Chicken Pot Pie

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 31 August, 2013 No comment

Today we were headed out to the ocean while we encountered an accident that held us up for roughly 20 minutes. A little farther along we hit stopped traffic headed to Cannon Beach. We immediately made the decision to turn towards Tillamook as if we kept going than our options wouldn’t be there. We simply wanted a day to take our son to play in the sand for his first time. It’s Labor Day weekend and since most people leave for the weekend we thought Saturday we would be safe for traveling. Our beach trip turned into an adventure exploring new places we have never been before. We went to the Cheese Factory which was really fun for us as I learned that “Viola” actually is pronounced “why-la” as I was reading about the process of cheese I made a verbal assumption of pronouncing “viola” as it looks. My husband corrected me and then hysterically started laughing which in turn made me cry of laughter. We got quite the kick out of this as there were crowds of people to oversee this scenario.

I guess it is true you learn something new every day. Although this one was pretty funny as I was reading the words my head wanted to read “why-la” as it would flow with the sentence, although my brain corrected itself and read the word as it sounded which completely confused me even more. A quick moment of transition in my head made a great laugh for the day.

After the Cheese Factory we headed towards a couple beaches that were packed and the temperature dropped 10 degrees. We decided we would keep driving until we found a beach Cooper could actually play on. We ended up at Rockaway Beach which actually was very large and spacious. Lots of puppies running around, picnics to be had, and little ones building sand castles; this was the perfect stop. Cooper had lots of wiggles to get out as he had been in the car far too long. We parked the stroller up against a log and laid a blanket out for some lunch. He was so overjoyed with all his new surroundings that he possibly couldn’t find the time to eat a couple bites. Daddy ran in the ocean with him, chased a few waves, built sand castles and made a puddle that he decided was the perfect spot to sit. He LOVED the beach.

His diaper was soaked, heavy and filled with sand. He had sand everywhere including his little eyes, we ended the day with him crying from the sand in his eyes as we tried to change him into jammies (pj’s) for the ride home. We knew he was good and worn out and would sleep really well. It was such a joy to take our son to the beach and watch him see all new things and expand the little brain of his. Precious, priceless and wishing I could bottle up these moments.

We got home about 7pm and little man desperately needed a bath, food, and bed. We accomplished this while I scrambled to throw dinner on for Michael and I. While Michael bathed him I decided to make a quick chicken pot pie with leftover rotisserie chicken that needed to be used.

Oh my goodness, this was absolutely amazing!!! Definitely a great crust and fillings with magnificent flavors.

Crust: (similar to my Egg Tart recipe)

  • 2 ½ cups flour
  • 1 cup cold butter
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 3-4 tbsp water

Filling:

  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 1 cup frozen carrots
  • 1 large onion diced
  • 1 cup Rotisserie Chicken
  • 1 cup Edamame Beans
  • 1 TBSP Chicken Better Than Bouillon
  • 4 TBSP Flour
  • 1-2 cups Milk, depending on how thick your mixture is

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May add additional broccoli and cauliflower as well or anything else you want

4 TBSP flour for thickening agent

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Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Blend together in a food processor the flour and butter until crumbly, add sugar and water. Dough will be sticky. Roll out on floured surface and knead in additional flour until able to roll without sticking to rolling pin. Divide in half and roll out big enough for a pie plate. Place in greased pie plate and roll remainder out. Meanwhile in a large saucepan add all vegetables and heat through. Once thawed add in diced cooked chicken. Heat through.

Add in chicken broth, milk and flour starting with 4 TBSP, if it’s not thick enough add a little more a little at a time. Let thicken on low heat for five minutes. Dump mixture into pie plate and top with pie top. Place in oven and bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden brown crust.

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Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

*Could also be made vegetarian.

You could make this and freeze while pie crust is uncooked. When ready to serve, take out of freezer and bake at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until the middle is bubbly and crust is golden brown.

