Chicken Pot Pie

This is our pot pie recipe that takes two recipes and combines it into one that our family approves of :-)

Crust Ingredients 
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
4 Tbsp butter (cut into chunks for cutting into the flour)
good pinch of salt
2/3 cup milk

Filling Ingredients
onion
carrots
celery
potatoes (cooked a little to soften)
any other veggie you want!
chicken (already cooked - we boil water and cook ours in there and shred it but you can use any kind of chicken you are trying to use up!)
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cut flour
4 Tbsp butter
oil
1/2 cup milk
thyme

Crust Directions

1. Mix flour and baking powder and salt
2. Cut in butter until you have crumbles
3. Mix in milk until you have a nice dough (may need to add extra milk)
4. Roll out and place in baking dish for the bottom and sides
5. Roll out the top and put to the side

Filling Directions

1. Sauté onion, carrot, and celery (and any other veggies that you want!)
2. Set aside with the chicken and potatoes
3. Use the pan to melt the butter
4. Once melted - add the flour
5. Whisk to combine and add broth and milk
6. Add thyme
7. Cook until thickened
8. Pour over chicken and veggies
9. Add to crust and add top crust
10. Poke holes with a fork in the top crust
11. Cook at 400 for 30 minutes

Enjoy :-)

Turkey Tracks

Since I'm still trying to convince the little guy that Halloween has come and gone - we have adjusted our focus to Thanksgiving (the next big holiday!)  So our craft project involved turkeys and animal tracks (one of my little man's favorite topics!)

To start things off - we first made a turkey hat!

 You will need your turkey hat (of course!), paint, paper plates (one for each color), pictures of turkeys (fancy coloring is optional), turkey feet (made from wire hanger in the picture) and a plastic bag for trash (read - this is MESSY!)

 First we hung the turkeys in the trees....

Then we poured the paint into the plates and dipped our turkey foot in it.  We used a wire hanger to make a foot but I would recommend something flatter such as popsicle sticks to make better tracks...

Then we simply made tracks over to each of the turkeys in the trees!  It was a lot of fun...and quickly evolved into making little boy foot tracks too!

It was a lot of fun!

Here's a picture of the little guy - all business in the front - and a turkey in the back!

Enjoy :-)

Painting with the Rain

So my little man has a case of the "three year olds".  His answer to everything is "no" or "I don't want to" or when given choices "I don't like those".  So regardless of the fun I create for him - he is opposed to enjoying it unless if it was his idea first.

We have been slowly working on this - making sure that he has lots of things that he is in control of and helping him develop the choices he is given.  Additionally, he is ofter told "no" too or "in a bit" when I think he can tolerate it so that he develops the ability to handle not getting what he wants :-)

We also have an incredible amount of work to do around the farm.  There are apple trees to care for and flower beds to ready, not to mention the trim work and the mowing and the large number of leaves!  We also have a high energy dog that needs hours of running after sticks to be able to function.  This means that every morning - we need to get outside and that can be hard with a strong willed three year old and cooler temperatures.

In talking with my little man the other day (which is the most amazing thing about a three year old - the fact that you can TALK to them!), we decided that he would like to do more activities.  And we agreed that I could plan these "fun things" and we could do them together in the orchard (where most of my time is spent right now).

So - this is the first of our activities!  Although it didn't go exactly according to plan due to a contractor coming and the rain, it was a success!  So - here is what we did!

We added a little bit of powdered paint to a cup (I let my son pour it in and then I just put some back to adjust the amount).

We then collected rain water (from the trees, from the porch railing and from the sky!)

Once we stirred it around we were ready to paint!  Since we were interrupted by a contractor - we ended up painting inside but originally we had planned on painting in the orchard :-)

We traced our hands and painted these turkeys!

Then we painted our hands to create turkeys:

We had a great time using rain to paint!

Enjoy :-)

My Wildly Awesome Goals - A yurt and the high sierras

At dinner tonight I brought up the idea that on my bucket list - I want to someday camp in a yurt!  And I excitedly followed it up with my deep desire to someday hike to a High Sierra Camp!  So my slightly sarcastic husband asked me if all these ideas were just in my head or if I have them written down somewhere....

....which I thought was a great suggestion!  I have a lot of things that I always say "I want to do that someday" but he's right in that I have not written them down!  So here is a start - my two "bucket list" items that I was chatting about at dinner.

