Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

THe other day I was watching CHef at Home with Mazie. We love to watch cooking shows while we cuddle on the couch. Unfortunately, I was in my coma blanket and fell asleep so I only got part of the show/recipe. I really liked what I saw though and I figured I could improvise fair enough. One whole chicken (for some reason in the Kosher Aisle you can get a cut up chicken in a bag but not in the regular meat section) surely makes a lot of food. I wasn't able to make the bisquit part because I think I remember he used milk so I thought I'd try puff pastry. I've never used puff pastry before and I wasn't really sure exactly how to assemble so I tried a few methods. Below are the pics for you. This is no cooking blog though to be sure. I'll never measure up to Our Best Bites which continues to be my fav. THe food was delicious (don't ask Leo though - he said it was disgusting which is his typical response these days). We had enough for 6 of us for dinner and then I had left overs for lunch today and the 3 of us ate it again tonight. Leo had eggs.

Happy March

I am so excited to say that we survived February. For those of you who don't live in the Great White North, you may not think that this is an amazing feat but believe me, it is. When November rolled around I was so scared about the coming winter. It means staying indoors for long periods of time. Our basement is small and dark and I wasn't looking forward to it. Luckily the winter wasn't too bad in terms of snow but it is still very gray and gloomy most of the time and of course, cold. By February everyone has the blues and we are all very crabby and sick of eachother. ON Sunday morning Drew said he smelled a skunk when he went out to scrape off the ice on the windshield before church. You know what that means?! SPRING! And then on my way to work this morning I saw a little squirrel run across the road. Another sure sign. I am so happy today. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is coming and we survived. I hope I don't have to try to go another winter though. Each one seems to get harder and harder. I've begun to take more Vitamin D as I have been extremely sluggish and I stopped walking because it is just too darn cold and my snow boots were giving me a blister anyway. I might start up again soon. Maybe when it gets above freezing.

Happy March everyone!

The Greatest Invention EVER

Seriously folks....this stuff is amazing. I've been trying for the last 7 years to perfect pancakes without milk. I've tried ever recipe imaginable. Usually I make pancakes for Mazie and I and then I might make a different batch for Leo without milk. THey are never too good - always very heavy. He usually asks for an egg instead. In fact, once he ate my pancakes and literally gagged. SO, when I was walking down the aisle at Highland Farms (A huge grocery store here that is known for being very fresh and a tad upscale) and saw this stuff I had to check it out. It's in a can like whip cream and you spray on your pancakes. The best part? They are milk free! For $5.99 I thought it was a bit pricey and I am not really into processed food too much but I had to try it. They were really good and so easy to make. It made me very happy.

But wait - It's not over. Today I went to Longo's. It's also a grocery store and definately upscale. THey have a new one up the road and I had 2 hours to kill while Mazie was at a birthday party so I mosied around. I heard this man tell his wife to get another basket of strawberries. I usually pass them up because they cost about $4.00 a basket and aren't ever any good. But, I had time to kill and so I passed by and did what I always do - look closely to see where they come from. Usually its Watsonville but no, these babies were from Oxnard. I am not kidding you that I had tears in my eyes. I was both elated to finally find some strawberries from Oxnard and possessive of my berries at the same time. I wanted to take them all. I wanted to shout to everyone that they don't know what they are missing. I was so homesick. I was so surprised by my reaction all over a strawberry. It's been years since I've had Oxnard berries and they just are above and beyond any other in the world. Strawberries in fact used to be my favorite food - with ice cream, with brown sugar and sour cream, with whip cream, with white sugar, alone. However, they moved out of even my list of favorite foods simply because they are never any good when in Toronto. During my way at the check out I was telling the Checker about how the strawberries are from my home town and she didn't seem to care much at all. In honour, I went and bought Cynthias chinese food just so I could have a fantastic take out meal and top it off with berries on bisquits and whip cream. I'm going now to make the bisquits.

