My Famous "Stolen" Crock Pot Chicken Pot Pie

I grew up loving chicken pot pie. However, the chicken pot pie I am talking about came out of a box or out of a box at a restaurant. It’s a favorite comfort food for me and I have always wanted to learn how to make it.

Then comes the joy and complete bliss that is {Pintrest}. I did some searching and found this post. Unfortunately the link is no longer any good so, I will share this recipe with you admitting completely that it’s not my own creation but it is now one of my favorites.

I really enjoy making this pot pie for other people. It’s such a blessing to be able to provide a family with dinner and this pie makes for a perfect traveling dinner. As you will soon enough find out, it is ridiculously easy to make and this recipe makes two pies.

I almost always deliver one of the two pies to someone, but once in a while I will just freeze the filling and wait to make it another time. I am not a huge fan of that as I find the filling is too watery after having been frozen.

So, I could go on and on about the joys of chicken pot pie, but let’s just get right to it. Below I will condense the recipe for you in a printable format.

Gather up your stuff! Super Easy! 

You need two boxes of refrigerated pre-done pie dough, two cans of cream of chicken soup, 3-4 baby potatoes, 2-3 frozen chicken breasts, frozen mixed vegetables, shredded sharp cheddar, 1 egg, and two pie tins! 

Oh, please don’t forget your crock pot!!!!! Yes folks this is crock pot recipe that is my go to!

Peel and chop your potatoes into bite size pieces. I cut mine in about 1.5” sized pieces or so.

Measure out 1 cup of your frozen vegetables

Add your cream of chicken soup into the 

bowl with your potatoes and frozen mixed vegetables and mix together.

Add your seasonings.

I love adding a bit of 

seasoned salt and fresh cracked pepper. 

Gently mix it all together.

Add your frozen chicken to the crock pot. 

Now, I have tried this with all of kinds of different sizes of chicken breast, and by far it works the best with two giant chicken breasts or three medium chicken breasts. In this case we had three medium.

Pour your mixture over the chicken and set your crock pot on low and let it do its magic for 6-8 hours. (Or on High for 4-6 hours)

Now, what to do for 6-8 hours? Well, what I normally do is go to work. That is one thing I love about crock pot meals is the smell of someone cooking when I walk in the door. All the credit I get for making dinner with such very little effort.

Ok, now look at this…. This is what awaits me when I get home! It smells so good, so comforting.

Pre-set your oven to 350 degrees.

Go ahead and pull the chicken breasts from the mixture. The chicken will be fall apart perfect… you may have to fish out all the pieces from the crock pot.

Take two forks and shred your chicken.

Go ahead and shovel that mess of yummy goodness back 
into the crock pot….

Be sure to shut it off.

Now it’s time to prep those pans

I got these pans from my in laws. They are Marie Callendar pie pans that you get some kind of discount or refund if you return them. I'm sure glad they didn't because these are awesome little pie tins.

Generally with the regular dough I get, I have to work with it cold and fast. This dough I was working this day was breaking all over the place… I had to warm it up to make it work. Not my favorite but it did its job.

Once the pie dough is in go ahead and scoop out your pot pie filling. I scoop equally into each pie.

Look at that! So pretty!

Now you can buy shredded sharp cheddar but I prefer to shred my own.

Shred about 1.5-2 cups and share between the two pies.

Now cover your pies with the other two sheets of pie dough.

Pinch, seal, and remove the excess dough

I cut small slices into the top of the pies to allow venting…

Mix up your egg and one tbs of water...

Brush onto your pies and get them into the oven.

Bake in middle rack for 45 minutes

And then….

Voila!

Chicken Pot pies!

There is nothing better on a cold winter night and quite honestly nothing better to share.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

Click here for Printable Recipe Link!

.... the Desires of your Heart

I was working on a blog post for this week about being content in your life while still following your dreams. That is a concept I am still trying to wrap my head around. 

What I have been thinking about and struggling with lately is the overwhelming desire in my heart to gain ownership of our own little piece of land and start a farm.

When I say overwhelming I mean (aside from really staying committed to my prayer life and Bible reading, taking care of my husband and son, and trying to remain transparent in my ministry) the only other thought on my mind at any given point of the day is…. the farm. I would even go as far to say that I am mildly, if not minimally, aggressively consumed with it.

Now to be honest, there have been seasons throughout my life where I have been obsessed with the idea of winning the lotto.

