A Super Big Thanks To My Soldier. Major L.

I'm dedicating this post to my very first soldier I adopted. I found the "Tell Them Thanks" website (TellThemThanks.com) and signed up to adopt a soldier. The requirements were to send alittle something each month .. just a small token to say thank you for what they are doing for all of us and our country.

I do not come from a military family so this was a bit new for me. My dad was in WWII and had a military burial, but I never really lived the "military" style life. I wasn't sure what to expect.

I tried to send alittle something each month .. and with a few family emergencies, I think I missed a month or two. I got to thinking about how much these young men sacrifice and "they never miss .. not even a day" so I wanted to do something extra special for Major Little.

After my second small package to him, he emailed me some pictures of himself and some of the other guys with him. I don't know the lingo .. platoon, squad .. whatever they are called. I just felt the guys were his family away from home. I really enjoyed his email. He told me about himself and where he's been and what he's done, where he's from (Montana .. I'd love to go there) and he wants to setting in Texas when he's done. How cool is that! Texas is an awesome place!

I'm always working on a quilt and always searching for fabric. Anyone who sews knows buying fabric is a never ending joy and you are always on the hunt for something special. I had found some military fabric months ago. I bought it never knowing if I would need it. Voila .. I did! So, in going through my stash, I found coordinating pieces .. enough to make him a quilt.

The quilt is pieced by hand, but I did quilt it on my machine. I guess this was my small contribution to my country. I thought of how safe and warm I was while I was working on this. And how our guys and gals feel who are over in another country fight for us .... Never really knowing what they will encounter each day. With every stitch I made, I was thankful to have them there to protect us and keep us all safe.

So, Thank You Again, Major L. No words can ever express our gratitude to you.

Comfort Food for a Cold Rainy Day

The weather here in Texas lately has been cold and rainy. Emphasis on the "rainy". My front yard looks like a lake!

This past weekend was a "stay in" weekend for me. I've been putting in such long hours at work each week and have been away from my house so I decided to take stay tucked inside all weekend. It was so relaxing to cook, bake (wear my aprons of course), clean my house and finally end the day's by doing some sewing. What a super relaxing weekend I had.
Yesterday hubby was gone most of the day so I had the house to myself. I wanted to try something different for a meal so I pulled out one of my deep big cast iron skillets and decided to make a homemade chicken pot pie (my first). Needless to say .. it was so yummy! I added a batch of cheesy garlic biscuits and homemade cherry yum-yum for dessert!

When I pulled the pot pie from the oven I was so delighted to see how pretty it turned out. But the best part of all .. it was scrumptious!

Here's the recipe for those needing some comfort food too!

2 large chicken breasts
2 large potatoes cut in bite size cubes
1/2 cup of carrots (bite size pieces)
1/2 cup of celery (chopped)
1/4 cup of onion (chopped)
1/4 cup of corn (I added this because I had some left over from the nite before)
2 pie crusts (I used the already prepared ones!) -- Room Temp
1 egg (beaten)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup of the broth from boiling the chicken
2 tsp butter
Salt and pepper

Boil the chicken breasts. After done, remove the skin and chicken from the bone in bite size pieces. I toss the skin and bones but saved the broth!
In a separate pot, boil the potatoes but not until mushy! In another pot saute the carrots, celery, onion and corn in the butter. Cook until tender but not mushy!
Remove potatoes and rinse. Set aside.
In a large pot, mix the can of cream of chicken soup with 1 cup of the chicken broth and cook until blended and warm. Add the potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, and chicken. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Stir gently. I'm very careful when stirring. I don't want my veggies to be mushy.
In a large cast iron skillet, place one of the crusts on the bottom. I roll out my crusts just a bit before putting it in the skillet. I don't like the thickness they are when you remove them from the wrapper. I like my crusts a bit more flakey. The crust will be large enough to cover up the sides of the skillet. Take a fork and place a few small holes in the bottom.
Pour the chicken/veggie mixture in the skillet. Top with another crust (rolled out just a bit like the first one). Crimp the edges like you would a pie to seal it. Be sure and made a few small slits in the top.
Place in a 350 degree (pre-heated) oven and cook for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, remove from oven and brush with one egg beaten. This will give the top a beautiful brown color.
Place back in oven and cook for another 10-15 minutes.
Enjoy!

Note: I don't like to waste .. so, I used the remaining broth to cook some rice. After I used the beaten egg to brush the top of the pie, I cooked what was left and added it to the rice mixture for our doggies. They loved it!