salt, Pepper, Mustard, Ketchup, and Mayo to taste

Directions:

Do the pocket dance again. Cook and drain the meat. Dice the veggies. Put the solids into the pockets first. Then, use the Ketchup, Mustard, etc as your sauce. Seal, cook, and enjoy. More cheese and less sauce works for me. Also the cubed cheese is more noticeable than the shredded. If you want the full experience top with sesame seeds before baking and serve on some lettuce.