Even more so, my amazingly youthful imagination will take that a step further, or really like a bazillion steps further, to dreaming about what I would do if I were a multi-billionaire.

I always have known during those bouts of unrealistic dream marathons that these wants and desires were not given to me by God. They were a complete work of my flesh wanting what inevitably during those times I did not have and that was, quite simply, security.

Those dreams and notebook filling plans always came about when we were at our lowest points in life. When money was not coming in and bills were not being paid, and food was scarce… that’s when my pen came out and I started filling dozens of note books with all the ways we would be the most excellent stewards of a win like that. 

The funny thing is, all during those times while I was wishing and hoping for a magic genie to arrive, God was busy moving mountains in our lives.

  We could look back on a three month period when we had no jobs and the supplemental income wasn't coming close to cutting it, we could see that somehow rent was paid on time every month. How it got there was never the same way twice. Each time was very much unexpected. All the times and all the ways were God providing for us.

Now here I am, a closer relationship with God, a belief and understanding of His true provision and love, and I am still dreaming about something I don’t have. I have come to a place where I am starting to question whether or not this desire, not new but now outstandingly loud, is another product of my flesh or a glimpse into a promise from God.

Many Christians will say; “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalms 37:4

OK, I am good with that, but what does that mean, exactly? David was writing about seeing hope and restoration in times of trouble.  Delighting ourselves in the Lord means that we should seek our happiness in God; in who He is, His perfect love, and His ever-present friendship. Only then will He give us the desires of our heart.

To seek my happiness in God is not something I actively do. Seek peace, seek provision, seek leading, and seek discernment? Yes. But seeking happiness is not something I think I have ever done. Does that make me a terrible Christian? Well, I don’t know what you think, but I think it means I am most certainly not done learning and growing and as long as I am learning and growing I’m not rotting.

So, I will discover more about how to find happiness in the Lord. In the mean time I still have this farm dream to figure out.  Is this dream a dream from God or a product of my flesh?

I have had dreams about being rich, going back in time and rectifying some choices, changing my body inside and out, owning my own business, and having lots and lots of children.

Today, I no longer desire worldly wealth.

I mean come on, who wouldn't breathe just a little easier if no one had to worry about the bills? My new dream in regards to money is to take control of it instead of it controlling me. That’s a lesson I am learning every day.  Truly if by some chance I wound up with millions of dollars, I can promise you I would give most of it away.

I no longer wish to change my past.

That’s an immature dream as I've learned that regret is not of God. I only wish to learn from my past and present mistakes daily and be better for it.

As far as my dream for re-designing my body inside and out, I truly only desire to be healthy and have no desire to be skinny or perfect skinned or to have perfect hair.

My husband thinks I am beautiful and my son told me this week that I am the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. That’s enough for me.

The dream of becoming my own boss has never gone away. I have bookshelves full of instructional material on how to become an entrepreneur or how to run a successful restaurant. My dream really is about being completely in control of my own time.

That it doesn't belong to anyone else. Just another example is this a me thing or a God thing?

I still feel an aching from time to time to grow this little family, but I am settled in my faith knowing that Tristan was in Gods time and anyone else who comes along will be as well.

Today I don’t want any more children but in three weeks I could be looking into foster care. It comes in waves for me possibly just to keep me in the loop that perhaps God is not done with me in that area quite yet. Who knows?

Now, for the farm dream.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the origin of this dream comes from the same place as the “Millionaire dream”.

After having such epic peaks and valleys in our lives, a desire to grow our own food so we no longer have to rely on grocery stores or bank accounts sounds very appealing. But I am quite certain that is more than that. Yes self reliance is attractive, but as we already have experienced, there is no such thing as “self” reliance for us. I mean we could pretend that we are responsible for all things in our lives, and though our choices can sometimes dictate our situations we are never entirely alone in our directing our steps in this life.

Do I think the farm dream is a desire put in my heart by God? I don’t know. What I am 100% sure of is as I embark on this journey to seek Him, His Love, His grace, His friendship and find joy and happiness in Him, that He will give me the desires of my heart. Also, I believe I will know the true desires of my heart and I bet my pastor’s wife tonight one hundred dollars that the desires of my heart at the beginning of this journey could very well not be the desires of my heart at the end.

