Chicken Pot Pie

I've mentioned before that unless I'm following a recipe, I don't really ... follow a recipe.  Ok, that makes no sense.  Let me rephrase.  I want to share with you how I make chicken pot pie, but it's more ingredients and technique rather than a formal recipe.  So bear with me.  I've made chicken pot pie multiple times multiple ways, so I'm going to mention all of them together.  This is lengthy, and I forgot to take pictures, so try to stick with me...

The Chicken:

I prefer to bake chicken when time permits.  It's low-maintenance (no need to watch it or flip it like you would have to on the stove), and it keeps the meat moist.  It's also a good way to get multiple meals out of one prep, by baking several pieces at one time, having baked chicken one night, and already having cooked chicken the next night to make the pot pie.  This is also a good way to make the meal prep a bit shorter.

How to bake chicken: The pieces are up to you.  I find pot pie a good way to use cheaper cuts, like legs and thighs, since I shred the chicken later.  Yesterday, I made two hearty servings off of one chicken breast because that's what I had in the house.  Either way, I always bake chicken skin-on and bone-in.  A bit of salt and a bit of olive oil, and it's ready for the oven (350 or 375, depending on the temperature I need for other foods that night).  Depending on the cut and size of the chicken, and the temperature of the oven, you're looking at 30-50 minutes of cooking.  When it's cooked, and cool enough to handle, I chop/shred the chicken for later use.

Quick-prep: Like I mentioned, this is a great recipe to use up leftover baked chicken.  I'm also a big fan of the rotisserie chickens from grocery stores, especially if you're pressed for time.

The Veg:

If I was cooking for myself, my pot pie would be 75% veg, 25% chicken.  However, I have a veggie-hater in the house with me, so I pull back a bit on my urge to add every conceivable vegetable to the meal.  (Sidenote: if you also have a veg-hater, this meal is actually a good way to make them eat vegetables.  I cut them up small and they're all mixed in, so picking out the "green stuff" is nearly impossible.)  This is another reason I love pot pie -- it's a great way to use up produce.

Vegetables I've added at some point (usually all finely diced): onions, celery, potatoes, carrots, green peas.  I love also green beans, but the only time I've added them to pot pie is when I bought a bag of frozen veg to save time/money.  I don't know that they belong in pot pie.  Last night's recipe had all of the above vegetables except potatoes (because I didn't have any in the house).

So what do you do with them?  I dice everything up and sweat them (lower heat than sauteing) with some olive oil and a bit of butter.  This is when I season them, too, with salt, pepper, and other spices/herbs (last night I went with thyme and celery seed).  When they're tender, I add frozen peas (because they don't need as long as the other vegetables).

Quick-prep: A frozen bag of vegetables will never be better than the real thing, but it does work well in the recipe because everything is mixed together.  This could save you a bunch of time (and money, if produce is expensive).

The Sauce:
When I first started experimenting with pot pie, I have to admit I used Campbell's cream-of soups.  Honestly, I thought it was pretty tasty.  Jason and I both have aversions to cream-of-mushroom for different reasons, so I tended to use cream-of-chicken or (my preference) cream-of-celery.  Now, I start from scratch by making a rue.

Once your pan has yummy, tender veg, add some flour (again, sorry I don't have specific measurements) and stir this around for a couple of minutes to cook the flour and help it soak up the remaining oil/butter. Then, I start adding chicken stock.  This can either be homemade or store-bought.  I had some chicken bones last night, so I made homemade.  I also threw in some 1/2&1/2 because my stock seemed a bit thin.  Do this slowly.  Add some liquid, stir stir, add some liquid, until you get the right consistency.  This is when I add the chicken to the mix.

Quick-prep: Really, the cream-of soups tasted just fine.

The Pie:

This is the part I always get help with.  When everything's ready, you can put it all in another dish and top with either canned biscuits (cut in half horizontally gives you more bang for your buck) or refrigerated pie dough.  Or hey, if you know how to make pie dough, knock yourself out.  Usually by this point of the prep, I'm exhausted and love that I have something pre-made.  Then, you stick this back in the oven until your crust is golden brown and delicious.

Quick-prep: Last night, I made what I called "deconstructed pot pie" because the in-the-oven part always seems to take longer than expected.  I made the pie filling and then baked (canned) biscuits during the last fifteen minutes of prep.  We ate a bowl of "chicken pot" with the "pie" on the side.  I thought it was delicious, and Jason's wiped-clean bowl (another advantage of having a separate biscuit rather than pie crust) makes me think he felt the same.

Ok, so that's my adventures of chicken pot pie.  It is a lengthy prep (maybe about an hour total?), so this is usually on an evening where I've got a lot of free time, but it's mighty tasty, especially in the winter.  If you've made it this far, congrats!  I'll make sure my next post isn't quite as long.

