Like Mother, Like Daughter

How Does It Happen So Fast?

I swear she was just born yesterday. And they pronounced her dead in the delivery room. And now she is 14. And borrowing my clothes. And giving me fashion advice. And music advice. And, yes, even parenting advice (ahem). Geesh!

And I was pregnant with this one when we built our house and that was just yesterday! Really! I swear it was! And now she's 10. And one of these days she's going to show up on my doorstep with a cheetah on a leash. You think I'm kidding, don't you. Just wait and see!

And then there's this one. My baby. I can still feel by belly stretching while carrying her. How on earth can it have been 9 years ago? Seriously! I blinked and now she's almost as tall as I am. And she's been invited to sing a song she wrote in the talent show. Even though it's only for 4th and 5th grade and she's a 3rd grader!

How does this happen?

And how do I make it stop?

Lets Make Pie.....MMM.....Chicken Pot Pie, That Is

This is Chicken Pot Pie. And it is delicious. And EXTREMELY fattening. But OH......SO......Yummy!

Let's start with the crust.

Here are the ingredients. Flour, sugar, salt, butter, shortening, and ice cold water.

First, measure your dry ingredients into a large bowl. I am making enough for 2 pies. And I double the ingredients and make it all together. It's easier that way, and it comes out perfect every time.

After you mix the dry ingredients, add your butter and shortening and cut it in using a pastry blender. You want it crumbly.

While your making crust, turn on your IPod (with speakers) that your hubby got you for Christmas. Even though you never even wanted one, and it is your all time favorite, and you listen to it every day!! Amen! (Thanks Flyboy!) Now, back to pie.

This is what your crust should look like after cutting in the butter and shortening. Perfect!

Then drizzle the ice cold water over the mixture and, using your pastry blender, cut that in. It will be doughy, but still sort of crumbly. The idea is to NOT work it too much. You want it nice and soft and flaky. No, I am not a professional. Just speaking from experience.

After you cut the water in, wrap the dough in saran wrap and put it in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

If you are a multi tasker like I am, then you will be boiling your 3 dozen easter eggs while preparing your pie.

Now lets talk filler. You will need:

Flour, chicken broth, evaporated milk, frozen peas, celery, carrots, onion, cooked chicken (I use the frozen boneless breasts and boil them), butter, salt and pepper.

Before you start chopping vegetables, remember that the new episode of Lost was on last night. And since you don't have cable or satellite and can only get 2 local channels, and ABC isn't one of them, pull out your husbands laptop and turn on the new episode. Because you are Addicted!!

O.K. Chop up your carrots, celery and onion.

Saute them in the butter until nice and soft. This smells really yummy while it's cooking.

This is what your veggies will look like when done. This is delicious by itself. I know. I tasted it.

After you cook your chicken, cut it up into small pieces. Set it aside.

Have the rest of your ingredients measured out and ready to go because the rest of this goes pretty fast. And you don't want it ruined. After your veggies are sauteed, add the flour, stir and cook for about a minute.

Then pour in the chicken broth.....

And the canned milk. This will be really soupy. Stir it constantly until it thickens up. It takes a few minutes, but keep stirring because it WILL burn on the bottom of the pan.

This is getting nice and thick and bubbly. At this point, I add the salt and pepper.

When it's nice and thick and bubbly, turn off the heat. Add the chicken and mix well.

Then add the frozen peas. You add these last so they don't overcook and turn to mush.

And THIS is what your filling will look like when complete. And it is delicious!

After the filling is done, get out the pie crust and divide it. Roll it out, and put it in your pie pan. Trim the edges so it looks nice. I'm not good at finishing the edges so I just do the best I can. Besides, it's tastes the same no matter how it looks.

Then, add some filling. Doesn't it look amazing?

Roll out another piece of crust and put it on top. Seal the edges and cut slits in the top for air to vent.

I made a large pie and 2 smaller pies. Place them on a foil lined cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, put foil on them and cook for another 30 minutes.

I made enough filling for 3 pies. I only made crust for 2, so I put the rest in a Ziploc bag and put it in the freezer. When ready to use, thaw it out, add to your pie crust and cook it up.

Here is the finished product. Isn't it pretty?

And boy was it ever so delicious!!

PIE CRUST

4 cups flour
2 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. sugar

12 Tbsp butter

12 Tbsp shortening

12-16 Tbsp ice water

*Warm butter til soft, but not melted

*Mix flour, sugar and salt

*Cut in butter, shortening and ice water

Wrap in plastic wrap and chill while making filling

FILLING (makes 2 pies)

1 cup chopped onions

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped carrots

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup flour

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup evaporated milk

4 cups chicken, cooked & chopped

1 cup frozen peas

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

*Saute onions, celery and carrots in butter in a large skillet over medium heat until tender. Add flour and stir until smooth. Cook one minute, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth and evaporated milk. Cook, stirring constantly until thickened and bubbly. Stir in chicken, peas, salt and pepper.

*Shape bottom pie crust. Add filling. Cover with top crust. Pinch the edges together and then flute or crimp. Make a few slits in the top crust for the steam to escape. Bake uncovered for 30 mintues at 350 degrees. Then bake covered with foil for 30 more minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Flyboy's Own Creation.....and it was YUM-O!

Flyboy decided he would cook me something special and this is what he came up with. And he even took photos to chronicle what he was doing. I guess he learned that from me blogging. LOL. He knew I would want to do a post about it.

First, he cut up some bell peppers. These are really delicious. I never use to eat them, but my taste buds are expanding as I age. He cut a red, yellow and an orange pepper. They have slightly different tastes.

We went to Costco the other day and they were cooking these sausages. They had about 6 different flavors and I chose the Jalepeno. Again, that is HUGE for me. I DO NOT like really spicy food. A touch of spice is enough for me. And these sausages are pretty hot. But they have awesome flavor so we bought them.

Flyboy cut the casing and squeezed the sausage out so he could cook it crumbly instead of slicing it up.

After it was cooked, he added the peppers and cooked it some more. At this point, I was salivating. My house smelled SOOO good!

We had some left over white rice that he warmed up and made up a batch of spaghetti sauce. McCormick in the packet. It's the only kind to make. EVER! I learned that from my mom and she was right. It has the best flavor.

And then he snapped a photo of me eating it as proof of his accomplishment. We put the meat and pepper mixture on some white rice and added a little bit of spaghetti sauce to take away some of the hotness. It really was delicious. He was very proud of himself. And my kids even liked it. The meat and peppers were pretty spicey, but the rice and spaghetti sauce toned it down a bit. It was a great combination.