Nothing is Wasted

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 26 August, 2013 No comment

Nothing Is Wasted


This song was sent to me by my mom this afternoon while I was sharing how I am really struggling with the current circumstances in life right now. We are having sewer problems in our new house, my battery light in my car came on today while we are trying to sell it, my husband’s current circumstances, and being new parents and newly married still interfere with our everyday lives. It’s a very tough spot to be in when there is nothing, absolutely nothing you can do to change it. Literally in the midst of the fire being refined; rather than sitting back and letting life pass me by and letting it “be wasted.”

This song was all I needed to be reminded that life is not wasted as long as we seek Jesus and his best interest for our lives. Truly gaining a perspective of who this “God” is that I claim to believe in. Life truly is not worth living if I didn’t know Jesus; it’s honestly too difficult for me at times to keep moving ahead. It’s the little things God blesses me with during the day, that reminds me that there is more to this life and more than my piddley concerns at the moment. The challenge is keeping this perspective while trucking through each day, hour, and minute.

I really struggle watching my husband completely and utterly unhappy with his career. It’s a challenge to sit back and watch him go through the depths of despair and not being able to change anything. That is simply where trust comes in. I have to believe that there is something for us as a family to learn while going through this. Life is not easy and was never promised to be easy. My only words of encouragement to my husband unfortunately are, “do what you can, to keep the best attitude as possible.” This is my only hope. We can only change our attitude because circumstances crumble around us all day, everyday.

My deepest desire is that my husband would know the depths of my love for him. I hurt and cry for him a lot recently. I wish I could change his circumstances, perspective and happiness. I can’t! I feel completely helpless and all I do is cry for him and recently have experienced physical pain watching him truck through the muck. We each have our own journey to live out; we have the opportunity to make it the best we can or we can choose to make it miserable for ourselves. I see him choosing roads I can’t believe he would choose because it only makes the path longer and more bumpy. Unfortunately we all have to battle through our own junk and learn on our own; we’ve all been there and sometimes we are always still there. I can advise all I want, but ultimately he has to see it clearly to make the decisions that are going to change for the good; I can’t do it for him. Many days throughout my life he will stand by my side and say/feel the same way as I travel that bumpy road. Even watching him, is a learning experience for me as well. Nothing goes wasted as a husband and wife travel the road of life together. We experience moments of ease, but they are quickly eclipsed by the reality of this harsh world. Everyone lives here; at some point of pain.

I guess this is all part of being married, you experience complete happiness, adventure and glorious monuments together, but at the same time you experience the deep pain, heartache and trials as well. Knowing I can only sit back and watch from the sidelines is never an easy task but a faithful task. I will stand by him through the mire and muck while he takes his journey as a 34 year old individual, husband and father. Just as I will travel my journey as a 27 year old individual, wife and mother; trusting the Lord will see us through.

Nothing is wasted! I long to live through these trials with that attitude!

Moment of Truth:

Jesus says to ask and believe with faith and we will receive. We don’t have to put in all the “what ifs” and “buts” into this truth. God will be true to His Word and I will believe in a “freedom” day for our family. The Bible says we have not because we ask not, and I think we often don’t get what we ask because we don’t truly believe. I will choose to believe today even when my heart doesn’t feel it. James chapter 1 in the bible says we must believe and not doubt, I will trust and hang on to those words and believe nothing is wasted.

Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 18 August, 2013 No comment

We didn’t have much in our cupboards the last few days except a plethora of hot dogs. I love hot dogs but simply wasn’t in the mood for a baseball meal. I decided since we had hot dogs and bacon I would combine the two. This meal was actually a huge hit and was super easy. My husband ate two dogs and wanted a third one, but I convinced him he couldn’t eat it because I needed it for his lunch the next day. :)

 

The bad part to this evening was that my son was eating dinner with us and although he had a rough day due to teething he hadn’t eaten much. I was trying anything and everything to get some nutrition into his little body. My husband decided to give him a bite of hot dog; I’ve heard they are choking hazards but he is 14 months old and has a couple teeth. Well, this was a terrible decision. My little man somehow inhaled his bite and it was sitting right on his windpipe that he freaked out. He could let a little cry out every couple of seconds but his face was terrified, the cry sounded as something was not right. My mother instincts decided to quickly pull him out of his highchair even though a little whimper was still able to squeak out. All of a sudden his squeak turned to silence and his face turned beat red and was drooling pretty heavily at this point. I had him tummy down over my arm and was patting his back. Granted, I don’t know how hard I was hitting his little back due to the panic I was experiencing. All of a sudden my husband said “there we go” and the chunk of hot dog flew to the floor. This chunk of hot dog was somehow large and roughly an inch all around. I’m not sure how he got that much and how it quickly got lodged into his little throat but it was SCARY.

