Last few months

I know....I know....It's been a few months since I posted anything. I've come to the conclusion that nothing much exciting happens in our life. Anyway, here's some picture of activities and projects we've done over the last several months.

At Christmas time I always make lots and lots of candy and then give them as gifts. This year I did all cake pops and arranged them into candy bouquets. I thought they turned out really cute.

For Christmas, I made my mom a handprint pillow using all the grands hands (Yes, all but one are mine I know, I'll have more nieces and nephews one of these days.)



Man my kids have huge hands!



Here's a link to the instructions for the pillow. http://fromanigloo.blogspot.com/2010/04/keepsake-hug-pillow-tutorial.html

About the middle of January I started teaching a science class once a week. OERB is a great resource for any teacher, whether public or homeschool. I highly recommend checking them out and attending a class. They pay you to come and provide all the materials and then pay for a field trip at the end. I had 10 kids in my class ranging from 3rd grade up to 7th. We had a good time and learned a lot about energy and natural gas. We're looking forward to the field trip in a few weeks.

In February we had a home school Valentine's Party. It was a great turn out and I think the kids had a good time.

 This is one table...there were three full tables.

Last month, Summer went with our pastor's wife to help take care of her grandkids for a few days. Boy, did I ever feel outnumbered. I am not looking forward to the day that she moves out for good. Hopefully, that is a long way off and when she does that she will still live close by. While she was gone, I got a mad craving for some kind of dip. I wanted it to have tomatoes and black beans. All the recipes I could find had corn or some other ingredient I didn't have on hand or didn't sound good. SOOO....what do you do? You make up your own of course. I took what I had on hand and whipped up a YUMMY dip. I'm not good at naming things so here is a pic of my Chunky Black Bean Salsa. I'll post the recipe at the end.

Yesterday morning, as I was checking my e-mail, I get an e-mail from Andrew that goes something like this: "Hey babe, we're having an Easter party this afternoon. Do you think you could make something for the class." Short notice? Just a little. I had just seen this recipe for Peanut Butter Eggs on Pinterest and thought, "I sure do want to try those." Since I had everything for them I decided to give them a try for his party. The recipe said it made 15 and since I needed a dozen for his class I decided to double the recipe just in case they were good and we wanted to eat them.

 I was very pleased with how they turned out. They were much easier than I thought they would be. I didn't have milk chocolate like the recipe called for so I just used semi-sweet chocolate chips. Next time I think I will try using almond bark. I just think it's easier to work with and sets up a lot better.

They definately taste a lot like their name brand counter part. Anyway, they were a great success and will definately be a make again.....and again. http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2012/04/03/homemade-peanut-butter-eggs/

Chunky Black Bean Salsa Recipe
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans diced tomatoes, drained (petite diced would be best but all I had was regular diced tomatoes)
1/4 red onion, chopped
1-2 jalapenos, diced
1 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 1/2 a lime
garlice powder, chili powder and kosher salt to taste.

Dump it all in a bowl and mix it together. Tastes similar to Pico de Gallo but with beans. Very yummy and good for you too.

Enjoy until next time,
~Robyn

Confession

Ok, before I can talk about my dinner tonight I have to make a confession. I love Banquet Chicken Pot Pies and Hamburger Helper Stroganoff. I know....I know....for someone who prides herself on making home made meals these are the total opposite. But I grew up loving them and basically lived on the pot pies when I was pregnant with Summer. Hamburger Helper was probably one of the first meals I ever cooked all by myself. I've searched for years for recipes that taste just like these. I have yet to find a recipe thats as good as the HH Stroganoff. However, I finally came up with one that is just as good as the Banquet Pot Pie. So now I can have my guilty pleasure and still feel good about feeding my family a wholesome meal. If you ever come across a stroganoff recipe that tastes like HH please share!!

So, tonight for dinner I made the chicken pot pie. I'm always at a loss as to what to serve with this though. I mean it already has all your food groups so what could you possibly add? Some fruit maybe? Well tonight I made jalapeno cornbread. Not sure it was my favorite thing to go with it however.

I'm a littly picky about my pot pies. I mean....I want them to taste just like the frozen ones. Two crusts, a creamy gravy, lots of veggies and chicken. Definately pie crust and not biscuits or anything like that. So, after many recipes I finally developed one that is perfect. Like I said...I like the frozen ones so if you don't like those then you probably won't like mine....but hey, to each their own.....Don't judge me and I won't judge you.

Robyn's Chicken Pot Pie
serves 8
1 chicken breast half ( I use the bone in ones just because I think they have more flavor when cooked on the bone. If you want to use the boneless stuff feel free. Use 1 pound boneless skinless and cube it)
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup sliced celery
2 small potatoes, peeled & cubed
1/4 cup butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2/3 cup milk
1 can cream of chicken
3 unbaked pie crusts

Preheat oven to 425.
Place chicken breast in large saucepan and cover with chicken broth. Cover and boil for 30 minutes. Remove from broth and set aside. Add carrots, peas, celery and potatoes to the broth and cook 15 minutes or until tender. (If using the bonesless chicken breast skip the first part and just cook the chicken with the veggies.)

Drain broth, reserving 1 1/2 cups for later. Set veggies aside. In the saucepan, cook onion in butter until soft. Stir in flour and seasonings. Slowly stir in reserved chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat. Stir in cream of chicken and cooked veggies. Remove chicken from bone and shred. Add to veggie mixture.

Take one pie crust and break it in half. Add one half to each of the other pie crusts, so that you have two large balls of crust. Roll one crust into a large rectangle about 11x15. Place in a 9x13 in. baking dish, pressing up the sides. Place chicken mixture in the crust. Roll out second crust to a 9x13 rectangle and place on top. Seal edges. Make several slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

Bake in preheated oven 30-35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.