Deep Dish Chicken Pot Pie

This isn't an original recipe, though I can't remember the source!  

We enjoy it as a perfect comfort food, and hope you might as well.

Deep Dish Chicken Pot Pie

1 c onion, diced
1 c mushrooms, sliced
1/2 c red pepper, diced
2 TBSP butter
1/3 c flour
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 c chicken broth
1 c half and half
2 1/2 c chicken, cooked and chopped
1 c peas and carrots (frozen or fresh)
pie crust (make your own or buy refrigerated crusts)

1. Saute onion, mushrooms, and red pepper in hot butter 4-5 minutes.

2. Stir in flour, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper.

3. Add chicken broth with half and half at once, cooking until thickened and bubbly.

4. Stir in chicken, peas, and carrots.  *I used canned peas and fresh carrots this time.

5. Pour into baking dishes (2 - 2 quart dishes or 2 loaf pans).

6. Top with pastry, cut slits to vent, and brush with egg.

7. Bake 30-35 minutes at 400 degrees.  Stand 20 minutes before serving.

(One usually remains "pretty" while the other leaks!)

dishes leftover from the morning don't help -
the "before" look!

If you're like me, the kitchen will undergo quite a transformation as you cook... a 30 minute baking time is just enough to restore order on a good day when my sweet girl is happily playing nearby!

"after" order was restored :)

so glad to have her company while I cook -
a button tin is big fun for her,
pouring, sorting, and examining tons of buttons!

fall/winter meal plans - week 2

from Espresso and Cream,
our favorite "fall salad"

Here's our week 2 of Fall/Winter Meal Plans... 

We're enjoying some of our favorites as the weather turns a bit cooler!

Sunday -

chicken and wild rice soup, apple muffins

from Martha Stewart

Monday -

leftovers

Tuesday -

tacos, black beans (from a can), taco rice (from a Knorr's bag)

Wednesday -

ham and swiss crescent roll ups, fall salad (pictured above)

*I use crescent rolls rather than pizza dough these days, though I initially made the recipe the way its written!

from Real Simple

Thursday -

leftovers

Friday -

pasta with pesto cream sauce, bread, fruit/vegetable

from all recipes

Saturday -

waffles, eggs, bacon

*Again, I plot out our meals seasonally for about 5 weeks of dinners, then using that as a guide I specifically plan for the week and shop accordingly week by week.  If we have plans for eating with friends, contributing to a community group pot-luck, making extra food to deliver, or using up pantry/freezer foods I can adjust to fit our budget and minimize waste.

This week we'll mostly follow our plans, skipping the pasta with pesto cream sauce and moving waffles to Friday night.  We'll be attending a Pastor's Appreciation Supper on Saturday night so we don't need a meal planned then.  I'll also be using this lime chicken taco recipe from Pinterest that's new to us.  I'm cooking a smaller portion (using extra chicken tenderloins I have) and won't be using the Crock-Pot but plan to adapt the recipe to cook on the stove top.  The Lord always works things our perfectly!

from Taste of Home

weekly wrap up - end of September

Friday's play dough - if only I knew how to catch motion
on my camera without a constant blur, tips? :)

Tuesday was like most others, pretty laid back.  I went out to their house first thing today as I wasn't helping drop off or pick up Mr. S. today.  The girls and I enjoyed playtime (and Moriah's laundry!) then went off to the library for story time.  The main branch of the Oldham County library has the BEST story time in my opinion after visiting a few others in Louisville.  It's always well organized, and keeps the little ones on track from one read aloud, song, or activity to the next.  Tuesday was parachute day!  The little ones LOVED the big parachute and of course couldn't resist the chance to run under it :)  After story time, Ms. M.K. took an abbreviated morning nap while Moriah and I had a bit of school time.  Next was lunch, then play time again before resting.  After naps, Mr. S. and Moriah enjoyed starting a finger painted apple tree craft by painting a paper plate green for today (we left them to dry before adding a trunk and apples!).

a little bit of "school" -
God made the fish and birds!

Wednesday was not quite so laid back!  Ms. M.K. came to our house in the morning for a calm rainy day to play at home.  This portion of the day was very mellow as both girls were happy to play together.  Moriah's farm was the hit of the morning as farm animals came out with a Little People barn, lots of fences, and a few felt squares for grass and hay that the animals needed!  M.K. is teething this week so her morning nap was later than normal once she fell asleep, but some sleep is oftentimes better than none.  The girls had a little snack and then we were off to pick up Mr. S. from pre-school.  We drove back home and endured the wild man after school phase Mr. S. has tended toward on these afternoons!  Once he starts to eat, all is well again and he'll be more ready to talk calmly about his day at school.  Then it was naptime for all.  After naps, Mr. S. and Moriah played together and finished their apple trees.  Once Ms. M.K. woke all enjoyed snack time.  We hit a little bump in the road with wet pants on our way out the door but all was easily fixed with new clothes and a washing machine :)  We all headed out for the afternoon/evening and went to PetSmart.  Moriah's learning about God's creation in Genesis, and we've arrived at Day 5 "God made the fish and the birds" so a pet store trip seemed fitting this week.  Everyone enjoyed the animals we could watch as we walked around.  We were also able to pick up a treat and a new toy for Ruby, the Golden Retriever at Mr. S. and Ms. M.K.'s house (I've never known a dog so sweet!)  We walked through Half Price Books as well and didn't find anything that really caught our eye today (mostly I didn't see the clearance section until we were headed out).  We returned to their house for dinner and had everyone happily eating as their mom returned from her business trip day.  There must be something special about meals together, as Mr. S. really wanted us to stay and told me, "It'll be good news if you can eat supper with us, we haven't done that in a long time.  Will Matt come to help?" :)  Once we were all at the table Moriah looked over to say, "I love you Sully!" in her most sincere voice!  I'm so thankful for our sweet friends and the times we spend together.