 

Needless to say, my fear was through the roof and my silence overtook. I embraced him the rest of the night before bed and poor little man was thrown off the rest of the night. Poor baby. I hate choking and yet we’ve had a few scares the last 14 months. He hasn’t mastered the task of chewy quite yet, but he will in due time.

 

Note to self: Don’t feed your little baby hot dogs!

 

Ingredients:

  • Hot dogs
  • Turkey Bacon
  • Buns (I used buns from the bakery)
  • ½ large red pepper
  • ½ large orange pepper
  • ½ large yellow Pepper
  • ½ onion
  • 2 large mushrooms chopped

I wrapped the hot dogs with bacon and placed them on a cookie sheet and set aside. Meanwhile, I sautéed peppers, onion and mushrooms with a little EVOO and a pinch of salt and pepper.

 

Broil hot dogs on high or 550 degrees until bacon is crisp, roughly 10 minutes depending on your oven. Slice bun open and lightly spread mayo on the bun and cover the hot dog with pepper mixture. Very simple yet so delicious. Serve with salad or potato chips.

Laundry Detergent

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 4 August, 2013 1 comment

I do laundry a few times a week considering my husband works out most days of the week and I have a little boy who manages to get every outfit filthy. The amounts below will last between 9-12 months; definitely a huge money saver and all natural ingredients. I still use fabric softener because I love the smell of fresh clothes and let’s face it; the detergent itself is very natural that you can feel good about buying fabric softener throughout the year because you don’t have to buy detergent. I made my first batch when Cooper was first born. I remember sitting on the floor in the family room grating the soap while he slept peacefully in his swing. I ran out in June right before we moved. This was 11 months off one batch.

 

I have an HE washer and did research to make sure this was safe on the washer. It is absolutely safe. The biggest reason for HE is with front loaders most detergents get too sudsy and can ruin the pipes. This detergent is all natural and does not get sudsy. There is a liquid detergent you can make as well, but to be honest this one is cheaper and preserves well. I haven’t tried the liquid one yet…maybe next year when I run out. Will keep you posted if I do.

 

Laundry Detergent:

 

  • 1 4lb Box of Borax
  • 1 4lb Box Arm and Hammer Baking Soda
  • Box of Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda
  • 3 Bars Fels-Naptha Soap (found near the ingredients above in detergent isle)
  • 2 small containers Oxy Clean (roughly 3.5lbs total)
  • 1 Large Glass container with Lid*

 

Mix all ingredients in a large bucket or paper bag to help mix well. Shred the Fels-Naptha bars with a cheese grater or food processor and mix with remaining ingredients. Use 1-2 TBSP per load.

 

*This detergent is very mild yet cleans very well. Do not place in a plastic container. I made this mistake and had to throw it out because it became one solid brick.

Do we see God?

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 30 July, 2013 No comment

“Fear has so captivated our minds we don’t even recognize it anymore. It’s just how we think. We live paralyzed, afraid to stand out yet also afraid of being invisible, afraid of something terrible happening yet also afraid something good will never happen. We live afraid of people and we think all of these thoughts are normal. We don’t live seeing God, we live seeing worst-case scenarios.” (Jennie Allen, Chase)

I am involved with a bible study at our church on Tuesday mornings. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all the studies I’ve been through thus far. But…this one in particular is not on any focus except MY heart towards God. We are only in it two weeks now, and I’ve already felt compelled to change my heart and attitude on so many levels.

Believing God is real is a great attribute, but believing comes from the heart. Are we living as though we believe what we say, are our actions speaking our truths, are our lives following in harmony with our words? These are hard questions for each of us to ask ourselves. Whether you believe in God or not, contemplate those questions and see if your life is showing a path that is aligned with your heart. We can talk the talk all we want, but when life gets out right difficult, is our talk following our walk? If we believe God is real and that he is with each and every one of us; wouldn’t we live differently? Do we confess an intellectual belief in God or is He real enough to impact our circumstances?

