Five Things Friday...I mean Tuesday

Patrick went out of town this weekend.
Hello, California! (And, um, hello I was jealous.)

While he did have a lot of business to attend to, he did send me this picture.

But I did enjoy a little "me" time over the weekend.

Here's a Five Things Summary of how I spent my time:

I caught up on this show:

I started reading this:
(right on point with my "Bronte Book at Christmas Time" tradition)

I sat here and happily did a lot of Christmas shopping with a huge cup of coffee in my hand.

I have been putting this in every cup of coffee lately and it's so yummy:

And I made this for dinner:

Chicken Pot Pie
This is not my picture.  I actually forgot to take a picture before I had eaten over half of it.  Oops.

This is my favorite thing that I know how to cook!

Sadly, Patrick is not the biggest fan of Anything Pot Pie, so I really only make it when he is out of town or working late for couple days in a row and thus will not be eating dinner with me.

It is loosely based on a recipe I got out of Real Simple at one point, but adapted and changed it over time.

It's really easy!

Chicken Pot Pie Recipe:

1 lb. chicken breasts (I used tenderloins), cut in small chunks

4 carrots, diced

bunch of green onions, diced

3 tbsp. olive oil

3 tbsp. flour

1/2 c. white wine

1 c. 2% milk

1 c. frozen peas

3/4 to 1 c. frozen corn

1 tsp. dried thyme

salt

pepper

1 refrigerated pie crust

(I used a store bought one, but you could certainly make your own!)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Saute the chicken in 1 tbsp. of the oil until browned.  Pull out of pan.

3. Add remaining 2 tbsp. of oil and saute the carrots and green onions about 5 min. until the carrots are soft.

4. Sprinkle the flour over and cook for about 1 minute.

5. Add the wine to the pan and combine with the veggies and flour to thicken.  Simmer a couple minutes.

6. Stir in the milk.  The sauce should thicken pretty quickly.  Once it thickens add the chicken back in, along with the frozen veggies, thyme, and salt and pepper.  Allow everything to heat back through.

7. Pour into a pie pan.  Drape your pie crust overtop and press along the edges to the pan to seal.  Cut a few vent slits in the center.

8. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the crust is golden.

And I would be remiss if I did not say that I am SO PROUD of my foster son,

who won his very first wrestling match this past weekend!

(He is the one being goofy on the left...

The one on the right is a wrestler from our school that won the entire tournament!)