Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Chicken Pot Pie ♥

After my last post, I decided to change my tactics just a little.  I proceeded to ignore the TV climbing.  He climbed to his hearts content, I didn't say one word. I didn't even look in his general direction.  It's AMAZING how quickly he gave up.  He actually seemed to get rather pissed that I wasn't paying attention.  I guess it just wasn't as fun!  I 'thought' I had won the battle and was just about to pat myself on the back but... No.  He has now switched to squeezing through the gap to the BACK of the TV and using it as a drum.  I give up.

Kid 1 - Mum 0 <~~  I'm not liking this score one little bit.

Anyway,  a change of subject today!  People who know me know that I love to cook.  I love experimenting in the kitchen and last night I made the most amazing chicken pot pie.  I made it completely differently to how I normally would.  I usually use a store bought crust and cream of mushroom soup.  Last night I made one from scratch and thought I would share the recipe!  It was so yummy!  I am actually quite proud of myself!

For the crust:
2 3/4 cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1/2 cup cold water

For the filling:
2 chicken quarters
3 carrots (sliced)
2 potatoes (diced)
1 small onion (chopped)
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup of milk (or half and half)
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp celery salt
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp parsley
2 Bay Leaves

Season the chicken quarters with salt and pepper and cook in the oven for about 40 mins (depending on the size) at 400 degrees F

Whilst the chicken is cooking, make the crust.  Put the flour and salt in a large bowl and cut the butter into small pieces.  Rub the butter and flour together with your fingertips until it has the consistency of breadcrumbs.  Add the water and mix with a fork until it all comes together.  Form into a ball, cover the bowl with a tea towel and place in the fridge for about half an hour or so.

The cheeky one watching me whilst I cooked


Add the 1/2 cup of butter to a large saute pan over a medium heat and add the potato.  Cook for about 5 minutes.  Add the onion and carrots and cook for another 10 minutes.  Add the pepper, celery salt, rosemary and parsley.

Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and mix really well.  Cook for a couple of minutes stirring constantly.  Add the chicken stock gradually (still mixing constantly) the sauce will begin to thicken after a few minutes.  Stir in the milk.  Set aside.


When the chicken is cooked through, shred it and add to mixture.  If it has got too thick, heat gently and add more milk.

Cut the dough in half and on a lightly floured surface, roll into a thin(ish) circle and press into a pie dish (I used a 9 inch round dish)



Add the filling, roll out the other half of the dough and lay over the top, I brushed the bottom edge with water so that the top layer stuck.  Poke to holes in the top to let the steam escape whilst cooking and stick it in the oven for about 30 minutes at 400 degrees F or until the crust is golden brown.

The finished result:



I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!!


~Tasha

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Spring Loaded

I swear my child is spring loaded.  Seriously.  He is also learning how to push my buttons.  Can kids go through the terrible two's before they actually hit a year...  Or is he just warming me up for the big event?

My days have been filled with removing my kid from the TV.  Over and over and over again.  He has learned how to climb and is absolutely obsessed with pressing the buttons. (Mine included so it seems!)  He also loves to bash away at it with his toy hammer, wrench, wooden blocks... Anything else his sticky little hands get a hold of.  He parks his butt in front of the TV, looks at me as if to get approval.  I say no or nuh uh or hey or something.  He smiles real big and climbs up.  I pull him down and put him across the room, next to his 6 million deep, floor to ceiling pile of toys, he goes straight back towards the TV and the process starts again.  ALL. DAY. LONG.

Shouting just results in stink eye.  Saying no results in laughter. Should I start saying 'Sure honey you just go right ahead and climb the TV' in the hopes that he just simply has his yes and no's mixed up?  ;)

It's just all a big game. He's very persistent, which I'm guessing is a good trait seeing as he is going to be a brain surgeon and all.  But seriously.  How do you stop a hard headed child (Who absolutely did NOT get that from me by the way) from doing something that he is hell bent on doing?

He is sleeping right now.  Dreaming of button pushing, I'm sure.

~ Tasha 

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Welcome!

As the title may suggest, I am a new Mum, who just so happens to be English and has found herself living in America.

My life over the past 4 years has changed rather drastically.  I am now a Mum.  This may not be a shocker to most people because I am assured there are lot's of Mums out there!  But for me and for those who know me, it really did come out of the blue.  All the way through my life I have been rather adamant about not having children.  Wasn't even sure if I liked them all that much actually!  (I blame this on my 3 younger siblings, they know this and are actually quite proud...) But after I got married, all of a sudden my clock started to tick.  I actually thought I was losing the plot for a little bit, I started cooing over babies and getting all mooshy and then I suddenly realized that I was ready for a little tike of my own.  My little munchkin was born on November 1st, 2010 and it was quite possibly the greatest day of my life.  I had NO idea how much fun it was going to be being a Mum!

As I am now a stay at home Mum (Another shock to my system), aside from munchkin duties and housework (blah) I seem to have a lot of extra time on my hands. Over the past couple of years I have developed a blog reading addiction and thought to myself one day, ‘Hey! I can do that!’ After numerous deleted blog posts and several hundred design changes, (I'm anal and I didn't know it) here I am! Now I am not professing to be an expert at this and my ramblings (which may include Mum stuff, recipe and food stuff, funny kid stories, general day to day life, probably the odd rant, maybe the odd review of my favorite things and hopefully some giveaways thrown in for good measure) could in fact induce a World Wide Web snore fest. But, I hope that some people at least will be interested with what I have to offer.

So! Welcome to my page, take a sniff around, make yourself comfy, and please stay a while!

 ~ Tasha