Slow-Cooker Chicken Pot Pie...mmm...Tastey!

This is one of my favorites--and my family's, too, until they get tired of it when I get stuck in a cooking rut and make it 3 times in a month!

It's Chicken Pot Pie made mostly in The Working Mom's Favorit Contraption (aka, the Crock Pot/slow cooker).

This is so easy I didn't bother to take a million pictures. (That and my hands were fooded-up.)

IN THE MORNING:
1. Use a about 1 lb. of pre-cooked chicken meat*** and about 4 cups of chicken broth.
***My preference is to cook my own in the crock pot ahead of time (ie, when it's on sale for cheap) from leg quarters. I remove the skin and bones after cooking, then strain and save the broth.
2. Add a one-pound bag of mixed frozen veggies.
3. Peal and cube 1 or 2 medium-sized potatoes, 2 stalks of chopped celery and an appropriate amount of diced onion.
4. I add at least a clove of garlic.
5. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

AFTER SLAVING AT WORK ALL DAY:
6. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. **be sure to move the racks to accommodate the crock
7. Slip off your shoes and pour a cold drink (This is optional; it's just how I do it.)
8. Dip out a little of the broth from the crock (about 1/2 a cup) and whisk with about 3 T. of flour. Then stir that back into the crock pot mixture to thicken it. (You can use corn starch.)
9. Here's my favorite part: Mix up 2 packages of good ol' Jiffy Corn Bread mix per the directions. Spoon over the top of the crock pot mixture.

10. Bake for 25 minutes (or until corn bread is cooked through). Which looks like this:

Our family loves the corn bread crust better than the old-fashioned kind.

Goofin' Off On My Lunch Hour

Like I don't spend enough time in front of the computer every day!
I decided to goof off at my desk while eating my lunch. (It's too hot to go out--and I really, really hate to sweat! Especially in office clothes!)

So here's my Monday blog party:

Who was your high school Sweet Heart?

Didn't have one. Had a bad crush on a guy with that fabulous 80's hair...

No, he's not in that picture, but the second one from the left could've been his first cousin!

Creeps me out, in retrospect...

(Actually, I think the crush was just on his hair. He mastered the curling iron and "product" better than I did!)

What is your favorite vegetable to eat?

Tomatoes

Do you plan on dressing up for Halloween, if yes, what do you have in mind?

Probably not.

I hate trick-or-treating--it feels creepy to me. Last year I offered my kids $5 to buy any kind of candy they want if we can skip the whole thing and they were thrilled. Baby D asked me just yesterday if she could have her 5 bucks early!

I will say that I did win best costume once, when I dressed as Jackie O. at JFK's funeral... veil and all.

Are you a reality show junkie? If so, what is your guilty pleasure?

CANNOT stand reality shows! I have enough drama in my own life--why do I want to see anyone else's???
Andy Griffith Show is way-more my speed.

What year did you graduate high school?

1986

Blog Hoppin' on Wednesday

It's been a long, busy week at work, post-State Fair. So, I'm just trying to de-fry my brain by being a vegetable on the computer. I don't have anything left to come up with blog-wise.

So, thought I'd just click around and do some blog hoppin'.




I did check out the canning blog party at:

the apple pie looks good!!


For the Working Mommy Wednesday question o' the week:
#2: Do you have your own bank account or a joint account with your husband?
A: We have always had joint bank accounts.
This was in spite of my soon-to-be mother-in-law freaking me out when she told me I need to keep my own bank account and my own money.
(What is she trying to tell me? I wondered.)
Well, as it turns out, she explained that at the age of 23 (like me back then), she was widowed when her first husband (along with three others) was killed in a boating accident. (She was one of two survivors.)
Anyway, all of their joint finances (that is, everything) were locked down until probate settled weeks later. She had to borrow money to buy groceries, pay rent--even replace her only pair of glasses. Of course, this was back when credit cards were rare.
While we've always had joint accounts, we've always kept our credit cards in our own names, so we have access to some type of funds in an emergency.

Honkin' Big Marshmallows!

Wordless Wednesday:
These things are huge!