Fear is not something little. Fear is something that impacts us at our core if we will choose to recognize it. Every one of us struggles with fear on some level. Fear of abandonment, fear of finances, wealth, fear of being noticed or unnoticed, fear of accomplishments, fear of not being good enough, fear of fitting in, fear of losing, fear from past circumstances, and fear of failure. This could go on and on. Every one of us has a level of fear within us that may be recognized or may not be, but should be dealt with. This fear can be captivating taking away your life, or it could be less harmful and be the deciding factor for steps you take during the day, week, month and year. You will only get as far as your fear allows you. Fear is hindering us from the things we are meant to accomplish.

We need courage to stand firm in what we know to be true. But fear is so paralyzing that it becomes a massive hurdle to jump over. Our greatest fears and failures tend to be our greatest strengths if we allow them to be. Sometimes we can make God out to be too perplexing. The basis of facing our giants needs to stem from acting in correlation with who God says he is, not who we say God is. This is a big difference. Each day has a task set before us; God has a plan with us each and every single day. Do we realize this, not really? To be honest I do not approach each day in the manner that God would probably wish I would. Most the time, I probably approach the day how I wish to approach it rather than stop and see what God has in store for me. What if we took a minute to just stop for 30 seconds even, and ask God to direct our steps today? God’s plan is so much greater than our plan and often looks very different than how we envisioned. But His plan is so much better and often goes beyond what we imagine, only to make us stop and be thankful.

Do we live protectively over our lives and fear what we may lose. The reality is we could lose everything no matter how hard you protect your things. God ultimately has the power to take things away to put our perspective back on him, or to teach us during the hard times so that we don’t put our possessions above God himself. “Fear is rooted in unbelief, and unbelief is sin.” (Jennie Allen, Chase Study, pg 49) Courage is fundamentally the fight for faith. Going back to our hearts desires. You fight for what you believe every day in some manner or another. We see people every day on television fighting to the very core of themselves proving there isn’t a god. The fight against same sex marriages, abortions, women’s rights, and much more. These people fight to the depths of themselves for something that is temporary. This fight won’t carry us to heaven and gives us a purpose that feels worth fighting for. Being seen in the naked eye for something that is too complex is why fear overtakes. God alone will make us brave and brave for the right things, things that will last eternally. We ultimately become a salve to our fear. That’s a scary thought to me, our mind is so powerful and we get so lost by our own fears we do not know which way is up anymore.

In the blink of an eye our lives begin to pass us by. Our lives grow so quickly, our kids we never had but always wanted are leaving for college, our 30th anniversaries are right around the corner, retirement accounts becoming more in the forefront of our minds, helping parents through hospice and the transition of life where they become a helpless babe again. All of these things are a part of life and are hard, sad, tough and yet so exciting. These stages are great to watch the kids grow and become their own little person, fall in love, have their own babies, but the transition of life starts as a helpless babe and unfortunately takes us right back around to being completely and utterly helpless again.

The media lately has been so full of death. Maybe this isn’t something new, but has caught my attention more recently. My heart is so broken for people who lose a loved one, go through a tragic scenario, and live and lose. These people have no hope, constantly searching their whole lives for purpose and meaning. My heart aches for the emptiness, sadness, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, broken marriages and broken families. These are hard things for me. I have an incredible amount of compassion for these heartaches. I’ve realized the hunt for something greater displays a life of emptiness so clearly through our celebrities; overdose and suicide. It brings life back into perspective; what’s our goal every day? Are we fighting to simply make it through the day, or are we blessed with life that no matter our circumstances we want to glorify God, be a light to friends and family and embrace each day as it was our last. We never live as though this is our last day. How many times do you walk out the door, hang up the phone or drop your kids off at school wishing the conversation ended different? I do often unfortunately, and I long to change this. My attitude is my biggest pitfall. I recognize this but need to not only proactively work on it, but need to change my hearts attitude for this to be an effective change.