Also - he always says that "bucket list is kinda morbid".  Since I assume my kids will someday read this blog - I will call my list - "Wildly Awesome Goals" or WAGs for short.

WAG 1 The Yurt
Now - it's not just any yurt - it's a yurt in the Sequoias.  There aren't a lot of places that I have said "I HAVE to come back here" but Bryce Canyon (done!), Yosemite (done but so amazing - I need to go back for a third time) and the Sequoias.  There is something SO amazing about those SO amazing trees that just draws you to staring at them and breathing in their age and height and just general HUGENESS.  If you don't know what I mean - then you need to get to the Sequoias too.
Now the Sequoia National Park is quite amazing in that the Sequoia groves are very accessible and the mainstream hikes are comparatively easy.

The yruts are at the Red Meadow Campground.  Website: http://www.recreation.gov/camping/redwood-meadow/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=71608

I think the yurt would be an awesome way to camp in black bear country and feel close to nature without the tent.  Someday - I will do this wildly awesome goal :-)

WAG 2 Hiking to the High Sierra Camps
So I love to hike and I love to camp but I'm not much more than a day hiker or a car camper with three kids!  So the idea of the High Sierra Camps where you do a day hike to get to the camp and then there is a bed waiting for you along with meals!  You can even do the whole loop with a guide.  It's a great way to backpack without the pack.

Here are the details http://www.travelyosemite.com/lodging/high-sierra-camps/

And here are some pictures!

This is the loop of camps

This is a picture of Merced Lake High Sierra Camp

Someday - I will do this Wildly Awesome Goal!

A Harry Potter Birthday Party!

My oldest is a HUGE Harry Potter fan!  She has turned our whole family on to it and now we are all fans of the series.  We listen to the books on CD in the car and we have all caught the bug!  So when her birthday was coming up - I was not surprised when she asked for a Harry Potter themed birthday!

As the guests arrived - we gave them each a handmade "school bag".

The bag was theirs to keep.  The bags are fully lined with a soft batting and completely reversible.






Pattern for the bag came from http://crazylittleprojects.com/2012/09/messenger-bag-tutorial.html  I used a fleece like interfacing as suggested in the tutorial and I made the bags a bit smaller then suggested.  I also did not do the extra stitching on the handle to save time.

Inside the bag was a checklist of all the tasks to complete in Diagon Alley...along with a warning to watch out for Voldemort!

Then we had the sorting ceremony which was definitely a highlight for the kids.  They each took a turn wearing the sorting hat which has a pocket inside for a walkie talkie.  We used a phone so that my father in law could hide upstairs and pretend to be the sorting hat!  It was a blast and the kids just loved how the hat talked to them!  The kids were sorted into only Hufflepuff or Gryffindor but the sorting hat mentioned the other houses.

Then we took a break and had lunch - there was a storm passing over outside so it added to the atmosphere!  We had lasagna and mac and cheese along with salad for lunch.  All the kids ate well and were ready to begin their adventure!

Next we watched a video that my daughter and her cousins made showing how to use the Expelliarmus Curse!  It was funny - adorable - and definitely homemade as the dog walked through and the baby kept chatting during it!  In addition, the girls had a lot of fun making it and falling back onto pillows pretending to be stricken by the curse!  So FUN!

Then we finally headed out the the big barn to enter Diagan Alley!

There were a number of stations for the kids to visit.  The first one of course was HoneyDukes Sweet shop!  The kids filled up their bags with licorice wands and chocolate frogs (chocolate covered bananas).

There was also the Owl Post to visit.  There the kids wrote a letter and left it by an owl on the wall.  I'll send the letters through the muggle post along with thank you notes and a fun picture or two.

There was also the quill shop where we set out a quill and ink along with some homemade parchment (paper soaked in water and tea bags to turn it brown).  

Next was the robe shop where the kids picked up their robe.  They simply found one with a yellow hood for Hufflepuff or one with a red hood for Gryffindor.

The tutorial for the robe came from http://www.instructables.com/id/Sewing-a-JEDI-or-Harry-Potter-Robe-or-Cloak/  This was a great tutorial.  I decided to line the hood and the arm holes could have been bigger.  It's hard to find a free robe tutorial so I was grateful to have this one!

  

The kids also had the book shop to visit.  There they assembled spell books.  This was another project of my daughters.  She picked out 6 spells and looked them up and wrote about them.  Then we printed them out and soaked the paper in tea to get the parchment effect.  