If I Were at Hogwarts...

Did I ever mention that I like Harry Potter?  No?  I REALLY like Harry Potter.  Well, in her infinite wisdom, Amanda passed these Harry Potter questions on to me.  If you don't like Harry Potter or are unfamiliar with some of the best movies and books ever, a) I pity you and b) you probably want to stop reading for now and return tomorrow.  For those who love HP as much as me, feel free to answer these questions yourself and spread the love!


~Which House do you belong to?  
A quick summary (because I had to refresh my own memory) of the house characteristics.  Gryffindors are known for their bravery, daring, nerve, and chivalry.  Hufflepuffs are known for their hard work, patience, loyalty, and fair play.  Ravenclaws are known for their intelligence, knowledge, and wit.  Slytherins are known for their ambition, cunning, and resourcefulness.


After reading these characteristics, I'm guessing I would have been sorted into Ravenclaw.  I've always really valued intelligence and knowledge, which is why I thrived in Quiz Bowl in high school, enjoy trivia nights at restaurants, and I don't know, want to be a teacher.  Also, anyone who has ever spent an hour around my family knows that we value wit -- the drier the better.  Plus, I look pretty good in blue and bronze.

I'd be hanging with Luna and Cho in Ravenclaw

~What are your favorite and least favorite classes?
The chemist in me thinks I would have enjoyed potions (maybe just during the Slughorn days, since Snape was always such a meanie).  Tons of tedious measurements and procedures?  Yes, please!  I think I also would have faired well in Muggle Studies, for obvious reasons.  As for least favorite, I'd have to go with History of Magic (which sounds good in concept but was extremely boring in Pottereality).

Don't worry, Hermione, I'd be able to help you in Potions class

~Which Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was the best?
Lupin all the way!  Well, he wasn't secretly evil (so that knocks out Quirrell, Moody, Snape (debatable), or Umbridge), and he wasn't too egotistical to actually teach the subject (bye bye, Lockhart).  He taught by example, made each class interesting, and let the students actually practice the spells, not just hear him lecture about them.  Lupin's not only the best of the DADA teachers, he's probably my favorite Hogwarts professor overall.

A Hogwarts teacher better than Lupin?  Riddikulus.

~If you were an Animagus, what animal would you turn into?
Monkey, all the way.  That may make it hard to blend into society (in comparison to Sirius' dog of McGonagall's cat), but c'mon, being a monkey would be awesome!


~What form would your boggart take?
Masses and masses of caterpillars... or a really quick-moving cockroach.


~Would you have joined Dumbledore's Army?
I'm way too scared of breaking to rules to have joined.

Dumbledore's Army.  Notice that I'm not pictured.  Why?  Because I would be too scared (also why I'm not in Gryffindor).

What is your chosen Deathly Hallow?


Definitely the invisibility cloak.  For one, if you listen to the story, the brothers with the wand and resurrection stone didn't fair too well, did they?  Plus, having the ability to be invisible at any time would be awesome.

What would Amortentia (love potion) smell like to you?


Mitchum deodorant, freshly-baked muffins, and Caribou coffee

Pretty much, it would smell like this guy...

It's Like Christmas!

Jason and I want to get some more pictures for around the house, so I've been going through his photos to find candidates for us to discuss and choose.  In doing that, I stumbled across this picture I had totally forgotten about from last November.

Jason had just learned about this thing called HDR where you take the same picture three times -- overexposed, normal exposure, and underexposed -- and then combine them to make a freaky picture.  We went out to Umstead for some HDR experimentation.  He took pictures of leaves, the lake, even some of me.  I got tired of posing by myself, so I asked him to set the camera timer and come take one with me.

Reasons I like this picture:
~I had forgotten about it, so stumbling upon it was like getting a Christmas present in July
~It's of both of us, and farther away than my arm's length (which is usually how I take pictures of both of us)
~It's full of fall colors, long-sleeved shirts, and pants, which reminds me of the cool temperatures of November.  On a day like today, that's a happy thought!

Being an Adult is Awesome!

Being a kid was great.  Summers were spent playing at the pool and going to baseball and softball games.  School was school, but at least you got to hang out with your friends for seven hours a day.  Weekends were slumber parties and Saturday morning cartoons.  You didn't have to worry about finding a job, paying your mortgage, or staying within budget.

That said, adulthood has its benefits.  You're free to drive your car without permission.  You have an income and can go shopping whenever you want.  You can stay up late, sleep in, ... and eat ice cream for dinner.

You read correctly.  Ice cream for dinner.  Though we don't do it often, there are times that Jason and I skip traditional "dinner" and go directly to dessert.  There are several reasons for this.  Earlier this summer, our A/C was broken and the idea of eating anything room temperature or warmer sounded disgusting.  Other times, Jason wins me over with his ice-cream-craving logic.  He points out that if we know we're going to have ice cream, it's actually less calories (and thus "healthier") to skip eating a meal just for eating's sake and go straight to the ice cream we were going to have either way.  How can you compete with logic like that?

