Turkey potpies

This past weekend, we had some friends from Fort Collins come and join us for dinner. The Seal and Hartman families helped us with our move two months ago, so we've been wanting to find a way to thank them. We had a great time, especially with their children. There were five kids here (all 4 and under) between the two families.

To prepare for the meal, Q and I worked in the kitchen for a few hours making turkey potpies. Q did most of the work--cooking and cutting the turkey, cutting the vegetables and cooking everything together in a pot. I was working on dessert while he did all of that! The recipe is another great one from Taste of Home. The recipe makes two pies--a perfect amount for company or for eating one now and freezing the other one. 

The following pictures were all taken by Q. It was his idea to post this wonderful recipe on my blog.:)

Making a potpie completely from scratch is hard work, but so well worth it! It was delicious.

The recipe (below) calls for just one crust for the top, but we decided to make one for the bottom, too. I am not the world's best pastry maker, as I sometimes struggle getting it just right. Even after folding it over gently to put it in the pan, it sometimes breaks. I have used a few different recipes...but does someone out there have one that makes a perfect crust? 

Q had me stop patting the crust to get this shot. He said he wanted to show my ring....awww...

Here's one of the pies after we've devoured some of it. After my first top crust didn't come out so well, Q decided to cut out wedges from the other dough piece to put on the other pie. We thought it turned out well. 

So, do you have any turkey left from Thanksgiving? If so, use it up for this awesome "comfort food" recipe.

Turkey Potpies

2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

3 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 medium onion, chopped

1 celery rib, diced

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon pure olive oil

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 cups chicken broth

4 cups cubed cooked turkey

2/3 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream, divided

1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

pie pastry 

1 egg

In a skillet, saute the potatoes, carrots, onion and celery in butter and oil until tender. Stir in flour until blended; gradually add broth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in the turkey, peas, 1/2 cup cream, parsley, garlic salt and pepper. Spoon into two ungreased 9-inch pie plates. Roll out pastry to fit top of each pie; place over filling. Trim, seal and flute edges. Cut out a decorative center or cut slits in pastry. In a small bowl, whisk egg and remaining cream; brush over pastry. Cover and freeze one potpie for up to 3 months. Bake the remaining potpie at 375 for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

***To use frozen potpie: Remove from the freezer 30 minutes before baking. Cover edges of crust loosely with foil; place on a baking sheet. Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees; remove foil. Bake 55-60 minutes longer or until golden brown. 

Yield: 2 pies (6 servings each)

Lies Women Believe

I've recently finished the book, Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I heard about it this past summer from a camp speaker. The author has also written one for teen ladies, so it perked my interest. So when I saw the original version at the library, I checked it out and began reading through it a little at a time. 

I can honestly say that it has been one of the most convicting books I've ever read. It is amazing to me that in our normal, every day lives how much we give into Satan's lies. We have let them in through the gates of our eyes and ears and have let them seep into our minds. 

Each chapter is devoted into looking at the lies we believe in different areas of our lives. We believe lies about God, ourselves, sin, priorities, marriage, children, emotions and circumstances. To combat lies, we need to ingrain our hearts and minds with the Truth--God's Word. The author gives Scripture and great wisdom to help us overcome these in our lives. These lies truly hold us back in having a victorious life. In some of these areas, I've asked the Lord to help me stop believing these lies so that I can obey and serve Him better. 

Have you ever believed some of these lies? (These are just a few of many that are covered in the book.)

God doesn't love me.

I can't help the way I am.

I have my rights.

My sin isn't really that bad.

If I submit to my husband, I'll be miserable.

All children will go through a rebellious stage.

I can't control my emotions.

If my circumstances were different, I would be different.

Get a hold of this book today. You'll be encouraged and perhaps convicted (but that's okay--we all need that once in a while). Let me know how you enjoy it and what you've learned from it. 

Remember--the Truth will set us free! 

