Chicken Pot Pie

CHICKEN POT PIE

 

Today, I needed something hearty and filling, not too rich, but not lacking in flavor - this recipe was the ticket.
It is pretty simple to make, with minor preparation time.
It makes a ton, a whole pie's worth, in fact.

What You Need:
-1 cup chopped celery
-1 cup chopped onion
-1 cup chopped carrots
-1 small can of mushroom (Obviously you can use fresh, but I didn't want to mess with them this time.)
-1/2 cup frozen peas
-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
-1/2 cup cream of celery soup
-1 package of skinless, boneless, chicken breasts or tenders - chopped into cubes.
-2 cups (exactly 1 can) of chicken broth
-2 deep dish frozen pie crusts
-butter, salt, pepper, garlic powder - to taste

What You Do:
-Preheat oven according to the directions on the package of the pie crust.
-Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (this is to catch any drippings that might pop out of your pretty little pie!).
-In a bowl, whisk together chicken broth and cream of celery soup, set aside.
-In a large pot, saute chopped vegetables and cubed chicken with a little olive oil and butter - add salt and pepper for flavor...saute until vegetables are softened and chicken is cooked thoroughly.
-Reduce heat to medium and sprinkle the 1/2 c. all-purpose flour over the vegetable/chicken mixture...stir CONSTANTLY for 1 minute.
 -Slowly pour broth/soup mixture into the large pot. Cook until everything is thick and bubbly (stirring often).
-Pour this lovely mixture into a thawed out deep-dish pie crust. Carefully place the second pie crust on top of the mixture. It will probably break and make you go crazy - it is okay, as long as you can patch it back together. Press the edges together, making a nice seal. Make a few slits in the top of your pie, for venting purposes.
-If you want a nice, brown, crusty crust (why would you not?) then paint the top crust with an egg wash (1 egg and a little cold water mixed together).
-Place this concoction on the middle rack of your oven and cook until the crust is browned!
-Let it cool for JUST a little bit and then dig in and eat until your heart's content.

You can obviously take out or add any vegetables so that it suits your liking. And, if you are better than me, you can make your own pie crusts. Seeing as how I have a mental breakdown every time I attempt to make a pie crust, I went with the store bought. No shame.

Serve with Sweet Tea and Baked Apples and you are good to go!

A Day of Mod Podge.

Today was spent ripping up the pages of old books and mod podging (a verb?) them onto random household items; namely, a textured mason jar, a hurricane candle jar, and an old picture frame.

This is an extremely easy project, even for the artistically impaired.

All you need is: some old paper (book, newspaper, etc.), Mod Podge, sponge stick or paint brush, and whatever you want to fix up.

For the paper jars:
-Rip up pieces of paper in different shapes and sizes (I treated some pieces with watercolors beforehand for a touch of color to break up the monotony of the white pages...).
-Paint the piece of paper with Mod Podge and stick to the INSIDE of the jar. Make sure you work out all the kinks and air bubbles so that the paper lies flat. Cover the inside of the jar in its entirety.
-Coat finished jar with Mod Podge and let dry. Repeat. This will create a sealant.
-Wipe off any Mod Podge that got on the outside of the jar with a little warm water and paper towel.
-You can use this as a candle or fill it up with whatever (the sky is the limit!)...If you were using it for candles, old newspapers work best because they become more transparent than regular paper when the Mod Podge is applied.

Do the same steps to treat an old picture frame, etc.

Easy, fun, and sticky...really, very sticky. I would have posted step-by-step pictures, but I didn't want to subject my camera to the stickiness.

The textured mason jar is probably my favorite.

Not sure how I feel about the picture frame yet.

Here is a link to the blog where I first got the idea!

http://www.bubbyandbean.com/2011/08/diy-tutorial-pretty-decoupaged-mason.html

"Glorious Morning" Muffins

Glorious Morning Muffins are a perfect treat for the Fall.

They contain have apples, carrots, raisins, coconut, and nuts - all Autumn essentials.
I got the recipe from my grandmother this weekend and had to make it at once.
There is a fair amount of prep that goes in to making these confections, but it is well worth the work!

Ingredients:
2 cups All Purpose or Unbleached Flour
2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
2 cups sugar
4 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons cinnamon (the recipe calls for 4, but I thought 3 was sufficient)
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups (5 medium) peeled and shredded apples
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup coconut
1 cup raisins (golden or regular)
1 cup walnuts or pecans (I added 1/2 c. of each for some extra zing!)
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 eggs, beaten

Of course, if you don't like an ingredient (speaking to you coconut-haters) you could omit it, but you would not be wise.

The Procedure:
-Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12-count muffin tin with paper baking cups.
-In a 4-quart bowl, combine all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
-In a separate bowl, combine apples, carrots, coconut, raisins, and walnuts; mix well. Add to "dry-ingredients bowl".
-Add vegetable oil, milk, vanilla, and beaten eggs; stir until just moistened.
-Fill lined muffin cups about 3/4 full.
-Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
-Immediately remove from muffin tin and set on a wire rack to cool.
Makes about 36-40 muffins.

