Chicken Pot Pie

I do love fall weather.  The cold, crisp nights just call out for comfort food.  This is one of my all time fav's.  I clipped this recipe from the Sunday paper many years ago and then lost it!  (I am making this tonight largely from memory and a lot of google searching.) 

 

I usually make this using leftover rotisserie chicken and annually after our Thanksgiving meal.

 

Recipe:

2 T butter
1/2 diced yellow onion
1 C diced celery
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 C milk
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t dried thyme
1/8 t black pepper
1/2 t sage or poultry seasoning
12 oz bag of frozen vegetables (carrots, corn, green beans, etc.)
4 C chicken (cooked & diced if not using rotisserie)
1 tube Pillsbury Grands Biscuits quartered

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Sauté onion and celery until lightly browned and soft.

In a large bowl, mix together frozen vegetables, soups, milk, and seasonings.  Stir in chicken.  Microwave until heated through.  Not cooked (you want them crisp)!  Add sautéed veggies and stir.  Spoon into a prepared 13" x 9" baking pan.  Arrange biscuits over hot filling.  Bake, uncovered at 375 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes, until bubbly and biscuits are golden.

Oh...enjoy the smell in your house.  Smells like Thanksgiving.

God Bless This Baby

How tenderly He loves them,
the children of this earth.
How carefully He guides them,
from the moment of their birth.
How lovingly He looks upon them,
sweet and fair...
May He always keep our little one safe
within His care.
Amen.

This past Saturday my grandson, Gavin, received the Sacrament of Baptism and we celebrated and embraced God who first loved us from the moment of our conception. We celebrated the gift of this child, our family, and our faith.

 

Truth is, it is no small feat to get a child baptized these days.  Takes a lot of planning, preparation and paperwork.   There are new clothes to buy, classes to take, and godparents to select.  And a party to plan!

One of the benefits of waiting a couple of extra months, is a quiet baby.  Gavin cooed and squealed (to the delight of the crowd) and didn't utter even a whimper as the cold water doused his head.  Oh, and I think I noticed a yawn or two.

God, we love this baby.
We are thankful.

 

And I don't know why, but Grandma, may have shed a tear or two...

Weekly Layouts

Darn it...I think I missed a week.  or two!

I've just returned from a 3-day scrapbooking retreat in the beautiful Colorado mountains with lots of finished projects.  So, this week I'm posting two:

The first is a trip to the pumpkin patch last fall:

Based on this sketch from Let's Scrap:

Here is a closer look at the detail:

  

All of the paper & embellishments are from a coordinated line from SEI.  This is a beautiful line of products.  I hope you can see the iridescent foil touches to the leaves.  The round medallion and the paisley are mounted on pop dots.

 

The title and the large background pumpkin were cut using the Silhouette Cameo (shapes are from the online store).

 

The second LO is the butchering masterful carving of the aforementioned pumpkins:

Based on this sketch from Let's Scrap:

Some close-up detail:

Source:

• Paper:  Fancy Pants
• Title and chevron pumpkin were cut using the Silhouette Cameo (shapes from the online store)
• Carving knives, pumpkin seeds and fuzzy felt pumpkin are Jolee's

Anyone else like Halloween as much as I do?  Only two more weeks to get out to the patch, get some pumpkins and make your own Jack-o-lanterns!  We're taking our grandson out on Sunday just for a photoshoot.  Hope the weather cooperates.

Der's Gold in Dem Der Hills!

We are officially in Indian Summer.  We've had our first snow and our first hard freeze (two of them).  But, boy is Indian Summer great in Colorado!  It's been so nice, baby Gavin and Grace, and I have a daily afternoon walk on the path that runs along the water canal.  I call us the three G's.  We're quite a sight.

Anyway, I digress.  This past Sunday was absolutely one of those days where I was not sitting at home to watch the Bronco game.  Uh huh.  I do love the games, but like 'em even better when it's truly football weather.

I could not get the Broncos #1 fan to leave the house, cause after all, "how many trees can a guy see in his lifetime?"  Really?  I left him at home in all his Bronco finery and Gracie and I headed out for a Sunday drive. 

Just a girl and her dog.

And...her camera...

I'm gonna let the rest of the post be about the beautiful day, beautiful weather, and the beautiful color/show Colorado puts on for us every year.

 

 

Rare sighting.
Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep.
Made my whole day!

Mt. Bierstadt, 14,060'
Just one of Colorado's 14ers

 

The aforementioned girl and her dog.

 

It's not just about the golden leaves.
We have some sweeping vistas as well.

 

 

  

I hope your fall is as beautiful as it is here!

Baby G's Digital Scrapbook

My daughter has received so many coupons and freebies from Shutterfly.  Just exactly HOW do they find out you have a baby on the way?

• A coupon for her birth announcements
• Two photobooks
• Two $20 gift cards

Not bad (and no, this is not a paid endorsement).

Well, some of the coupons are starting to expire, so I decided to create this little book for her...going back to the birth day and through some of the first days of this precious new life.  Granted, it is not my best work, but it was super easy!  The Shutterfly software is somewhat limited as far as the creative process...but it is FREE.  Free, that is, if you can stop at the 20 pages. No.  I can't. 

With the eight extra pages, shipping & handling, this hardcover photobook cost just $15.  Free?  No. But a pretty great deal.

Enjoy!

Click here to view this photo book larger

And...if you are yet to stick your toes into digital scrapbooking, give it a try.  You will like the outcome.  I promise.

PINKtober

This past Sunday was the 2013 Race for the Cure.  I still haven't found out why it was on September 29...it is always the first Sunday in October!

Oh well. We walked.  We supported.  We care.

As in the seven years past, it is a special day of celebration at our house.  The big C touched our lives and we will never forget.  I am always full of emotion on Pink Sunday.  I have a really small family who walk beside me, and my love and gratitude largely goes unsaid during the entire 5K as I walk with a seven-year lump in my throat.  However, we have a great time together -- lots of chatter and laughter.

 And we CELEBRATE! 

It feels really great to be the center of their universe for just a short 3.5 miles.  I let them dote on me. I feel S P E C I A L (the 1 in 8).  (The other 3,000 pink t-shirt gals will understand).  It's personal.

We had a new walker rider this year...my grandson makes the day just a tiny bit more special!  

The weather turned so nice, we had to invent a hat for him.
Seemed fitting he wore one of my old
Ford Warrior-in-Pink scarves.
Argh!