Chicken Pot Pie

This is a favorite in my house. The recipe yields two 9" pies. I always cook one up and put the filling for the rest in a bag and freeze it for later. When I thaw it out, I warm it up in a skillet with some milk to make it creamy again.


2 cups diced peeled potatoes
1 3/4 cups sliced carrots
2/3 cup chopped onion
1 cup butter
1 cup all purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp thyme
3/4 tsp pepper
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups milk
4 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
1 pastry for a 9" pie

1. Place potatoes and carrots in a large saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 8-10 minutes or until crisp tender. Drain and set aside. In a large skillet, saute onion in butter until tender. Stir in the flour, salt, thyme and pepper until blended. Gradually stir in broth and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add the chicken, peas, corn, potatoes and carrots; remove from the heat.

2. Fill one 9" pie plate with half the chicken mixture. Reserve rest for freezing. Roll out pastry to fit top of the pie, trim.

3. Bake one potpie at 425 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Land stand for 15 minutes before cutting.

Matt's Chore Chart

I have always tried different ways to gently remind my kids to do their chores. Matt is the one who loves lists. Like mother, like son. So I found, for free mind you, a chore chart system from Notebooking Nook that I love.

I printed out the sheets I would be using and used my handy laminator to laminate each sheet. After I did that, I cut out the cards and put velcro on the backs of each card (I didn't use all cards that were given like the tithes and prayer cards) and on the blank chart.

 

Then every night, after he has gone to bed, I add the chores he needs to do the next day. Each day is something different.

 

When he does a chore, he puts them in this cute little box I got. When I originally posted this over at Homesteadblogger, I was using money to get him to do his chores. At the time he hardly ever used the computer or other gaming systems that we have. Now, he is always on my computer when I am not, so I need to update it to earning time to use my computer. Probably like 10 minutes earned for every chore done.

 

 

Why I love thrift shops

We have this wonderful little thrift shop in town that I go to a lot. Either to donate or to buy clothes for Matt. The other day, I was going through all Matt's winter clothes (it has been getting chilly here in NH) and I noticed that he had hardly any long sleeve shirts. So I headed out to the thrift shop to see what they have.

Let's see if you can pick out which picture of clothes came from the thrift shop. Top picture has 2 polo's, 2 thermal shirts and a fleece sweatshirt. Second picture has a pair of thick camo pants, a sweater and 2 long sleeve t-shirts.

Cost of picture number one was $38.40. It is Walmart brand clothes except the fleece shirt. That is by Starter. Bottom picture cost me $8.00 and consists of L.L.Bean pants, a Walmart brand shirt and two named brand. As you can tell the thrift shop clothes are still in perfect condition and have no stains on them. Matt even noticed that the camo print on the pants is actually paw prints. I had no idea until I really looked at it. hehe.

I have no problem buying from thrift shops and even prefer it to a regular store. I hate spending a ton of money on clothes for Matt when he is going to grow out of them in a few months. I have also bought myself some really nice things at thrift shops too. Not to mention the money I spend there goes back into the community and helps other people.

Apple Crisp

So after picking a ton of fresh apples, I had to make some apple crisp. Here is the recipe that I use. Warning, it makes a TON of the crumble. I love a ton so this recipe is perfect for me. I got the recipe here.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups butter
• 2 quarts peeled, cored and sliced apples

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, oatmeal, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar. Cut butter into mixture until crumbly.
3. Take half of the mixture and pat it into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
4. Cover crumb mixture with apple slices, then sprinkle apple slices with remaining crumb mixture.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 to 50 minutes or until apples are tender.

One thing I noticed is that cooking for this long tends to make the apples more like a chunky sauce (see my picture). It is still good, but the apples are a bit over cooked. I would do it for about 30 minutes and then check it from there to see if the crumble is nice and crisp. 

Applecrest 2011

Every year growing up we always went apple picking at Applecrest in Hampton Falls, NH. I have kept the tradition going and have been taking my kids there every year too. Now I live down the street and tend to go at least once a week in the summer. They have the best homemade maple nut ice cream.

                                      Looking for that perfect tree

                                          Sampling the goods

  
                                Feeding some future socks perhaps?

                   Love this odd looking pumpkin. I couldn't stop touching it. LOL

9 days until Mabon !!

I love fall. I love the colors, the smells, the food and the cool weather. I live 5 minutes from an apple orchard and tend to live there gathering fresh picked apples, pumpkins right off the vines and dried corn stalks to decorate the house. Not to mention fresh veggies and apple cider and the best apple cider donuts!

I've already been going through my recipes so that I can start up my favorite fall foods. I have to make my home made apple sauce and maple apple butter. Apple pies and crisp with home made whipped cream. Pumpkin pies, pumpkin oatmeal cookies, and breads of all kind. Recipes will follow as I make them.

Cub Scout Bike Rodeo Round Up

This past Saturday Matt's Cub Scout troop gathered to recruit more kids to join Scouts by having a bike rodeo.

We had a Police Officer from out town come and talk to the kids about bike safety. We also had a station set up for bike check-ups and to talk about required gear for biking.

There were also some obstacle courses set up. One was where the kids had to weave in and out of cones to practice control and not speed. Another one was to stay in between two lines that get more narrow as it goes down. Of course Matt had to show off and go super fast while weaving between all the cones. He didn't miss any cones and one parent commented how he must ride his bike a lot. Matt lives on his bike.

Oh and I also got a picture of what looked like a butterfly on crack flying. It ended up being a Praying Mantis. Cool looking guy or girl more than likely. (the guys tend to loose their heads, literally, during mating.)