Then of course there was Ollivanders - the wand shop - you have to have a wand if you are a wizard! I picked up some dowels from Micheals.  We put hot glue on them in different patterns and spray painted them black.  When we painted them - we threw on some glitter in green, gold or purple.  

When the kids came to the wand shop - they first picked up a spoon that had a drop of food coloring on it with baking soda on top.  Then they mixed the spoon into a cup with vinegar in it causing the vinegar to bubble up and a color to be revealed!  The color in their cup was the color wand they were to pick up!

Last but not least they settled into the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer and rock cakes.

Butter beer recipe is cream soda from the pioneer woman using the vanilla syrup: http://thepioneerwoman.com/food-and-friends/homemade-cream-sodas/

with a topping using butter flavoring from http://mic.com/articles/95918/the-simple-way-to-make-the-mysterious-butterbeer-from-harry-potter#.5s2lSS9FC

Copied below for convenience:

For the cream layer:

2 cups heavy cream
6 tbsps sugar
2 tsps vanilla extract
1.5 tsps imitation butter flavor

The rock cakes came from http://bakingbites.com/2005/08/cooking-school-better-than-hagrids-rock-cakes/ and they were delicious.  We read the recipe right but still needed to add a lot more milk so - FYI.

Then Voldemort showed up!  He battled each of the kids in turn - "running away" and "swearing to be back" after each kiddo used the Expelliarmus curse to have him drop his wand.  Voldemort was played by my husband who was a very good sport!

When Voldemort seemed to have enough of being poked by wands - we called "CAKE!" and the kids ran back to the house for cake and ice cream followed by games until the parents picked up the kids.  

It was a great party with great kids!

Enjoy :-)

One last picture of an advertisement for the joke shop:

Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers is a child-hood favorite.  My Irish Grandmother would make them and their whole house would smell so amazing.  I do not have her recipe and even if I did - I couldn't replace the feeling of family and grandparents that a memory of stuffed peppers gives me.  So - I have my own take on it!  I make mine in the slow cooker and I use red peppers (they are sweeter than green and that is more appealing to the kids....and well my sweet tooth too!)  Here's my recipe:

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground beef
1 onion
1/4 cup uncooked rice
ketchup
oregano
2 cans stewed tomatoes (check for no high fructose corn syrup; you can actually make these from scratch and I have but I would say that the can is worth the time-savings)
red peppers (this makes enough for 4 peppers)

Clean the peppers - I discard the tops and clean the insides out.

Mix the ground beef, chopped onion, rice, and a fair squirt of ketchup (about 2 Tablespoons if you must measure)

Stuff the peppers

Lay on their side in the crock pot (keeps it from drying out)

mix in a bowl (I use the same bowl as before) the stewed tomatoes, the ketchup (about 3 tablespoons) and oregano (a good shake - about a teaspoon)

Pour this sauce on top and cook.  I have a setting that does 2 hours on high followed by however long you want it on low.  Some slow cookers get hot enough that you can do this on low and some will need to be set on high first.

Enjoy :-)

How to Celebrate Easter when on Vacation (for Google junkies)

I'll admit it - I am a google junkie. I may need to see somebody....but I'll google my symptoms first. I google everything from how to play tennis to how to sew a Hogwarts robe. I also google situations like how much to tip the bellman and how to celebrate Easter when on vacation...yes - that was my google search. 

I didn't receive a lot of ideas so I'm pulling together what I came up with in hopes of helping the next google junkie who wants some ideas for celebrating Easter on vacation...because that google search happens so often <sarcasm>. 

Leave the big stuff and the edible goodies at home. We were fortunate in that I left before my husband and he caught up to us later in our travels. That allowed the hubby to stay behind and leave a full-house egg hunt and baskets for when we return back home but if he had traveled with us - we would have simply put the baskets filled with goodies out once the kids got in the car. 

Pack a little bit of fun too!  We packed plastic eggs (they nest nicely when you take them apart).

And we packed stickers for labeling the eggs.

And we packed some Lego kits for inside of the eggs!
On Easter eve - we put a few pieces from the Lego kit in each of the eggs and labeled the eggs with a sticker so that one type of sticker corresponded with one set of Legos!

Then the "bunny" explained it all in a letter!

And then we hid them and the next morning - success!  The kids had a blast finding and building (their instructions had a sticker on it too)!  And the parents had a good time enjoying their excitement and helping!  Happy Easter!  

Enjoy :-)