I heard once, “our hearts display our true beliefs,” we live as though our hearts believe, not as though our minds believe. Did you catch that? Our hearts speak and display our true beliefs, meanwhile our minds tells us what we want to believe and what we ought to believe but our hearts do not follow. They are different. I’m not suggesting this is an easy fix, I’m working on this daily trying to convince myself I understand I have a poor attitude while the next breath I’m reinforcing my bad attitude. It’s not something we can magically change; it’s something that takes the strength of ourselves leaning on our Heavenly Father to help break our hearts in order that we may see things differently. We can try and try all we want, but I am living proof that it takes more than my sinful, selfish self to truly change the nature that we are all inherently selfish beings. If we weren’t, this topic wouldn’t be so challenging. Dear friends, we are all on this journey together. Let’s embrace the reality that in the midst of beauty we are all selfish and need help and accountability from those around us. Lean on the Lord today and see how your perspective changes. Choose to see God.

Longing to grow my “first” garden

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 27 July, 2013 No comment

I’ve been so excited to plant my first garden but at the same time I haven’t been able to embark on this territory. Considering our house just sold and if I had started it, the new neighbors would be receiving the wealth. Not that leaving these goodies behind for the new owners is a bad thing, but having to start all over was not really exciting for me, especially since this would be my first garden.

 

Our new house has an incredible garden area full of weeds; looks like a meadow actually. Some of our friends came over to see the new place and the work we had done, they brought us a bunch of herbs that I was so excited about. Although I wasn’t sure how to care for them and how often they would need a drink, I decided this was the first steps.  To ease myself into it, I left these herbs on my front porch for two weeks keeping it simple; a drink of water once a day. We left town for the 4th of July and when we returned my herbs were definitely struggling to stay alive. I did think ahead and put them in our flower bed to allow the automatic sprinkler to help water while we were gone; even though this wasn’t enough water, I had hoped they were still salvageable.

 

I had a concern of losing the life of my herbs considering I have never had a garden before and I’ve killed many items I’ve been responsible for previously. Getting married to my husband allowed me to start on this adventure. He had about 5 live plants in his house that I took responsibility for; he’d often question if they were getting watered, which was a good reminder that they needed a good, long drink. I started getting in the habit and even though they have had their rough moments in life I’ve managed to grow them quite well.

 

With that being said, I’ve transplanted two of my 6 herbs and they have literally flourished. The other three of the four are actually hanging on to life pretty well, they were hanging by a thread but have managed to start producing well enough that I can transplant them now. The last one unfortunately is gone. Dry sticks are really all that remains. This was my cilantro, I love cilantro, either I’m too lazy to throw it out, or I have some hope still, that in the midst of the desert it may actually still have some life somewhere in that dirt.

 

Tonight was the second time I’ve been able to use my herbs, it was very exciting. The meadows on the other hand will have to wait till next year. There is a lot of work that needs to be done and more dirt will need to be brought in. I’ve realized that the inside of the house is my main focus right now until the sun returns next spring.

 

Pancakes Please

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 24 July, 2013 No comment

Ugh, so frustrated. This morning was our day to get lots of little projects done around the house; new house that is. We literally had many items on our list and many items on Home Depots list as well. We woke up, had coffee, and took off to Home Depot before little man went down for his morning nap. We spent a good $500 on items to get a bedroom fan, kitchen faucet, texture, hinges, blind, and backsplash samples just to name a few. Needless to say, we got home with very hungry bellies. I wanted to make something quick so I could begin my list of projects while Cooper was asleep. I decided to make pancakes as we really love fluffy pancakes and eggs. Simply easy and definitely not fancy.

So, far it all sounds great right? I already had a mix from the store but while I was cooking them decided I should look at the ingredients. Let me tell you, this was so annoying; pancake mix should be a simple 4 ingredient mixture. While of course, anything store bought these days has to have chemicals and at least 10 ingredients; and lo and behold, it did. We ate them….yes we did, although while they were cooking I was adamant to make a pancake mix to have on hand from here on out.