These freeze really well and are easily thawed by setting out for a little bit and warming in the microwave.
Try not to eat them all at once...it will be very difficult.

I recommend eating them with a hot cup of Earl Grey tea.

Homemade Applesauce

HOMEMADE APPLESAUCE.

Your life will never be the same.
This is extremely easy to do, very cheap, healthy, and so incredibly delicious.
The intense apple aroma that filled the kitchen was heavenly.

(Yields about three cups, roughly.)
What You Need:
-5-6 medium-sized apples...I used Fuji apples; Gala would be good too...but any apple you have on hand or available will be just fine...it might be good to mix different types too!
-Enough water to cover the apples up half-way.
-Cinnamon, to taste (optional...but you'd be a fool to leave it out).
-A large pot.
-A food processor/blender/masher...a masher might be more time consuming, but whatever gets the job done!
The Procedure:
-Peel, core, and chop apples into cubes. (Throw peels/cores into your compost pile!)
-Put the apple cubes into a large pot and fill with water until the apples are covered up about halfway.
-Boil until tender...stick a fork into a large cube to check tenderness.
-With a slotted spoon, transfer your cooked apples to your food processor; save the "apple-water" for consistency purposes; throw in some ground cinnamon.
-Process cooked apples until desired chunkiness is achieved. You can leave big chunks if you want, but this time I made mine so that it was smooth, with a little bit of "grittiness"...add whatever amount of the "apple-water" to get the perfect consistency for you.
-Transfer into a container and let cool!

I did not add any sugar; the sweetness of the apples was enough. Leaving out the sugar allows the applesauce to keep its natural taste.

There is no reason to buy applesauce from the store ever again.
I hope you stuff yourself with applesauce this Fall. Enjoy.

Cloth vs. Disposable Diapers

The great diaper debate - cloth or disposable.

Most people's first thought: "Easy - disposable. Poop is gross, I don't want to touch it."

Yes, poop is gross...landfills are also gross and that is where disposable diapers, filled with poop, sit for 500 years. We haven't even had disposable diapers for 500 years...so, essentially every disposable diaper that has ever been used up to this point is just lying around in our landfills.

Let's look at the advantages and disadvantages of each...

Disposable Diapers

-easy to deal with...you can just throw them away without having to deal with the messy insides

-easier to travel with...you won't always have access to a washing machine

-essentially "leak-free

-far more expensive in the long run...if it is $100.00/month for diapers...you are looking at $2,000.00-$3,000.00 altogether for an item that you simply throw away (spending money to throw something away!)

-filled with toxins and materials that are potentially harmful...even though there have not been any long-term studies on the effects of these toxins...it is always safe to steer clear of such things.

-terrible, TERRIBLE for the environment...reading well-documented statistics on this is frightening.

Cloth (Reusable Diapers)

-obviously, environmentally friendly...yes, you'll be using your washing machine a lot, but many washing machines are energy-conservative and you only use half the soap you would with your regular washing

-more comfortable...imagine wearing plastic underwear instead of cloth.

-contrary to popular belief, you don't have to use pins and needles to fix cloth diapers together anymore...there are many different options, like velcro or buttons, out there.

-they are not as difficult to clean as one might think...shake of the "solids" into the toilet (yes, gross...but there are worse things, plus- how is that any more gross than wiping the poop off of your baby's bottom with a wipe)...rinse off any extra "stuff"...and store in a odor-free container until ready to wash...also, most of the diapers will not be poopy diapers, so it really isn't that big of a deal.

-POTTY TRAINING BEGINS EARLIER...this is a big one for me - far too many children are potty trained far too late...wanting to be done with the "hassle" of  reusable diapers, one will be encouraged to potty train sooner.

-studies have shown that diaper rash will occur with reusable diapers, but less frequently.

-could potentially "leak-out" if sizing is not done correctly

-spending a large chunk of money at once versus spending it over the span of months...it's harder for me to spend $100.00 at once than it is to spend that over several weeks...

-can be tricky on vacations, day trips, etc.

While I am still debating the issue...I found a brand of reusable diapers - "Charlie Banana" - that have washable and disposable inserts...they come in packs of six for $100.00. Since you need about 23-36 diapers on hand at all times, it would be about $400.00 initially...the small size has different snaps that fit a baby newborn-4 months...  http://www.charliebanana.com/

Right now, my gut feeling is to go with the reusable diapers...I can't morally rationalize throwing away money for a product that is so environmentally detrimental. We'll see, my mind is still processing all of the options!

What do you think about it?

Christopher's Alligator

Christopher wanted Butterbean to have a stuffed alligator. Being the particularly picky people we are, most of the stuffed alligators in the stores did not make the cut. So, he set off to make his own. He hand drew the patterns, picked out and cut out all the materials, and he patiently and meticulously slaved over his sweet (yet ferocious) little alligator. This is his second attempt at sewing - very impressive. The little pink alligator is his "prototype"...his first attempt at sewing.

There will be many more stuffed animals to come...I've requested a platypus and a fruit bat. What would you like to see?