Pinterest Challenge: Mini Chicken Pot Pies

Since I can't stand most of the foods my husband likes (casserole, anything with gravy, steak and potato kind of dishes) I make an effort to regularly make one of his few favorites that I don't mind: pot pie.

For the last two years, I've been making a large batch pot pie that's a little more like chicken soup and biscuits than a pie.

A 9 x 13 full of it. It doesn't take long to make once the chicken is baked, but it's not something I have the time or energy to make on a normal week night.

So when I spotted a Pin for Mini Chicken Pot Pies, I knew it was something we'd have to test drive.

After a false start or two - involving biscuit dough on the ceiling, and floor, and both of us - and a trip to town to pick up some new biscuit rolls, we finally got down to the serious business of making and eating these.

Much handier size, wouldn't you say? And much faster.

I hadn't thought to use Herbs De Provence in pot pie before - but I will be doing it again no matter which version I'm making. It was a delicious improvement over the garlic/Ranch powder I've been using.

I didn't think I was overfilling my biscuits, but several of them overflowed onto the muffin pan, which eventually led to the smoke detector going off as extra precious filling wound up on the bottom of the oven.

Smoke detector and messiness aside, these were delicious and easy - and something that I could fit into a weekday schedule. It's also straight forward enough to follow that I'll be adding it to the recipe notebook for my husband.*




*He's the better cook, and more interested in cooking most of the time - but cooking for a picky eater (me) is difficult. As a compromise, I write down recipes that are easy and something I'll eat so that if he's the one with energy to cook, he can pick anything from the notebook and make it. And if he cooks from the notebook, I'm not allowed to complain (even if I'd rather have something else).

Bagging

With several birthdays and the end date for adding to Welcome Baby C Package coming up in the next two months, I've spent my nights stitching up bags as quickly as I can. 

This huge, lined elephant print bag is headed to Baby C. I made it intentionally large with the hope that it'll temporarily hold the two hooded towels. After that? Well, it's a little large for carrying around - except as a pool/beach type bag - so I don't know that it will get a lot of use. If I were planning to keep it, I'd probably use it as a laundry bag for socks and such - or cut it down a bit to use as a farmer's market bag.

Most of the small bags started as a reason to use some pre-cut fabrics I had in my stash - remains of fat quarter bundles and some abandoned projects I picked up on craigslist and garage sales. The two larger bags, in animal print and giraffe print, are also headed to Baby C. The exteriors coordinate with the Wonky Stacked Coin quilt (which I'll be revealing in full soon). I'm crossing my fingers the bags and quilt will at least semi-coordinate with Baby C's nursery - green and brown from what I've been told.

A few of the larger pre-cuts from my stash were turned into something a little more than drawstring bags with the addition of some handles.

The blue/brown bag started as a squat drawstring bag, with the addition of a single long handle. It's a little too wide for me to comfortably carry. With no interior pockets, it's more likely to become a library bag, shopping bag, or a snack bag for road trips than a purse. I had intended it to function as a gift bag as well - and it might yet - but first I'm giving it some gentle use to see what it's capable of and if it'll work as I want it to for giving away.

Immediately after finishing my fight with the brown/blue bag, I started on this pink/green. Did I need another bag? No. But I had the precut fabric to use, and I was determined to correct some of the issues I'd had in the blue/brown one. 

With two handles instead of one, and some interior pockets, this one happily functions a great deal more like my favorite purses. Again, this one is receiving some gentle use while I make up my mind if it's worthy of being given to someone or if it's only another draft to be kept while I keep fighting bobbin tension and pattern making to come up with something more worthy.

Weeds and Tension

I think my May Flowers are turning into weeds...

And not just because I've spent more time pulling wobbly stitches out of April Shower/May Flowers than actually quilting it either.

Though that's true.

I'm fighting with the tension on my new sewing machine. I suspect the bobbin isn't winding properly, though it doesn't look off until I look at the back side of my stitches. But I'm growing more and more familiar with my thread picker/cutter tools.