Wordless Wednesday Link







Working Mom Wednesday:
WMW is supposed to blog about a working mom topic or answer one of the following questions:

#1. What is your most stressful time of day and why?

#2. If you could have one day all to yourself, how would you spend it?
I'd get an old movie I've seen about a dozen times (like a Ma & Pa Kettle flick or something with Doris Day), put it in to play in the background while I sew my eyeballs out on something. Then, after lunch, I'd take a nap--just because I can. Then I'd go back to sewing, unless I had a good book from the library.

Three Cheers for Cootie Killer!

I've been asked by a couple Bloggy-Sisters when I'm going to show my true passion and blog about my Beloved Cootie Killer... So here it is:

It's back-to-school week, so what better time to make sure all those little bottles of Cootie Killer are filled and ready to go!

Every daughter has one in her backpack, desk and lunch box. I have on in my work bag, purse, and church bag, as well as front AND back seats of the car.

You CANNOT have too much Cootie Killer. I buy the big liter bottle at Sam's and refill constantly.

And, no, I'm not a hypocondriac (did I spell that right?)--I just don't like germs.

Although, I could be if I wasn't so logical about life.

I want to go back to kindergarten

School started today and I already want it to end. The first day is always the worst. My homeroom this year is in the science lab so I have to walk all the way down stairs.We have the same teachers as last year with the same rules which we have to go over again in every class. I like school though. I get to see my freinds and I have awsome teachers. We have a lot of fun and goof off a lot in class.
But I have decided kindergarten was the life. We got naps, snack, and lots of coloring.   


I'm trying my first Linky Party:

Wordless Wednesday: Now That's a Good Nap!

No, "The Puppy" isn't dead... She's just napping.

.

Another blog hop for today: Welcome Wednesday

Hog Wild at the State Fair

We spent yesterday at the Indiana State Fair.

When I say "we" I mean a whole army of relatives: my family, my sister, my brother and sister-inlaw and their clan and our neice. It was a good time. It was the first time for my youngest two nieces, who are 4 and 5. They especially loved the pig snouts being given out at the biofuels display (Indiana Soybean).

Typical of my brother, he had his youngest all primed up for "free stuff". She was convinced that's why she was there! But, hey, isn't that what the fair's all about?

Anyway, here's our stop at the American Gothic to contrast with my post a few days ago.

American Gothic: First Cold, Then Hot

Since everyone in Indiana is blogging about the gigantic American Gothic statue that's moved into the State Fairgrounds, I thought I'd put some contrast on how it looks in this 94-degree weather.

Here's what it looked like at 19 degrees (with sleet!), back in January, in Chicago!!!

(That's Little D and Baby D shivering in their parkas!)

Where would you rather be? Sweating or Shivering?

We saw it totally by accident when we made an excursion to the American Girl store. We HAD to do a photo op.

BTW: I know I already posted this in the comments over at Life's a highway and mine's surrounded by corn, but the original painting depicts a father and DAUGHTER, not his wife.

Following Back on Tuesday...

My Secret Addiction, A Confession

I fell off the wagon last week.

And now I've done it two more times.

Yes, I've been driving thru White Castle.

I don't care what anyone thinks, I love, love, love those little burgers! Especially the soft buns and the warm pickles.

Baby Daughter jokingly told me she wanted to go there for dinner one night, since it was just the two of us (Husband/Dad was working and Little D was off at camp). She didn't really mean it, because my love for WCs is the family joke. And Husband/Dad says that unless I'm pregnant I can't justify eating there.

Well, I'm not. And he wasn't there to object. So, I took Baby D.

Turns out, she's never had a White Castle slider!!! She just claimed to hate them because of all the bad-mouthing from Husband/Dad!!

What's more, she liked them... with catsup... which I don't understand, because I'm a purist.

Regardless, I took Little D, on our way back from Girl Scout camp Friday, becuase I told her they now had pulled pork--and that's what she was dying for after a week of campfire food. She liked the BBQ sliders.

Now, this afternoon, Baby D and I were running errands after church, and she talked me into AGAIN!! I guess I'm addicted again.

Hey, it's cheaper than the Starbucks addiction I know a lot of other people have!!