looking closely!

amazed!

Thursday the girls and I enjoyed story time in Louisville at the St. Matthews branch.  After storytime we headed to the Seminary to play with the train table in the Rec Center for just a bit before heading up to the campus clinic.  I had a quick appointment for a funny swollen and sore spot on my ankle, which the kind doctor explained to be tendinitis likely due to unsupportive flip flops and lots of "over use".  It's not really painful and winter's coming with more supportive shoes, so I'll just wait for that to go away!  Then we walked through the book store to pick up a couple of resources that I'm mailing to my mom.  After our morning, we were off to pick Mr. S. up from school then back to the house for lunch.  After lunch we all enjoyed play time in the basement before we called it a day.

this is SERIOUS business to two future farmers :)

such a nice new train table

Friday was another rainy and quiet sort of day.  We'd hoped to go to an apple orchard, but with the recent rain we decided against it.  Instead we went to storytime (we love books and libraries!) again at the Main Oldham Co. library and enjoyed more of the fun parachute.  Mr. S. insisted on holding Moriah during the reading and songs, and she was thrilled to sit with him - so sweet :)  We came back in time for Ms. M.K. to have an abbreviated morning nap while Mr. S. and Moriah made homemade cinnamon play dough with me.  It smelled "delicious" as Mr. S. said, though I did a good job convincing him that it wouldn't taste delicious to eat!  We took our decorative apples out of the sensory box and used them along with a few toy dishes, rolling pins, wooden spoons, and cinnamon sticks to make "apple pies".  They were SO CONTENT to play for at least 30 minutes, and forgot that it was lunch time!  Ms. M.K. woke as lunch was ready and we ate together.  After lunch all happily built a "clubhouse" aka fort in the basement with couch cushions... it takes lots of tools and lots of hard work to build our clubhouses these days :)  Mr. S. even added two "storage rooms" to it!

terrible quality that captures a common moment as they "work" on a "club house" or "work site"
with safety goggles and bungee cords to accomplish most anything

more play dough fun

can you sense her delight, even behind the pacifier?

a few simple joys I'm thankful for

sweet friends reading together, though someone's always moving!

1001. a meal and good fellowship
1002. the blessing of friendships strengthened by the Holy Spirit
1003. the help of a little girl during my cleaning this afternoon, cleaning is more fun with a sweet girl joining me!
1004. a day at home, some productive time, some play time, and home most of the time

painting last week!

1005. the campus clinic
1006. a Crock Pot dinner to look forward to tomorrow
1007. the blessing of babies for so many friends, this is a sweet season of life
1008. God's provision, down to the penny
1009. sermons available on-line, listening while I iron
1010. cooking with kids

making our little apple pies

1011. wasp spray to make our balcony welcoming again
1012. a fire pit and s'mores
1013. the joy of "bouncies" (inflatables) for little ones
1014. hearing of God's perfect provision in the lives of friends
1015. tasting fall in all things apple and pumpkin

little apple pies, thank you Pinterest!

chili for fall and winter

Here's my recipe for chili... it's most like my mom's (I think so, though she's told me she disagrees!).  We all think our familiarities are "normal" though I've come to learn that's not the case.  Since moving to Louisville, I've tried chili from Louisiana friends which was much different with more vegetables and no meat (if I remember correctly).  In the local elementary school cafeteria, chili was served on top of spaghetti noodles (seriously!), I think that's a Cincinnati thing maybe?!  I also saw a picture of "Texas chili" on Pinterest, and it looked more like roast beef in a gravy of sorts.  To each their own :)  If you'd like a new-to-you twist you might enjoy ours!

Chili

1 lb ground beef, browned

1 c onion, chopped

1 can chili beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can diced tomatoes

1-2 cans tomato sauce (depending on the size of your cans, and the level of "soupiness" you like)

1/2 c water (only if I use 1 small can of tomato sauce above)

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

1 TBSP chili powder

2 tsp oregano

2 cloves garlic, minced

Combine all and simmer to warm throughout.
Serve with cornbread muffins, crackers, tortilla chips, sour cream, etc.  

fall/winter meal plans - week 1

This is our first week getting back to pre-planned meal plans.  Instead of brainstorming yummy sounding dinners on a weekly basis, I flipped through our favorites and wrote out meal plans for a month of dinners.  I usually stick with these plans mostly, but not rigidly and tend to enjoy them more during the first two months or so of the season than by the end of it when I'm ready for something different.  We'll see how it works this time!  Here's the plan for week 1...