Other Weeds:
I'm tired of the hospital. It's a nice enough place, and the people are nice too, but I'd rather not spend any more time there for a while. Which is a round-about way of saying I'm really wishing someone in my family was not having more health scares.

We had another chance to get together with Baby C's parents last night. We wound up sitting outside a Starbucks until nearly midnight, just chatting away. Among much talk of Avengers and other comic books/movies, we did talk a little bit about things for Baby C. At one point, Mom-to-Be said something about a cute, lime green dress with a ruffle on the front that she picked up at Carter's. Any chance it's this dress?

How many lime green, ruffle front dresses from Carter's can there be? I'll check with her to see how coordinated we were. I'm crossing my fingers it'll at least be a different size so they can still use it. Or maybe crossing my fingers it isn't so I can add it to my (very small) pile of just-in-case things.

At least I can feel a bit more confident about knowing her taste! 

Dressed Up Hooded Towel

Since I had half a hand towel left after finishing my first Hooded Towel, I took a few minutes last night to whip up a second hooded towel. 

I followed the same directions from Obsessively Stitching, but this time I took the time to trim off the towel's finished edge. A fat quarter left over from my April Showers/May Flowers quilt - which matched nearly perfectly - turned into a little bit of trim for the hood and edges.  

It took a bit of time to make the trim, and a lot of pinning to keep the towel and cotton moving together through the sewing machine - but I think it was so worth it. 

An added bonus? Without the bulk of the towel's normal finished edge, the hood was significantly easier to sew down. 

I love it. And I can't wait to give it to someone who can wear it. 

Welcome Baby C Update

I don't think I mentioned this yet... Baby C is a girl! 

After a nephew and a godson, I'm excited to have a reason to look at the 'girl' things!*

This little pink, green, and orange plush elephant has been keeping me company for the last few days.

This shot makes her look purple. The other is truer to color.

I'd better hurry up and make a bag to keep the plush as protected as possible from Momo's attentions so I can stop my growing attachment to her or I'm going to have a harder time giving her up! (Oh, is it that obvious I was one of those kids with too many stuffed animals?)

Although Baby C isn't due to arrive until late summer, it's my goal to have the package finished and delivered by July, so I'm trying to spend a couple hours a week working on wrapping up projects for her Welcome package.

I'm also hoping if I keep myself busy finishing projects I'll avoid more shopping. There are so many options available right now that remind me of MomC's tastes - which makes it easy to pick things I think she'll like, but it's easy to pick too many things. And I continually have to remind myself that Baby C isn't going to be here until nearer fall - so that super cute tank top romper only available in 6 month size probably isn't the best choice.










*I get annoyed at how divided shopping for kids can be. Some days it feels like half the store is pink/purple and half the store is blue/orange. While I plan to dress futurekid somewhat from both sides of the store (so to speak) until futurekid is able to choose, I try to be more traditional when shopping for other people. So I've been avoiding the pink until getting the official word - and now, while I haven't done any pink except the elephant plush, I'm a little worried I've gone overboard...  

Procrastination

I procrastinate. A lot. Usually the process goes something like this:

1. I should really do X project today 
2. Oh, no! I can't. I'm in the middle of Y project which I started in order to avoid X project 
3. And now the to do list is one project longer. 

That is more or less the story of my newest quilt project. 

Procrastinating machine quilting April Showers/May Flowers led to me making a list of Dream Quilts - quilts that I want to make someday or use as inspiration someday. 

Making the list led to me staring at an unused jelly roll (a small one I got on clearance) and thinking about one of those Dream Quilts. 

Staring led to cutting. Cutting to sewing. And minutes later I had 79 (very simple) blocks.

I have an idea where I'm headed with these - but 79 is an odd number to be working with. 

I've narrowed my solutions down to two options: 

1. Make a rectangular top out of 72 squares and use the remaining 7 in the back
2. Make 2 additional squares in coordinating fabric/s and make an approximately square top (9 blocks by 9 blocks) 

So, if I still want to put off that quilting, I think I'll clear off the bed and play around with these two options. And dig through my stash for options that coordinate. 

It's practically procrastination-proof - playing with fabric is more fun than just about anything else on the to do list! 

