Here are a few pictures from around The Estate.
Elizabeth, pre hair cut, helping Momma plant green beans.
Peach tree blooms.
Paperwhite booms.
Elizabeth, post hair cut, helping Momma plant green beans…again!
Her sweet little hands holding bean seed!
Our gardens are planted and the little plants are growing! Do you have plans for a garden this year?
Saturday, we had our 5K run and the results were posted today!
It was super windy, but I still had a decent run time. I had a great time with the girls! Hope we can do it again!
Before the race: Leslie (Lisa’s friend), Karen, Me, Lisa
After the race. We went out to eat at Cheddar’s and then took a picture outside. We were all handed a tiara, a feather boa and a rose as we entered the stadium.
I had a great time and am looking forward to our next one!
This chicken pot pie recipe was given to me at one of my wedding showers. I never made it until this year and I didn’t know what I was missing! For me, this is about as close to a one-dish-wonder of a meal as you can get!
You’ll need a can of Veg-all (original); Cream of Potato Soup; Cream of Chicken Soup; Pepper; Milk; an egg; about 2 cups of cooked chicken; and 2 pie crusts. I usually make my own pie crusts, but this night, I was in a hurry and had picked up the refrigerated kind. Either one will work!
Put the Veg-all in a bowl. This stuff is great! It has carrots, peas, corn, celery, potatoes, and probably a couple of other things in it…You know you’re getting vegetables!!
Add a can of cream of potato soup.
And a can of cream of chicken soup. Cream of mushroom would work here, too, but I prefer the chicken.
Add 1/2 cup of milk…
A teaspoon of pepper…
The 2 cups of cooked chicken…
A note about the chicken: You can use whatever kind you like. I’ve roasted a whole chicken in the oven and saved the breasts for this and I’ve used boneless, skinless chicken breasts and seasoned them with Tony’s and roasted those in the oven. You could also boil your chicken or, if you’re really in a hurry, use canned chicken. I will say that roasted chicken, either whole or breasts, seasoned add a ton of flavor to this meal.
And stir to combine!
Unroll one of the crusts and place into the bottom of a 9” pie plate.
Add the chicken/Veg-All mixture.
And seal with the other crust.
Cut slits for vents and brush with a beaten egg. (This step is optional.)
Bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is hot and bubbly.
Serve and enjoy! This is a hearty meal that you won’t mind eating the left-overs!
If there are any, that is…
Here’s the recipe:
Combine the cream of potato soup, cream of chicken soup, Veg-all, chicken, milk & pepper. Spoon into prepared pie crusts. Cover with the top crust, crimp edges to seal. Slit top and brush with egg, if desired.
Bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Enjoy!
We’ve attempted to make wine nearly every year and so far, we haven’t had much luck with the finished product. Well, we’ve decided to try grapefruit wine again and here are a few pictures from what we’ve done so far.
Elizabeth, helping chop the raisins in the food processor. She likes to “Pushy Button!!”
I did convince her to stop slaving away for a second and give me a big smile!
Travis, measuring and stirring.
I also got him to look at the camera…
A few days later, it was time to siphon the wine must out of the buckets and into the jar. Elizabeth was helping Daddy so I could snap a few pictures of my wine snobs!
Hmm…without her, I might actually have had to help! Maybe since she’s so “sweet” the wine will be good this year!
I’m running my first ever 5K (3.1 miles) this Saturday! My cousin, Lisa, has been running half marathons now for a few years and really enjoys them. Her sisters, Joanne & Karen, are running a half marathon in Dallas with her at the end of March. There’s no way I’d be ready for that!
Lisa & Karen talked about running this 5K and asked if I would like to sign up and run, too. Sure! I had been running just for exercise, but actually having a goal to work toward has really been motivating.
I’ve been running 3.2 miles at least three times a week for the last few weeks. I’ve been using a popular walk/run method where I run for 3 minutes and walk for 1 minute. I’m pretty sure this method is the reason I’m not completely burned out!
I have two more 3+ mile runs to get under my belt this week and then I’ll be ready for my first “race”! My goal is to run it in under 30 minutes…I have about 2 minutes to shave off my time this week, but I think I can do it!
Looking forward to the run!!
Spring is here and we have a long to do list to get the garden ready!
Most of my tomatoes are still in the greenhouse, but we have three little “patio” tomatoes at home. Travis laughed and asked why we needed tomatoes at the house when we’ll have close to 200 of them in the garden! Well, I figured that these would be fun for Elizabeth to “help” take care of. And then she can pick them, too!
I have increased my herb population based on what I’ve seen do well here. Thyme has been one of those things that hasn’t done great in the flower bed, but I’m hoping that it’ll do much better in a container.
I’ve cleaned out the herb bed and planted new transplants that I grew from seed.
Chives/green onion.
Cilantro.
Curly leaf parsley.
I’ve cut back part of the mint bush and cleaned out the day lilies.
I even found some new little lily babies!
Oregano.
And rose cuttings Stephen collected for me!
My paper whites are really looking good and they don’t show signs of slowing, yet!
Travis cleaned out my washing machine drain and dug a better ditch!
He actually did a ton of dirt moving last weekend while Elizabeth & I were out of town. There was a big pile of dirt to the right of Elizabeth, but now it’s along one of our fences, guiding the neighbors’ runoff water away from the garden.
We also dug up loads and loads and loads of bricks…most had been covered with grass. Travis filled in the holes with soil an we planted St. Augustinegrass from the washer drain ditch into the newly fixed holes. It looks much better!
There’s a lot of stuff going on around here and this was just a small glimpse into all of the projects we’ve been working on!
Nothing says “I Love You” around here like chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels! (Or really, chocolate covered anything!)
I hope you and the special people in your life have a very Happy Valentine’s Day!
Elizabeth was kind enough to pose with a chocolate covered pretzel…right before she ate it and nearly all of the other ones I made!
This photo really has nothing to do with Valentine’s day. We started a batch of grapefruit wine last night and she was helping me chop up raisins to go into the mix. She just smiled and posed so nicely, I figured you’d like it, too!
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