The day after Thanksgiving

When I was a kid growing up in San Francisco, my family always had a tradition the day after Thanksgiving. We bought a Christmas tree and decorated for the season! Perhaps some of you did the same thing and have carried on the tradition in your family today. So, here's a look at my favorite decorations for the Christmas season. I try to keep things simple and meaningful and only decorate in the living and dining areas.

Q and I like to call our three-foot tree "the Charlie Brown Christmas tree." It's small and cute, but I hope we can get a bigger one in the future. For now, all the ornaments that fit are ones we had as kids (or have received from kids during our years of ministry). Beside it are our kid stockings.

If I were to collect any kind of Christmas decoration, it would be Nativity sets. I only own two at the moment--the one pictured above and a smaller snowman version. This one was a gift to me from my mom several years ago. Next to Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus are animals, a shepherd, an angel and the wise man each riding on a camel. I always enjoyed setting this up in my classroom each year. It is a great reminder to us about the real reason of Christmas.

These two angels were handmade gifts given to me by friends. Next to them is an angel votive candle holder and a Scripture verse that talks about the angels declaring the good news that Jesus was born!

On a built-in bookcase between the living and dining areas, I have a few snowmen figurines that I've enjoyed over the years. 

Above the snowmen is this wooden spool Christmas tree. One of my former students made it with his mom and gave it to me. Wouldn't it be a neat project to make sometime? I've wanted to make more like this, perhaps smaller, as gifts for friends and family. In the background you can see a quilted table runner (on our coffee table) that I received from another school family.

I didn't show a picture of my dining room table, but all it has is a vinyl poinsettia table cloth and a candle centerpiece. I also haven't received any Christmas cards yet, so I'll have to wait to show you how I display them.

How's your decorating coming along? I'm currently working on a simple Christmas decoration to show you. Perhaps you can add it to your mix, too! 

Yummy Thanksgiving Pies

I wanted to share these yummy pie recipes that I made for our Thanksgiving lunch yesterday. I made a Classic Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chunk Pecan Pie. Both recipes come from Taste of Home. In fact, they came from the first Taste of Home Cooking School show that I went to a few years ago. They are scrumptious--enjoy!

Classic Pumpkin Pie

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 

   **If you just have pumpkin pie spice, you can substitute that in for the spices listed above. Add 1-3/4 teaspoon. The taste will be slightly different since pumpkin pie spice has nutmeg in it.

2 eggs

1/2 cup dark corn syrup (light is okay, too)

1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin

1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk

1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inches)

Mix sugar, salt and spices in a bowl. Add eggs and beat slightly. Add remaining ingredients; blend well. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Allow pie to cool a minimum of 2 hours before serving. Yield: 8 servings.

Chocolate Chunk Pecan Pie

3 eggs

1 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup pecan halves, coarsely chopped

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks (chocolate chips are okay)

1 unbaked deep-dish pastry pie shell (9 inches)

Combine eggs, corn syrup, sugar, butter and vanilla in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Stir in pecans. Sprinkle chunks over bottom of crust. Pour pecan mixture into pastry shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until knife inserted 2 inches from center comes out with little bits of filling attached. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours; refrigerate until serving time. Yield: 8 servings.

Our Thanksgiving

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with family and friends. Our day started off with a special service at church in the morning. It was an hour filled with singing, preaching and special music. Quentin preached a short message and we both got the opportunity to sing.

At around noon, we headed over to Ann's house to eat a delicious turkey meal. Her grand daughter, Memory, is the church secretary at the church in Fort Collins where Q was the youth pastor. 

After the last minute preparations were done, Q cut the turkey. Ann cooked the turkey breast in a crockpot and it came out delicious!

Not only did we have good fellowship with Ann and Memory, but we enjoyed their dogs, Lucy and Tahoe as well. Aren't they cute?

Memory put together this delicious bowl of sweet potato chunks. They were seasoned, then baked in the oven. I think I need to add sweet potatoes to our regular diet because they are so good for our bodies! Memory also made a yummy green bean casserole with onion potato chips as a topping. We also had the usual mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce to go with our turkey.