Hooded Towel

This hooded towel for Baby C was the last project I finished in April, but it's taken me a while to get any photos of it. Well, that's not quite true, but not only does Momo make a poor model, my bathroom is not really the idea location for photos (despite me taking so many there).

I'd initially planned to make the traditional hooded towel my mother makes (and that I wore as a kid), but by the time I started she was not awake enough to walk me through the project. A little time digging through my bookmarks brought me to this tutorial from Obsessively Stitching.

I love how clear the directions are - and the pictures very helpful. Mine was sewn together in about 30 minutes. The hardest part was trying to sew over the finished edges of the hand towel. I found the easiest thing to do at these fatter ends was to hand power my machine. When I make another one (what else would I do with a half hand towel?) I will cut off the finished end of the hand towel/hood and finish it with a 'binding' of fancier fabric like in the Spiced-Up version. Too cute? Yes, I think so too.

Alright, so it's a little small for me, but with no convenient access to any one under the age of twenty four, I did the best I could. I am tempted to try for an adult version, maybe with a bath sheet. It could be handy for walking home from the hot tub at night. Hmm...

Yea or Nay?

Is it just me, or is this fabric a little creepy? 

The colors are alright, the print seems fun enough, but I find something about it a little disturbing.

I could tell you what exactly bothers me, but I don't want to influence your opinion more than I already have.

So, creepy? Usable? Neither? Both?

What do you think?

New Sewing Machine

Well, new to me. 

My parents took me Craigslisting a couple weeks ago and wound up getting me this birthdayChristmasEasterThanksgivingWhatever present. A Kenmore sewing machine. With 150 built in stitches ranging from letters and numbers to repeating patterns, animals, and several hemming/edging stitches I can't wait to play with.

The learning curve has been steep. Threading the needle requires four additional steps compared to my other machine, and I've got to adjust to a drop in bobbin. There are a lot of moments when I'm quite certain this new machine is smarter than I am. But. I'm working with it, nearly every night, and I think I'm going to like it.

I was most excited when I learned that I could drop the feed dogs on this machine (I can't on my Singer). Unfortunately, attempting to figure out how to sew without them has been my biggest struggle yet. But I'm determined to figure it out. Even if I have to dig out my VHS player and open the (never watched) VHS that originally came with the machine!

Unfortunately, the machine came with this little sewing desk. Which is too small for me. Both for me to use, and for me to sit at. I think my knees wind up somewhere inside that little drawer unless I'm careful. So, anyone want a sewing machine cabinet?

Pinterest Challenge: Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

I can't tell you how excited I am to finally be trying The Girl Who Ate Everything's Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches. I feel like it's been on my board begging to be made for too long - and today's the day!

Alright, so I'm not quite following the recipe. I don't have 3-4 quart slow cooker. I had one before our move out of college housing, but I have no idea what happened to it in the years since then. So, this is No-Slow-Cooker chicken Caesar sandwiches. A real shame too, as my house is already too warm to be comfortable.



One benefit of baking the chicken instead of using the slow cooker did mean that the chicken was ready to shred in time for lunch.

Add an onion poppy seed bun (yum) and a few store bought lemon Parmesan waffle fries:

And enjoy.

It was delicious. Like, maybe I won't have to go to Panera quite so often delicious.

My husband thought that the chicken salad ought to be served chilled - but after eating it, he admitted it was pretty good warm. I think we'll try the left overs chilled. Probably tomorrow. For breakfast. Because this is delicious.

If I ever have a reason to double the recipe, or if I ever get access to a smaller slow cooker, I'd love to try this minus the oven. Maybe at the family reunion this fall.

Edited to Add: 
Now that I've had this cold - in buns and wraps - I thought I'd mention it's pretty good cold. My husband preferred it cold, I liked it a little better hot. Ultimately, the temperature didn't make much difference - delicious either way. I found I was adding more dressing when eating it cold, but I may have 'under dressed' it a bit when making it. We finished this batch in three days, and I'm going to make some more tomorrow. 