Oh LIttle Man of Snow

I was pumping gas today with my bare hands and it was freezing and windy and snow was pelting my ears and I was already irritated because I sat in traffic for an hour and I already tried to get gas at one gas station and it wouldn't take my debit card (LOrd knows its probably now been compromised) and now I was at another one and it was $101.2 per litre which it hasn't been over $1 in a long time so I was mad. OH, and I had no gloves on because last week when I wore gloves I got gas on them and I had to wash them and it was a royal pain. My point is that I was thinking about how if I were in Phoenix and pumping gas I would be scorching hot. In fact, I could even think of myself on - crap, its been so long I can't even remember the name of the street - but anyway it's called QT and its west of Central and south of Camelback - and I was thinking how nice it would be if I were so hot. Is that insane or what?! I am truthfully sad we haven't had any big snow storms this year esp. if it happens to be my last winter here. We are expecting some snow tonight but so far its not impressive. I am staying home tomorrow but was planning on doing that regardless.

Mazie and Leo are doing great. Leo says today was his best day of school ever. They went bowling this morning and in the afternoon they watched Mary Poppins and I made chicken nuggets and smily face fries for dinner. He was happy and so he and Mazie played together so nicely all evening. SHe was trying to get him to be in a play but he was playing along trying to have her pick out characters from his Pokemon cards but really I think he was getting her to play Pokeman and when she finally figured it out she was pretty sad. It was heartbreaking actually because she put togehter all the costumes and had this entire storyline written about a world iwthout violence. It was so peace loving but I think she said in the end they ended up hurting eachother anyway. SHe's a realist what can I say? You should ask her about the afterlife if you get a chance. She's got a wonderful take on eternal life.

Mazie is LOVING daycare and Drew is getting a lot done. He is scheduling his comps some time in May. We can't wait for our vacation in May and I really hope his comps are all done by the time we leave so we can really rest and relax and have a good time without worrying. I am not sure I can wait 2 1/2 more months for a vacation though. Luckily, in just 1 1/2 months Paige will have her baby and that will be so much fun.

I've got more to say but I've got to watch Figure Skating. Good Night.

hot Dogs

Hot dogs are yummy
they're hot and delicious
They're just too good to resist.
I wish I had 1 ton of this dish.
I coud eat them everywhere school to home
yum, yum, yum
and you should like them too.
Oh hot dog the best of them all
Oh hot dog you give me luck and this is the end of my hot dog poem.

- Leo Maxwell age 7

Can't keep Up

I don't want all my posts to be whining and complaining because really who wants that?! HOwever, I feel like I can't keep up some days. With both kids having stomach flu this weekend and Drew and I both not up to par I was glad to be on the mend for a new week and we finally just finished the last dose of antibiotic for Mazie's ear infection. Between cleaning her new ear piercings, taking her medicine, making sure she washes her hands and face and brushes her teeth and hair I just feel exhausted. Then after I got home from an out of town day trip for work Leo proceeded to tell me his throat hurt. Seems as if it is very swollen. What next?! At least none of this is nothing serious. I could use some time to just relax on the couch. Luckily Lost is on tonight. I hope it redeems itself. WOuld love some simpler times of sitting out on the front porch and sipping lemonade as the kids play hopscotch on the driveway.

The Actual Day

As you may know, Mazie has had strep twice this year and most recently an ear infection. That came after her upper respiratory something or other she had which ended up with her on asthma medication due to her severe cough. She came down with the stomach flu on Thursday night after eating dumplings. THat was fun. She puked all night and still doesn't have her appetite back yet. Leo said his tummy hurt this morning but I wasn't sure if he just didn't want to go to church. Nope. He was clearly sick all through SUnday school but luckily waited to get home before puking. We took a bowl with us and as a soon as he stepped foot in the door he blew. I don't feel too hot myself but I still went ahead with little smokies (which really aren't little smokies and aren't as good as the real thing at all) and appetizers for the Dayton race which is really boring since they have been fixing the track for the last hour. I had a great snooze though. I am glad to have off tomorrow. I need a break. we planned on grilling out and playing games iwth the upstairs neighbors. We'll have to see if any of us are still up for it.
I don't ever expect anything for Valentines Day and I don't give anything either (although I did make a card for the family in Sunday school this morning with the pretty doilies) but I am sort of wishing I had some chocolate right now.

Happy Valentine's Day!