Sunday:
chili, cornbread, fruit
(while I like Sunday's to be restful, I also love to cook on Sunday evenings when I know I have ample time and Matt's happy to play with Moriah - it's a good time for the restful sort of cooking at a slower pace than any week night)

*I'll add my chili recipe soon too, I grew up with a meaty-bean chili and didn't know that all chili was't the same!  This one is just "normal" to us :)

Monday:
leftovers
(this is our community group night, every third week it's a pot-luck so we're often bringing a dish or needing something easy to eat before we leave)

Tuesday:
Crock Pot whole chicken, rolls, fruit *I'll be using the chicken to make another batch of chicken stock*
(this is Matt's night class, so he comes home for a quick dinner before he's off and away, I'm hoping Crock-Pot recipes will be especially helpful on Tuesdays!)

does everyone know this roll recipe?
Bisquick, butter, and sour cream - so tasty and EASY!
thanks to my friend Christian :)

Wednesday:
cashew chicken and broccoli, rice, crab rangoon
(the crab rangoon are frozen, not homemade and were at ALDI this week!  perfect timing)

this is a pretty easy recipe,
and is a "healthified" version from Live Better America 

Thursday:
leftovers
(this is my Seminary Wives class night so again we need something fast with little clean up)

Friday:
chicken pot pie, fruit *with leftover whole chicken*
(this is often my day off, allowing for more cooking time)

*I'll add the recipe soon as I can't find my original source on-line, it's "homemade" but with store bought pie crust (to speed things up!) if you take some shortcuts like me :)

Saturday:
baked oatmeal - or another variety of oatmeal, fruit, eggs

life in late September

Tuesday -
This morning Ms. M.K. came to our apartment to play!  The girls love play time together and do mostly well with it, though my Moriah is working on kindness and gentleness with her hands, the life of a two year old perhaps :)  We headed back to the house and started laundry while the girls continued to play.  Lunch was ready and waiting when Mr. S. arrived from school to join us.  After rest time for all we went to the library which we missed visiting last week.  We traded one giant stack of fun read alouds for another.  I LOVE the library, and browsing the children's books is so fun for my former elementary teaching self!  The only thing better than browsing is introducing new books to little ones and finding favorites they can enjoy.

Wednesday -
Moriah and I drove out to see Ms. M.K. this morning and then went back to town for a play date of sorts at ChickFilA!  Moriah worked on a sweet puppy puppet craft then enjoyed playing in the tunnels with friends we met there.  Mr. S. was happy to have his daddy home today and completed lots of serious work throughout the afternoon - construction vest and working gloves required!  After rest time we worked on a fall craft, adorning tree trunk cut outs with "leaves" painted on using toilet paper rolls to stamp in red, orange, and yellow!  Crafting with three under 4 years old, was mostly good until hands dipped in paint starting clapping, and spraying poster paint - everywhere!  Oh my :)

Thursday -
We picked Mr. S. and Ms. M.K. up this morning in time to drive through Panera for a blueberry muffin that we could split while we waiting in line at pre-school carpool to drop Mr. S. off.  Then the girls and I drove to the park for some morning playtime, and then were off to the library story hour.  I think we'll try to visit a toddler storytime next week, as they're the oldest by far in the "baby" group we've attended thus far.  After storytime, we headed back to their house to make lunches and play.  Then rest time, and we needed some rest!  After resting, the two big kids and I ran to Kroger for green apples and pumpkin puree as cooking was on our minds.  We made Pinterest inspired "pumpkin poppers" today (leaving 2/3 of them without the cinnamon and sugar coating).  Cooking with two little helpers is an adventure for sure, at one point Moriah dipped her hand into the bowl with cooking oil!  They enjoyed the fruits of their labor.

Friday -
We went out to a bouncy today at All About Kids.  Things went well until, Ms. M.K. bonked her head on a baby slide as she went down, her teething fussiness meant she just needed to be held.  All was getting settled, when Moriah walked out of the little red toddler car she was driving around only to have wet pants!  So I tried to coax her out, she's resistant when she's already had an accident, while Mr. S. got his Crocs on (which ended up under the car as someone else jumped in to drive it).  Coaxing one while holding another (both of which are the same size) is hard!  We finally made it, only to have a wild time in the family bathroom, with a step stool for hand washing (accessible to a 16 month old) and one needing a change of clothes, and the door locking and unlocking...  I'm SO thankful for family bathrooms though a fly on the wall would've been entertained :)  Now we're off for another Pinterest inspired baking afternoon - apple pie roll ups!