I made two pies for our feast: Classic Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chunk Pecan Pie (both from Taste of Home, of course!:). I will share these recipes soon.

For a special hostess gift for Ann, I made another set of my fall coasters, this time using orange and brown felt. I put them together with a copy of Giving Thanks at Mealtime and tied them up with a colorful piece of ribbon. I was glad to make these again, as the first time was for my give away. She really liked them a lot. I'm glad we were able to go somewhere for Thanksgiving this year. Q had to work from 3-10 last night. I stayed with Ann and Memory for a while after he left. We are thankful for such sweet friends.

How was your Thanksgiving celebration? I would love to hear your stories.:)

So thankful...

At this time of year, we're all being reminded to give thanks. But why do we sometimes wait until this season to do so? God wants us to give thanks to Him on a regular basis in all things. Even through hard times, we must look to God and give him thanks that He is working in that specific situation.

"In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." I Thessalonians 5:18

We can say we are thankful for family, friends, church, home, food, a job, and so forth, but what I've been specifically reminded about is the fact that we must give thanks to God for all those things. The pilgrims surely did! 

When everyone was seated, Governor Bradford began to pray: "Thank you, Lord, for sending Squanto to us," he prayed. "We know that Your hand has been on him through all of his trials, and that You have prepared him to be our guide and our friend in a time of great need. Squanto is Your living answer to our tears and prayers."

(taken from the book, Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving, by Eric Metaxas)

So keep your focus on the Lord, not only in this season, but throughout the days of your life. Remember that He is the One who has given us salvation through His son, Jesus Christ, and daily provides for our needs. We serve an awesome God!

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

"Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy." I Timothy 6:17

By the way, whenever the holidays roll around, I think about being with family. Q and I will be celebrating tomorrow with some good friends from church, since our relatives live far away. We are hoping to see a few of them over the Christmas season.

I try to keep everything on my blog as positive as I can, but I need to share this prayer request. There is a member of my family who has turned away from me these last several years. This last year has been the worst since we've hardly heard from them for over a year. It all started last November, so I've been reminded of yet another holiday season without communication with this family member. It breaks my heart, as I'm sure it does the Lord and other family members. I can't go into details, but I know in my heart that I've done everything to resolve the matter. I've continued loving and forgiving this person through sending cards and gifts to their children, and most of the time don't hear anything back. The Lord is in control of all of this. I must continue to be thankful even through this. Will you pray with me that the Lord works in this person's heart this season and that things would be restored? I not only want to honor the Lord in this, but other people have been affected by this person's attitudes and behavior, so I'd love things to change. Only in God's time, right?

Well, off to make a couple pies for tomorrows feast! Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving--and remember to thank the Lord for His goodness to you this year.

Mom's birthday card and gift

My mom just celebrated another birthday, but since she reads my blog, I had to wait to post about the card and gift I made for her (didn't want to spoil the surprise!) Mom is an awesome crafter and I'm so thankful that she taught my sisters and I to use our hands to serve others with our creative talents.

First, I stitched this card:

I first cut out a square out of this pretty fabric using pinking shears. I cut it out a little smaller than 3x3 to fit the card. I used a couple strands of the green embroidery floss and stitched "happy birthday." Finally, I used my sewing machine to stitch tiny zig-zags as a border using a light tan color thread.

I found this sewing craft project at Wal-mart. A yard included the pieces and instructions to make this turkey and a pumpkin (more on that later...). It is a design called Harvest by Patty Reed. I loved the way he turned out and so did Mom!;)

The project was more detailed than I thought, incorporating quilting techniques, which I've never done before. The look at the end is wonderful, but you quilters out there are very patient people--which I am not! Thankfully, I had my sewing machine that helped me sew on the fine details to his wings and back feathers.

With red thread, I hand stitched the details on his face. All in all, it was a wonderful project to make. Mom's birthday is so close to Thanksgiving and on certain years has landed right on the holiday. I knew she would like Mr. Turkey to dress up her Thanksgiving table.

Have you made a project for Thanksgiving this year? Please share and link up!