I am excited about this new revelation and I hope I have encouraged you to evaluate your dreams. Don’t throw them away but seek a new joy in knowing Him and have your dreams secured and promised.

DIY Magnetic Chalk Board Calendar!

As 2015 came roaring close to us, I decided as part of my going green, less waste, and all of that; I was going to make my own magnetic chalkboard calendar instead of replacing our paper one.

This was our first DIY build project of any sort, so as you could imagine it came with its own set of oops. But it was fun, we did it together (Ben and I) and we got it done in about two days.

Before I continue I have to confess that I accidentally deleted some of the pictures of this project… so please forgive me. I promise to be less, um, efficient in my posts to come.

Let’s get started!

Here is what we pulled together. Your supply list could look a lot different depending on your desired measurements but we planned on the calendar being 24” x 20” to fit the space next to the fridge.

Supplies:

* 2”x1”x8’ Furring Strip- Pine {Home depot$1.97}

* 24”x36” sheet of Sheet Metal {Home depot$20.00}

* ½” sheet metal screws {Home depot $3.98}

* Picture Hanging Kit {Home depot $4.00}

* Chalkboard Paint {Wal-Mart- Disney $10.00}

* Primer Spray Paint {Wal-Mart- Zinsser $5.94}

* 4x1” long left over screws

* Stain- Had

* Chalkboard Markers {Amazon- $24.99}

We had the guys at {Home Depot} Cut our furring strip into two 24” pieces and two 20” pieces. That left us with an 8” remnant, Thank goodness! (You’ll understand way in a bit)

Ok, all our supplies in hand, we set up shop in the garage and started to assemble our frame. Here is where our first oops happened. I thought; “Hey this is a pretty small piece of wood, we should be able to staple it together.” Yea, well we tried, and tried again, and tried again!

Needless to say my father (if not across the globe right now) would laugh at me, probably out loud. Those stapled frames were not going to work. We spent a split second thinking; “Well once we screw the metal to the frame it should secure it right up.” We let go of that immediately and took to the 8” scrap to test another theory.

Ben pulled out the tiniest drill bit I have ever seen and I proceeded to pilot a very small hole into the scrap piece. We then screwed in about a 1” long screw we had laying around. (Thank goodness we had 8 of them.)

After making sure we wouldn't split the wood, we proceeded to pre-drill the holes on all four corners of the frame. The screws went in beautifully (Can I say beautifully?)

 Once the frame was secure, our first frame ever by the way, I went to my new favorite stain {Minwax Jacobean} I love this color. Super easy we just wiped on and wiped off.

On a side note, a very good friend of mine made me the work bench you see in the pic from a set of plans I got from {Shanty to Chic}. It’s huge and mobile and awesome. I am now, currently, making a mess of it- but I love walking into the garage and seeing the paint, or over spray, or stain drippings all over the top…. It looks like a well loved work bench.

Once the frame was stained it was time to cut the sheet metal to size. The sheet metal was 24”x36” and we needed it be 24”x 24”. So we marked our cut line after measuring twice.

 Then, my awesome husband went to work cutting the sheet metal. Also, our first time doing this- and it wasn’t terribly easy- but it was quick. 

After he cleaned up a couple rough (and very sharp)

edges and I cleaned the metal, I shook up my {Zinssers PrimerSpray Paint} can and started sweeping sprays on the metal. Something to note; the can says it should not be sprayed in under 70 degrees. It happened to be in the 40’s and the paint came out, at first, kind of rough. So there is a bumpy rough edge along the bottom, but I kept going till the whole thing was covered.

We let the primer dry over night…. And this where my missing pictures should be. The next morning I mixed up our Disney Chalkboard paint and started to paint the sheet metal. This paint is awesome. Its thick and it does a really great job. With the first coat down we moved it to the BBQ outside to dry in the sun, it was cold, but there was sun.

After a couple hours we were able to do a second coat.  Once that dried I took a piece of chalk and primed the sheet metal. I rubbed the chalk all over the piece and wiped it off! Dang it, I wish I didn't delete the pics! This was awesome and kind of complicated.

 We had done some pretty detailed measurements for the calendar part of this. I took a piece of chalk and measured out my grid lines. I will be honest, we messed up somewhere along the lines but eventually I just took the plunge and drew the lines with sharpie paint pen.  When that was dry, Ben screwed the sheet metal to the frame using the sheet metal screws – three per side. He then added the picture hanging hardware to the back And Voila! Magnetic Chalk Board Calendar. 