We went camping last weekend with another friend and she brought her homemade pancake mix. I must say it was very good although anything is good while camping. It’s entirely too simple to actually not make our own pancakes, so much so, that I feel crazy for not already having done this. Mark my words, today will be the last day of eating yummy chemicals, I mean, store bought pancakes.

Please, if you are reading this, please make your own mix. It’s too easy not to! Click here for the recipe.

 

Mini Pita Pizzas

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 21 July, 2013 No comment

I made homemade Pita the other day and ended up using them for individual pita pizzas. They were delicious! I made some with pesto sauce and some with red sauce; the pesto was perfect and tasted so much better than the red. Must try this recipe with my homemade-pesto and Pita.

 

Ingredients:

  • 6 individual Pitas
  • 1 8oz package of salami
  • 1 8oz package of pepperoni
  • 1 8oz package of mozzarella cheese
  • Pesto

 

Spread pesto on pita, top with salami, pepperoni, and sprinkle cheese on top to hold on toppings. Place on a cookie sheet and broil for 5 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

 

Serve with fresh chopped salad.

Homemade Pesto

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 19 July, 2013 No comment

Let’s be honest here…. all week long I’ve been overwhelmingly tired with no excuse. Because of this, I haven’t wanted to step foot into the grocery store. I’ve literally taken anything possible from our empty fridge and turned them into gourmet meals. Okay maybe not gourmet but definitely into something delicious.

 

I’ve not really wanted to cook or bake all week either until yesterday I was on this baking, cooking high and accomplished a lot. I made the granola for the week, homemade pancake mix to have on hand, pita bread, coffee cake and gyros for dinner. I was very productive and it felt good.

 

Tonight was another one of those nights, I decided I would utilize the leftover meat from last night’s gyros and pitas and make homemade mini-pita-pizzas. Pesto is always delicious to me on pizza and I have my fresh herbs out back that would work perfect for this.

 

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups fresh Basil (I used sweet, licorice, and blue spice basil)
  • 1 cup fresh Parsley
  • Handful of fresh rosemary
  • 2 TBSP minced garlic
  • ¼ cup EVOO
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • Freshly grated parmesan cheese

 

Puree in a food processor and store in a mason jar or use immediately. Great for dipping, pizza, and pasta.

Pita Pita

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 16 July, 2013 No comment

 

Ingredients

  • 3 c. all-purpose flour, + 1/2 – 3/4 c. as needed
  • 1 1/2 t. salt
  • 1 T. sugar
  • 1 packet instant yeast
  • 1 1/4 c. water, room temperature
  • 2 T. olive oil

Instructions

In the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Attach the bowl to your mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the olive oil to the water, then pour the mixture slowly into the flour mixture with the mixer running on low speed.

Allow the dough hook to knead the mixture on low speed for about 8 minutes. I added the extra flour, 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough began to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Turn off the mixer and dump the dough onto a lightly floured counter. Sprinkle more flour on top of the dough and knead by hand for 2-3 more minutes. I had to add a little more flour at this stage to keep it from sticking to the counter. Do not be afraid to add a little more flour as the dough was very forgiving.

Place the dough ball into a lightly oiled bowl, turning the dough so all sides are covered with the oil. Cover bowl with a towel and allow dough to rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Lightly press down dough in the bowl to release the air, place dough on the counter and using a knife or bench scraper to cut, divide the dough into eight equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball and cover the balls with a clean, damp kitchen towel to let them rest for about 20 minutes, which allows the dough to be shaped more easily.

While dough is resting, preheat oven to 450 degrees and place a pizza stone or inverted sheet pan on the middle rack of the oven, this will the surface you bake your pitas on.

Lightly flour the counter again and working one at a time, lightly flour each dough ball and use a rolling pin to roll each into a 6-inch circle. Place each round of dough on sheet pans lined with parchment paper or silpat baking mats (I was able to fit four rounds on each of my sheet pans) and allow to rise, uncovered for 30-45 minutes, until each is barely doubled in thickness.

Open the oven and place two pitas at a time onto your baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy in 3-5 minutes. Use a spatula to remove and continue the process until all pitas are baked.

Adapted from Annie’s Eats