The answer: you can't.  So when you can't beat 'em, join 'em (not that I needed my arm twisted to be talked into eating ice cream!).

Beating the 105-degree heat with a tasty treat!

  Being a kid was cool.  Being an adult is awesome!

Charlotte Revisited -- Jason's POV

Here are some more Charlotte pictures, this time the ones Jason took.  You can see all of them here (or at least, I hope you can see them; the link has been acting up), but I thought I'd share a few of my favorites.

Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens

Jubilantly playing in the water arch

One of many awesome orchid pictures

Uptown Charlotte

I love this one of the historic-looking Fourth Ward street signs with the very modern Charlotte skyline in the background.

Technically Jodi took this one of me and Jason outside of Metalmorphosis.

Tradition, Tradition, ... Tradition

"You may ask, how did this tradition start?  I'll tell you ... I don't know.  But it's a tradition." 
          ~ "Fiddler on the Roof"

My family has many traditions.  We celebrate the first day of the month or season.  For instance, the first time in July that we talked to each other, we told each other "Happy July."  When it's snowing in Jamesville, Raleigh, or Charlotte, we call each other and sing the song "Snow" from White Christmas.  I have no idea how these traditions started, but they continue... because they're tradition.

Jason and I have traditions, too.  One of these is eating muffins on the weekend.  We eat Honey Nut Cheerios (or some other cereal when I'm feeling adventurous) five or six days a week, but on the weekends, we make muffins.

We love Martha White muffins.  They're about a dollar at the grocery store, and all you have to add is milk.  Plus, they're delicious!

Now, that said, we don't "just add milk."  Jason has a philosophy that when recipes call for milk, you should always add half-and-half instead.  Shoot, half the time he adds 1/2&1/2 to recipes that call for water!  Jason also likes to add "secret ingredients" to the muffins.

Ah, Jason's secret ingredients... he literally looks through the fridge and pantry and puts in anything that sounds like it would be good.  Sometimes it's something simple, like pistachios or bananas in banana nut bread muffins or dried cranberries in wildberry muffins.  Sometimes, like this weekend, he's more adventurous.  What goes well with lemon poppyseed muffins?  Why, lime zest and pink lemonade Kool-Aid, of course!  Is that strange?  Sure.  Were they delicious?  Oh yeah! (and yes, pun fully intended)

I have no idea how this tradition started.  I know he was the one that introduced me to MW muffins, but I know we didn't start eating them with secret ingredients.  I guess that's the fun of traditions.  You don't do something and say "Let's make this a tradition."  Instead, at some point you think back to origin of the activity, can't begin to count how many times you've done it, and can't remember how it became a tradition.  All you know is that it is tradition... and that it's awesome!





As for today's reference to "Fiddler on the Roof," I have to admit I know much more about this play from an episode of Gilmore Girls than from the countless times my mom tried to get me to watch the musical.  Sorry, Mom.

Self Portraits Gone Wrong

I think I've mentioned before that I have perfected the art of taking self portraits.  Well, truth time -- "perfected" may have been a bit of an overstatement.

A picture I took of me and Jason the other day (actually, while waiting for the espresso to brew):

Cute, right?  Sure, our heads were a bit cut off, but you can see both of us, we're mostly centered, and my eyes are mostly open (Jason's were closed in protest).  Not too shabby for holding out the camera out in front of me and aiming without being able to see what I'm taking a picture of.

Well... this was attempt #1:

Hmm, I may actually like this one better... man, I love that silly fella!

Sippin' It, Italian-Style

I mentioned earlier this week that Jason and I played around in IKEA in Charlotte.  When we were there, Jason found a small stovetop espresso maker for $10.  He's been eyeballing them for a while now, so we took the leap and bought it (and some tiny espresso cups).

To make espresso, you add water to the bottom part, coffee to the middle, and screw it all back together. Some magic happens (ok, it's not magic, it's all about funnels and pressure, but I forgot what Jason told me...), and voila!  Espresso!

I've got to admit, the first sip was like coffee sludge.  Apparently it wasn't done brewing when we poured the first bit, and you REALLY need to wait until it finishes brewing!

A bit of half and half helped!

Sipping my espresso.  Hmm, the picture makes me think the caffeine may have already kicked in!

Pool Days

I'm not the biggest "pool person."  I don't really swim laps, and getting in and splashing around is really only fun for a little while.  The only thing that makes laying out appealing to me is lying on my belly and napping (which is something I can do just as easily at home!).  Otherwise, it's being hot, sweaty, and potentially getting burned.