I had to wait a couple days for my chalk board markers to arrive from {Amazon.}

After shaking them up and switching out the tips- I got to work on filling in my calendar. This was fun! These neon colors aren't exactly our color pallet but its like family marketing! 

We are very happy with how this turned out and I plan on making some more, getting pretty good at it and then selling them or giving them as gifts- with the markers!

Hey I hope you enjoyed and are inspired to create a project like this of your own!

*I was not paid or reimbursed for any of the products or blogs that you see featured in this post *

10 Steps to a Simplified Life

I don’t always make “New Year’s Resolutions” because, well quite frankly, the passion and sincerity that exists somewhere between the 6^th of December and the 1^st of the new year fades quickly when kids get sick, or the dog ate something… you know, life kind of interrupts the dream of being a better version of myself.

There is a pastor who we know and love very much who says; “God loves us just as we are, and loves us too much to let us stay that way”. I have always loved that because it always gave me hope that not only could I change, but that I was meant to.

This year- 2015 I have major changes I want to make in my life and in my home and family life. This year I have 12 resolutions. I thought about filling up my blog in January expounding on each one, but as this is my first post of the New Year- the official launch of “Bowl full of Blessings ”- I thought I would narrow down this post to just one of my resolutions. SIMPLIFY OUR LIVES!

Ha, narrow it down huh? When I got into my plans to help simplify our lives, there are over 10 things to do to accomplish that and in those 10 things, another 10. Wait! This doesn't sound simple. I read somewhere that simple doesn't mean easy, it means simple to do. That’s what I have pulled together.

I think we could all use some simplicity in our lives so I am very excited to say Hi there! Welcome to my blog and here are 10 ways we plan on simplifying our lives.

#1: UNSUBSCRIBE!!!!

I don’t know about you but I have hundreds of emails everyday from all over the place. Ya know that one website I wanted to look at but had to give my email address to get in? I have lots and lots of those emails. It makes it harder to find the emails you want to get. So, numero uno on my list to simplify my life… unsubscribe.

#2: DITCH THE ELECTRONICS!

Ok, clearly I am not suggesting to make a run to a recycle place and dump all of our electronics, but rather I am suggesting- unplug. Everyone! Maybe it’s after dinner and before breakfast. I don’t know when the best time is to do it as a family, but I do know- most nights of the week you can walk into my house and you will find Ben on the couch on his phone, Tristan in his room on his DS or IPod or WIIu, and I am somewhere in between watching YouTube videos on homesteading or how to milk a cow. We spend our evenings separate… when we spent all day separated. So for us, it’s taking a breather- and breathing together. I found some really great blog posts on this topic at the Shabby Creek Cottage blog She also talks about 10 ways to simplify…. It turns out when I was done with my list, I too had 10 things.

#3: SCHEDULE DOWN TIME: 

Doing tons and tons of reading on this topic almost every single article I read mentioned or suggested “schedule down time” in their list of ways to simplify. Hey, I agree- how do you schedule down time? Well… I have already kind of done that on my own. I get home from work about an hour before Tristan gets out of school. I could get a lot done in that hour, but instead I make a conscious effort to stop thinking for 30 -60 minutes. Let my brain rest, watch part of a movie, and lay down- something. I know not all of us get the opportunity to stop moving until we hit the pillow, but to allow room to take a breath- I support the idea that is good for both your physical and your mental health.

#4: FIND A MANTRA

While trolling pinterest the other day I came across this saying, it’s the minimalist mantra:  I love this from "The Motivated Type" on Etsy. . Though I have no intention of becoming a true minimalist… I would like to embrace the mantra on a more regular basis. This doesn't have to be your mantra but besides the Bible, we all need phrases or words or songs that remind us, reinforce us, and challenge us to stay the course we are on… or in fact, choose a new one.

#5: LIVE WITH LESS

I have been trying to throw out, donate, and keep our “stuff” to a bare minimum. But do you know what moving shows you? It shows you that you kind of suck at bare minimums. I love this post in " Young House Love" (by far one of my most favorite blogs) about {Living with less}.  Look, the guys have one bottle each that acts as their shampoo, face wash, and body wash. What do I have? Um…. 5 or 6…. something like that.  My make up…. Though it’s pretty organized…. There is a lot of it. At this point I am going to use the whole “living with less” excuse to buy the {Urban Decay} Naked Pallets 1 and 3…. I think that will about cover my need for eye shadow- at least. But really…. Where can I cut down??? That is part of the process for us.

