Easy Chicken Pie

A few weeks ago at our Old Fashioned Sunday at church, I happened to get some of Mrs. Coleen's chicken pot pie.  It was delicious!  I ate mine and the little bit that Zach left on his plate! 

When I complimented Mrs. Coleen on her delicious chicken pot pie, she quickly corrected me and told me that it wasn't a chicken pot pie, but rather a chicken pie!

Did you know there was a difference?  Apparently chicken pot pies include vegetables while chicken pies have just chicken in the pie.  Whatever you call it . . . it was delicious and just happens to be on my menu for this week's dinner.  Here's my easy version of Chicken Pie.  While Mrs. Coleen made her crust from scratch, I let Pillsbury make mine.

Easy Chicken Pie

3 chicken breasts (I use the bone-in breasts for more flavor)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 or 2 cups chicken broth
1 pkg refrigerated Pillsbury pie crusts (2 crusts in the box)

Cover the chicken breast with water and add salt, onion powder, garlic powder and pepper to the water.  Bring the water to a boil. Let it cook slowly on a low boil for 45 minutes or more until chicken is done.  Set the breast out on a plate to cool.  When cool to touch, pull the meat off the bones and shred the chicken for pie.

Mix the cream of chicken soup and chicken broth together.  I used 2 cups of broth when I made my pie, and it was very runny inside so next time I'm going to just use 1 cup of broth.  

Unroll one pie crust out and place in a deep dish pie plate.  Layer the shredded chicken on the bottom of the pie crust.  Pour the soup and broth mixture over the chicken.  Unroll the second pie crust and place it on top. Press the two pie crusts together around the edges to seal.  Put a couple of slits in the top of the pie crust in the middle.

Bake at 400° for 20 minutes and then put pieces of tin foil on the crust edges to keep it from browning too much. Continue cooking the chicken pie for 20 more minutes until the pie crust on top is brown and the insides are bubbly.  Be careful.  My pie bubbled out into the oven so place a cookie sheet underneath to catch it if your pie should bubble over too. 

Let sit for 10 minutes to allow the juices to thicken.  Serve with English peas.  :)

This Chicken Pie got 5 thumbs up from  . . . 

                              the Ferrell boys and me! 

I'm linking up to these awesome parties:

Easy How-To Clean Your Microwave

With the holidays approaching and extra guests in and out of the house, I thought I would do a little special cleaning of some of the more neglected areas of our house. . . . starting with the microwave.

The microwave is used primarily by the Ferrell boys in heating up their snacks and Kids Cuisine meals.  They seem to eat all the time.  No joke!

One evening while Dave and I were laying in the bed watching a movie . . . a rare treat for us . . . we were startled by a very excited Alex.  It seems that he discovered that Zach almost set the microwave on fire!

Was it tin foil? Something metal?  No . . . not any of the usual microwave fire starting culprits of the microwave.

It was Velveeta mac & cheese.  How?  Apparently Zach was in such a hurry to make this favorite snack that he forgot to put the water in the bowl when he put it in the microwave.  The end result was a burnt black hard mound of elbow macaroni.  It truly looked like a piece of lava rock.  And it truly stunk up our house . . . for days!  I thought we would never get rid of that smell.

It was as I was rescuing the lava rock a/k/a macaroni rock that I noticed the inside of the microwave.  Not only did it stink of burnt food, but it was truly disgusting inside.

So I did a little research on the web and found several different methods for cleaning the microwave.  After reading some of them, this is what I did.  

I mixed 1 cup of water with 2 Tbsp of vinegar and heated it in the microwave for 5 minutes.  After waiting a couple of minutes, I removed the mixture and wiped down the inside of the microwave. All the gross stuff wiped off easily.

But it was really gross stuff. . . really gross, greasy stuff . . . so I sprayed some clorox cleanup inside and wiped it down again.   At this point it was squeaky clean.

Before:  

After:

Clean and shiny . . . but it still smelled terrible.  Heating up the vinegar mixture revived the terrible burnt smell from the macaroni lava rock.  What to do?

I saw on Pinterest where you could heat up 1/2 cup of water with 1 tsp of vanilla extract in the microwave up to the boiling point (I did it for 1 minute) and then leave it in the microwave with the door closed all night.

So I did that and . . . it sure does smell good in my house right now.  :)

Easy Cleaning of the Microwave.   √ Check

Now if I can just keep it clean!  It's not always easy keeping a clean house when living with


                                   the Ferrell boys and me!

I'm linking up to these awesome parties! Come visit me there!

Five on Friday #8

I'm linking up with some other blogs to share

Five on Friday with the Ferrell boys and me!

[ 1 ]     Lane Coleman's birthday party

Lane Coleman was one of Shane's favorite friends from school, but his family moved to another town so we don't get to see him very often.  He had his birthday party here at our school's football field and invited all his good ole friends from Central.  Shane was really excited about seeing him.