May Goals

• Read 5+ books
• Pinterest Challenge
• Anniversary Card (3)
• Sympathy Card (1)
• Graduation Cards (2)
• Put in 3+ hours on our 2006-2010 photo book
• Clutter Control: office
• Fix white car and list it for sale
• Costume delivery 
• Progress on Welcome Baby C package 
• snaps for the bibs
• shop for books from list
• Shelf over loveseat
• Make an item of clothing (probably finish the skirt I started)
• Cut Pansy Patch pieces
• Post-graduation trip?
• Take donations to Goodwill
• Do something social with friends
• Finish April Showers/May Flowers Disappearing 9 Patch
• Fix or replace computer mouse

I'm planning to take this month easy. If I find the energy to do more, I will, but I will be spending most of my free time on projects I don't want to do - namely helping two dear friends pack to move to another state. 

Full disclosure? I've already deleted an item because I've already blown it! I was planning to get to bed before 11 every night in May. It's only the third of May and I've been up quilting until 1 or 2 every night this month. I know I need to be getting more sleep - or better sleep - but by night I'm too awake to sleep. It's a problem when my awake/creative time tends to be between about 6 pm and 6 am, but work tends to require being awake from about 6 am until 5 pm. Truthfully, I'm not sure I'll ever meet this kind of a goal because I'm afraid it will mean cutting out all the time for the 'me' things. Someday I'd like to have a better schedule (for both work and creative times) that allows me to work, be creative, and still get some sleep. 

April Wrap Up

April is over? Whoops.

• Read 5+ books
• "Huge" Sasha Paley
• "The Agency: The Body at the Tower" Y.S. Lee
• "Unnatural Issue" Mercedes Lackey
• "How They Met, and Other Stories" David Levithan
• "My Heart Stood Still" Lynn Kurland
• "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" Ransom Riggs
• "A Dance Through Time" Lynn Kurland
• "Life on Mars: Tales from the New Frontier" edited by Jonathan Strahan
• "A Practical Wedding" Meg Keene
• Pinterest Challenge: Parmesan Chicken Crescents  
• Delete 5 Google Reader subscriptions - Yes! I think final numbers were 38 deleted, 5 added. 
• Paper towel free month 
• Photo a day challenge - I didn't manage to complete this. 
• Clutter control: office - Not even close. 
• List White car for sale - Found another issue we need to fix first
• Welcome Baby C Package
• start on winter weight quilt? - Maybe. I thought I'd use my April Showers/May Flowers disappearing nine patch, but I might be too attached to it to give it away. 
• fasteners for the bibs - I have all the pieces, but actually doing it hasn't been a priority. 
• burp cloths/cloth wipes
• hooded towel - YES! I managed to finish this in the last few minutes of April. 
• pick books - I have a list of books I'm looking for (or will order from Amazon). Okay, so the list is longer than I'll actually use - I'll probably have to edit it down to only three or four. 
• DIY swiffer style floor wipe - Nope
• Make a Crayon roll - No
• Hang Thread Shelf 
• Shelf or mantle over love seat - I shopped for it. Does that count? No? 
• Sew an article of clothing - I cut the fabric, but that was as far as I got. 
• Cut Pansy Patch pieces - This didn't happen either. 
• Trip - After rescheduling twice in 24 hours, this is postponed until sometime in May. Unless May goes the same way April did. In which case I'm going to scream. 
• Take donations to Goodwill - Nope. 
• Go for a bike ride once a week - Wow, I didn't even remember this was something I wanted to do. Not that I'd have managed it this month anyway... I was either too sick or too busy working. 
• Save $50 toward summer trips - Hey! I actually managed to do this. Maybe that'll make May and June a little easier than April was. I hope so anyway. 
• Try a new restaurant - Whoops, this was another goal I forgot about, but we actually wound up trying a couple new places since work took us to some new places this month. 

I think I read more than anything. What can I say, when things get difficult I escape into books.

Some of the blame goes to being sick for a week. Some of it goes to stress. I spent too much of this month working, or sleeping, and really accomplished very little else. I'm working on being alive again, but of course two plus weeks of doing very little means that's quite a mountain to climb.