#6: PRIORITIZE OUR LIFE let go of what doesn’t matter

Such a great piece from imperfect homemaking.com- I love her advice for getting things in order and getting rid of that which doesn't fit into our order is stellar and right on.  For us, it might not be so much “things” as it would “acts” or “behaviors”. There is a good amount of griping, yelling, and fighting that happens here over all kinds of silly and unimportant things. I think that taking a look at our lives and identifying the priorities - and making those the things or people or actions that we put our energy into is going to be very eye opening and has the potential to grow this little family even closer together.

#7: GET ORGANIZED

For those of you know me, and even more so- those who know me well, I am a fairly organized and detailed person. However, there are many areas of my life and my home that leave something to be desired. Keeping a calendar- which we do, having spaces in your home that are organized and put together so that clutter doesn't have a chance to take over- everything has a place to go. During this month I will be posting some projects I am working on, like our magnetic chalk board wall calendar and the re-do of our command center. These are just two of the many organization projects I have on the docket for our home. Also getting my planner more organized, my blog planner, closets, drawers, the refrigerator, even the garage. I believe having these things and spaces more organized and purposeful will lend to the strength of simplifying our lives. Check out these projects: {My Organization Pinterest Page} { Cre8tive- home- decoration.com} { A Bowl Full of Lemons. net }

#8: CASH BUDGET (Work towards becoming financially free)

This is always a work in progress but we have been pretty lax in our budget keeping and cash only living. I have read {“Total MoneyMakeover” by Dave Ramsey.}

It’s pretty inspirational but will take a great deal of sacrifice and dedication. We haven’t done much since reading it in terms of taking steps to move forward and upward but that’s part of our 2015 Resolutions. We are “resolute” to becoming free from the burden and chains of financial issues. Part of this is also working towards us being able to buy a small plot of land and home in the near future- as I desperately want to homestead on a farm. I stumbled upon   { Fun cheap or free.com} and found this post…. {“How we are managing our cash budget this month.”} They have some really great pointers- some I may even snatch up.

#9: IN THE WORD and out of the world

I am a 36 year old woman who was raised in church but who never got a full understanding of who God is until I married my husband. Over the years we have experienced our ups and downs, like everyone else, some lower and higher than others- but we have also experienced a real and present God in our lives. It’s unfortunate that we don’t spend the time we should in the Word and in prayer unless of course we’re standing on the cliff and don’t want to taste the dirt again. So part of my plan to simplify my life is to stay connected and grow daily in my relationship with God. My sister bought me a yearlong devotional by Joyce Meyer called {“Trusting God Day by Day”} for Christmas. I am excited to start it… oh wait; I already have as you are reading this on the 1^st…. I promise it’s the first thing I will do the morning of the 1^st.

#10:  MORE FAMILY TIME TOGETHER

As part of step 2 and step 6- family time together is precious for us. Our 9 year old is growing fast and I am afraid that we all too often waste that time we have together for our own personal ventures or plans. Another great blog {Double the Batch.com} has a great post {“HOW TO LIMIT SCREEN TIME AND HAVE FUN AS A FAMILY”} besides cutting back on individual electronic time; we are also making a commitment to eat dinner every night together at the table. Look, this is a national movement but I was raised that no matter what- when dinner was ready, we were at the table. Ben and I swore and swore that we would raise Tristan that way. Have we? Um, no!  Sometimes Ben and Tristan will eat at the table and I will be in the living room…. Or we will all be eating in separate rooms. It’s a terrible habit we all have that I mean to break- ASAP! Tristan got a lot of board games this Christmas, adding to our impressive board game collection. We have already cracked open “Sorry” and “Clue”…. Family game time is a great way to spend time together. We laugh, sometimes cry, and just have a great time trying to beat each other at which ever game were playing, where undoubtedly Ben becomes the villain.

These are the 10 things I will be attempting to accomplish this year to help simplify our lives. I would love to hear what you do to help keep your lives from over running you! Please post! Would love to hear from you!

Looking forward to 2015 here at bowlfullofblessings.com

** I have not been paid or reimbursed for any of the blogs or products I have featured in this post. All are just my suggestions and favorites**