It was so much fun seeing all the children in their football uniforms and cheerleader suits.  Shane wore Zach's pants, pads, and jersey to the party.  He was so cute.

He even posed with me for a picture.  :)

[ 2 ]     Frosty Follys

Our local businesses have an annual Christmas Open House event in November and that was the same day as Lane's birthday party.  We only made it to the Farm Supply store.  It was worth the trip just for the cotton candy.

[ 3 ]  Palazzo pants party

My friend Laycee and I went to a Palazzo pants party.  It was surprisingly a lot of fun.  I never would have thought that I would buy a pair of those wild, big-legged pants but here are my pants . . .

The whole reason I went to the party was to buy an Origami necklace/locket because the lady sells those as well as the palazzo pants.  I love my locket.  It has a little boy charm for each of my boys with their birthstone, and I also got a little cross charm.  I will probably wear it every day.  I love it that much.

I'm also planning to have a pants party in December so if you're interested in coming, let me know!

[ 4 ]     Holiday Decorating

I've been having fun crafting and decorating for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I posted pictures of my Thanksgiving banner . . .

and I started on a Christmas craft project, but I haven't shared the finished product with you yet.  Here's a peak at where I am on that project . . . almost finished . . .  what could it be . . .

[ 5 ]     Fireplace

My Daddy started working on my Living Room fireplace.  It's been unfinished since we first moved in the house.

He started working on it Monday afternoon . . .

Got all the tiles laid out and cemented to the front of the fireplace on Tuesday . . .

He started applying the grout on Wednesday . . .

And all it needs now is for me to keep cleaning it until all the grout residue is gone . . .  

Next week, he is going to start building me a Mantel . . .  I am so blessed to have my Daddy.  :)

So there's my Five on Friday!  Hope you've enjoyed this quick look into this very busy past week with . . .

                        the Ferrell boys and me!

Veteran's Day - 2013

Today was Veteran's Day, and I'm married to an Army Veteran.  
I'm very proud of that.  

I wish I had known Dave when he was serving in the Army or when he was flying helicopters in the National Guard.  But I didn't.  I just know the man that he became because of those 14 years of military service.

And I'm very proud to call him my husband . . . and my babies' daddy.  :)

My children's school had a special program this afternoon to honor our local veterans.  Dave is working the night shift this weekend and usually sleeps during the day . . . but today he made himself get up out of bed and go to the program for me and for his boys.

It was important to the boys that he come to the program.  All the veterans were going to be recognized during the program, and the boys are so proud of their dad.

They each wore some article of clothing or patch from Dave's military wardrobe to the program.  They were supposed to wear red, blue or white . . . 

They wore his dog tags too.  

Here's a panoramic view of the program.  Dave took this picture. He's got some smart-phone skills.  :) 

The children sang patriotic songs.  Zach even had a special part to sing with 3 other children.  He was so excited about it.

So like a good mother, I planned to video tape his performance.  I had some problems while videoing the performance because the music director had placed Zach on the far right of the group and had placed Alex on the far left of the group making it very difficult to videotape them at the same time.  So I had to move the camera slowly back and forth to try and capture both my boys singing.

And I totally missed the special part with Zach singing.  When I realized he was singing, I quickly turned the camera in his direction and zoomed in and . . . it made the picture blurry and I missed it!  But you can hear it which is the point, I guess.  :)  Here it is for anyone interested.  




After the program, the boys and Dave dutifully posed with me for a picture.

The DAR held a reception for the Veterans in the school library.  One of the ladies had made a patriotic quilt, and the DAR had a goal to get every Veteran in the county to sign the quilt.

And then Dave was off to work  . . . again.  He's a very hard-working veteran that's for sure!  

Once the boys and I got home after school, my Daddy helped me with a project that's been pending for about 3 years . . . the unfinished fireplace!

He helped me so much!  There's no way I could have attempted anything like this without his help.  

And here's where we stopped . . .

That's the gas fireplace insert pulled out in front.  And the board going across is to get the tiles level.  Anyway, DON'T mention this to Daddy if you see him because he specifically told me not to put this on Facebook until he approves the pictures.  Technically this isn't Facebook.  But he might not see it that way!

And finally, I got to work on one of my Christmas Bazaar projects: Amish Friendship Bread.

It takes 10 days to make the starter for the bread so I mixed mine up tonight so that it will be ready to complete and bake the bread just in time for the school bazaar!  You can see the recipe I used to make my starter HERE.

And thus ends another busy and exciting day with . . .

                          the Ferrell boys and me!

I'm linking up to these awesome parties:

Window Dressing for Thanksgiving

If you ever cruise through Pinterest . . . or if you follow any crafting or decorating blogs . . . then you have seen a trend of using discarded windows as a decorating element.