One thing that makes going to the pool better is friends.  Last Thursday, Rebecca and I hung out at the pool, later switching to the shade because we could "feel the freckles growing."

On Monday, I was joined by Kristen and Jenelle and their daughters Hannah and Leiana, respectively.  The girls were definitely entertaining as they discovered how fun it was to jump in, float around, and be "motorboated" around by Miss Meg.

Leiana loved the floaty turtle she found at the pool

Hannah discovered she's a natural floater

From left to right, Jenelle, Leiana, Kristen (and Rebekah), and Hannah

Me and the girls

Trip to Charlotte

Jason and I had a great time in Charlotte... so great, in fact, that I often *gasp* forgot to take pictures!  Don't worry, Daddy, yesterday's short blog will be MORE than made up with today's length!  You can see all of the pictures here, but here are some of my favorites:

Friday:
Jason and I stopped at IKEA to play for a couple of hours while J&J were still at work.  I had been once before, and I was happy to see Jason liked it as much as I had!

Falling in love with this pillow... and IKEA's affordable prices!

The highlight of visiting IKEA -- Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, and ligonberries.

We headed to Jill and Jodi's, visited for a while, then stopped by art called Metalmorphosis on our way to dinner.

Different parts of his head spin around, so it looks like a big jumble until it finally "matches up" to make this face.

Then, we ate dinner (Jason and I had BBQ sandwiches, J&J went for a variety of meats) at Mac's Speed Shop.

Go meat!!

Friday night was spent watching Harry Potter 6 and eating ice cream.

Saturday:
We got up early, ate some breakfast pitas, and then Jill, Jason, and I headed to Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens for flowers and photos while Jodi took a bike ride.

Sunflowers and bees

Can you tell we're sisters?

Jason with flowers and fountains

The green spider Jason was taking pictures of

Sniffing orchids in the orchid conservatory

After showers back at the house, we headed to Pike's, an old-timey soda shop, for lunch.  Jason got a black cow for dessert -- root beer syrup, ice cream, and soda water.

Delicious!

We walked around "Uptown" Charlotte, past the library, old hotels, and into Fourth Ward, an area of historic houses.

We had dinner back at J&J's, watched Harry Potter 7 (part 1), and stuffed ourselves with delicious French desserts from Amelie's.  They were all so pretty, but I couldn't manage to get a picture of my chocolate torte or my salted caramel brownie.  I blame all the drool.

Jason's fruit tart

Sunday:
After a leisurely morning, we headed over to the Flying Biscuit for brunch/lunch, where Shannon met up with us.  We ate lots of deliciousness (my fried green tomato BLT was yum!), and then the main event... Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2!  No spoilers here, just going to say that it was everything I hoped it was going to be.  If you're a fan, this is DEFINITELY worth the ticket cost and braving the crowds.  As the credits ran at the end, I seriously contemplated getting back in line to see it again.

Rocking the 3-D glasses in the theater

So that was our trip to Charlotte!  It was that perfect combination of relaxing and doing, doing, doing (with lots of yummy food thrown in there, too).  Yay Charlotte!

Charlotte Sneak Peek

Jason and I visited Jill and Jodi in Charlotte last weekend for a mini-vacation.  I'm still recovering, so today's blog is going to be a bit short.  Here's a sneak peek of our Charlotte trip:

Flowers at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens

Historic house in Fourth Ward

Doesn't tell you much, does it?  Stay tuned, more pictures to come.

Circles and Sparkles and Leopards, Oh My!

Between moustache parties and mystery dinner parties, my friend Amanda and I get together for girl dates. These usually center around lunch and/or shopping.  On Wednesday after (her) work, we got together at Crabtree Valley Mall and did a lot of talking and a bit of shopping.

Amanda and her adorable new shoes.

We're actually good shopping partners for each other.  Amanda, a self-proclaimed shopaholic, tends to buy less when I overanalyze each of her purchases.  Plus, she breaks me out of no-spending shell and talks me into purchases I wouldn't normally make.

Wednesday, she gave me a bit of tough love and pointed out that I always flock to "the most boring clothes" in a store.  I know what she means.  I have so many solids in my closet because patterns scare me.  Is this floral cute ... or old woman-ish?  Is this polka dot fashionable ... or does it hurt your eyes?  Solids are safe, practical purchases so that's what I tend to buy.

What does she mean I never buy patterns?

Well folks, I'm patternless no more.  I bought three new shirts the other day, all with some amount of pattern:

From left to right, polka dot/circle print shirt from Gap, white t-shirt with silver flecks from NY&Co, and a leopard (yes, leopard!) print shirt, also from NY&Co. 

How cute is the shoulder detail on the Gap shirt?

Do these three shirts make up for a whole wardrobe of monotony?  Maybe not, but it's a start.