I've joined this decorating bandwagon.  

This is how it started:  Yesterday when we were leaving a birthday party at the football field, I spotted this . . .

For those folks who live here, I was coming out of the North gate of the football field on Pearl Street and there was this pretty little deer standing there  . . .  looking around.  

So I turned down the street . . . I don't know the name . . . the one by the pallet machine shop. . . . so the boys could see the deer and so I could get a couple of pictures.  

So . . . after getting a couple of pictures, I headed on toward Chancellor Street with the intent to go on home, and then I saw a stack of windows on the side of the road in front of one of the houses.  They were replacing the old windows with new energy efficient window.  :)

And I stopped and opened the back of the vehicle and proceeded to begin loading the windows into the back.  

My boys weren't surprised.  This isn't the first time we've stopped on the side of the road to pick up stuff.

So that was yesterday.  This is today.

I put the largest window on top of the piano in the foyer.  Zach and I made the banner using the template I found at Salt and Pepper Moms Blog  HERE.   She gives a template for the pendant shape and also for the "THANKS" letters.  I added the "GIVE" letters on my own.

We cut the banner out of burlap and used a sharpie marker to fill in the letters.

I love it.  I'm still working on the gourd and leaf arrangement on the top of the piano, but I'm pretty happy with the window/banner part. The banner is a little big . . . but it will do for now.

After the holidays are over, I'll probably paint the window a different color.  All I did today was wipe it off with a wet cloth.

So that's the first step toward decorating for Thanksgiving here at Ferrell Farm.  Lots more decorating and preparing to do before our extended family gets here for Thanksgiving with . . .

                               the Ferrell boys and me!

I'm linking up to these awesome parties:

Five on Friday #7

I'm linking up with some other blogs to share

Five on Friday with the Ferrell boys and me!

[ 1 ]     Whitney Wright Waggoner :

My bff - Vicky delivered this precious baby on All Saints Day.  She has red hair and blue eyes . . . and she is precious.

Her brother, Lex and his twin sister, Mary Beth, are the same age as Shane.  They were so excited about their new baby sister.  Me too.  :)

[ 2 ]     Cookbook :

My church has released for sale its new cookbook . . .

I cooked 3 recipes out of it this week.   :)

[ 3 ]     Operation Christmas Child :

Our church gathered together this past Wednesday to pack shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. . . 400 shoeboxes!

Our OCC committee has spent the year collecting items to go in the boxes and they had everything set out for us to "shop" for the boxes and pack them.  Notebooks, pencils, crayons, coloring books . . .

Candy . . .

Toys for girls and Toys for boys . . .

Zach had the best time packing boxes.  He packed boxes for girls around his age.  He packed 22 boxes.  :)

  
Alex packed 18 boxes.  He was very deliberate and thoughtful when picking out the items for his boxes.  He chose to pack boxes for 9 year old boys . . . cause he is a 9 year old boy.  :)

It was such a great experience for everyone that participated.

Our Youth are usually the ones that pack the boxes.  But this year, the OCC committee decided to let the entire church participate in packing the boxes.  Young ones and older ones working together . . .

Even sweet little ones packed boxes . . .

Such a great night.   A total of 450 boxes were packed. :)

[ 4 ]     Opposites attract :

This is the strangest thing to me . . .

The momma cat has disappeared and left these two little kittens all alone.  We've been feeding and taking care of the kittens, while our dogs have been providing additional nurture that the kittens need.  A warm place to sleep during chilly Fall nights.  :)

They are the two cutest kittens . . . Here's another picture that Dave took when he was coming in from work one morning.  They are so sweet. . . and I'm not even a cat person!  :)

[ 5 ]     Holiday Countdown :

I've continued with my countdown to Christmas.  I purchased some lights, wreaths, and bulbs for Christmas earlier this week.

I've also started on Week 2 of the countdown.  I've been cleaning and organizing my kitchen and dining room this week . . .getting them ready for the holidays.

I've even started working on a decorating scheme.  This is a picture of a Christmas project I've been working on this week.  Or rather the beginning of the project.  

I'll being finishing this project this weekend and sharing what I made later this week.  :)

And another suggested item on the Holiday Countdown is to organize a cookie exchange.  My friend, Angie, contacted me today about organizing a Cookie Exchange this Christmas.  She said she was doing the Holiday Countdown as well.   So apparently, I'll be helping Angie with organizing my first-ever Holiday Cookie Exchange.  :)

This Holiday Countdown has really helped to decrease the stress of the holidays in my world.  You can follow along with me on this Holiday Countdown by visiting Shauna at her site, Satori Design for Living, where she gives a more detailed recap of the Countdown.

So there's my Five on Friday!  Hope you've enjoyed this quick look into this very busy past week with . . .

                      the Ferrell boys and me!