turkey pot pie

In the midst of 16 degree weather and post-Thanksgiving leftovers, I scrounged up the perfect dish: Turkey Pot Pie! It's rich and warm and comforting and is packed full of nourishing vegetables and lean protein. 

I made mine in mini casserole dishes which turned out to be perfect serving sizes. Forgive my lack of exact measurements but I made this one up as I went so I'll be estimating how much of everything went into it! 

What You'll Need:
for the crust:
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup shortening 
dash of salt 
3-5 tbsp ice water 
for the filling:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup turkey, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 small potato, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 stalk celery, diced
2 tbsp flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup milk (plus more as needed)
salt and pepper 

What To Do:
Preheat oven to 350

In a food processor, combine four, shortening and salt. Pulse until the mixture forms a coarse crumbly texture. Then add 1 tbsp of water at a time, mixing just until it comes together. Form dough into a ball and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes. 

Heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent. Add turkey, potato, carrot and celery and stir well. Continue cooking for 8-10 minutes or until vegetables are softened, adding more oil as necessary. Sprinkle flour over and stir to coat. Slowly add in broth and milk, scraping the bottom of the pan. Allow mixture to come to a boil and thicken. 

Meanwhile, divide dough among four mini casserole dishes or roll out for your pie pan. Spray dish with cooking spray and press dough into shape. Fill each with turkey filling and top with more pie dough. 

Bake for about 20 minutes or until the filling is bubbly and the crust is browned. 

pie crust recipe adapted from here

Strawberry Cream Crepes with Chocolate Drizzle

These are absolutely delectable and make a gorgeous presentation! The best part? They're easier to make than pancakes. No, really! These would make a perfect Valentine's night dessert for your little ones or your significant other... or for girls night! Because really, what's better than chocolate and strawberries with a light-as-the-clouds cream cheese filling? That's what I thought. 

What You'll Need:
serves 2-3
for the crepes:
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup whole milk 
1 tbsp sugar 
1/4 tsp salt 
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
for the filling:
1/2 lb strawberries
1 tbsp sugar
4 oz cream cheese
4 oz mascarpone cheese 
1 cup powdered sugar 
1 tsp vanilla extract 
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream 
for the drizzle:
1/2 cup chocolate chips 
4 tbsp heavy whipping cream 

What To Do:
To prepare the crepe batter, combine all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until completely smooth, about thirty seconds. Cover and refrigerate the batter for an hour. 

Meanwhile, Rinse and chop the strawberries, storing in a bowl. Sprinkle with sugar and stir to fully incorporate. Cover the strawberries with a paper towel and allow to sit at room temperature until ready to use. 

Heat a nonstick skillet to medium  heat and spray with cooking spray. Pour batter into the skillet (will be runny) and swirl to ensure it's evenly distributed. Allow to cook through and then flip it over with a spatula. Remove and all to cool on a plate. 

To prepare the cream filling, beat together cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla on medium speed until fully combined and fluffy. While mixing, slowly add the heavy whipping cream. Continue to beat until you reach the desired fluffiness. 

To prepare the chocolate drizzle, place chocolate chips and heavy cream together in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds and then in 10 second intervals until fully melted, stirring each time. Add more cream for a thinner consistency if desired and stir well. 

In the middle of each crepe, spread a generous amount of cream filling. Layer strawberries on top of that, and roll together carefully with the seams down. Drizzle chocolate over each crepe and garnish with extra strawberries. 

crepe recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

A Fun Valentine's Day Gift for the Board Game Aficionado

You may absolutely adore Valentine's Day- the celebration of love- the hearts, sparkles, and chocolate abounding. 

Or you may completely detest this Hallmark Holiday, obviously used to commercialize something meaningful into a box of chocolate and red roses. 

I guess I fall somewhere in between. I do celebrate Valentine's Day but for the past four years it has been with homemade gifts and/or dinners. I thought I would share a really fun, inexpensive gift to make if either of you love board games! 

A personalized version of Monopoly! All you need is a foam poster board, a sharpie, scissors (and a box cutter if possible), a printer, glue and colored paper. Here's what I did:

Create your board!

• Using a regular Monopoly board as a template, cut a square out of the foam poster board. Using a box cutter makes a cleaner cut. 
• Draw your spaces around the board, in pencil then with Sharpie. 
• Create your logo in the center, mimicking the official name and trademark information. 

Choose your properties

• I incorporated places that we met, favorite date spots, places we lived, where we worked, etc. I printed small photos that represented each place to glue onto their space on the board. I listed the values of each space as represented on my regular Monopoly board. 
• For railroads, I used the cities which we have lived in. Instead of Go, I made a Home space. Instead of Jail - the Doghouse. For Free Parking, I made a little Mt Bonnell space, a famous Austin lookout. I replaced the luxury tax with a credit card bill, and income tax with a tithe. 
• I glued strips of colored paper on each section- you could also use different colored Sharpies and just color the tops! 
• For houses and hotels, just cut uniform shapes from colored paper- quick and easy!

Create Chance and Community Chest cards

• In my game Chance became "Get Lucky" cards and included an equal number of good and bad personalized fortunes and consequences. 
• Community Chest became Family Jewels. I read through the official Monopoly versions and modernized/personalized them! 

Print or create monopoly money

• I printed my own money by searching each monopoly denomination in a Google image search, re-sizing them all to be the same, creating sheets in a power point file, printing and cutting each out. 
• You can always just sub in the money from your official board game though and save yourself some time!

Don't forget your game pieces

• Create or find an item that represents each of you!

This project does take quite a bit of work, so be prepared to put in some time to make it perfect. I loved reminiscing about our relationship as I put this together. When I gifted it, we played a round and it was so fun to read through the cards and see how it all worked in actual game-play. And now, the board makes an adorable keepsake! 

Have you ever given or received a homemade Valentine's Day gift? 

Cast Iron Skillet Cinnamon Rolls (without yeast)

My mom and I had big plans for Christmas cinnamon rolls. We've always just kinda used the Pillsbury canned kind and this was the first year we were going to make them from scratch. I suggested the Pioneer Woman's version but then we decided on a recipe that just made one batch. Well, Christmas Eve came and we discovered that despite multiple trips to the grocery store in the preceding days, there was no yeast in the house. So, after some quick research we found this recipe which does not require any yeast! That means there's no crazy steps of letting the dough rise and then kneading and then waiting for it to rise again. Which was just fine with us :)

Now these were a little less fluffy than your typical cinnamon rolls, but were still soft, bathed in ooey-gooey cinnamon sugary butter, and reheated really well. Plus the icing is basically a cream cheese frosting... which I love. Oh, and better than the canned, processed kind if you have a few minutes to put them together. 

What You'll Need:

for the rolls:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for the counter
2 Tablespoons white granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

for the filling:

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

for the frosting:

4 oz cream cheese, softened
4 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1.5 cups confectioner's sugar
1 Tablespoon milk

What To Do:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Generously coat your cast iron skillet with vegetable oil spray. You could also use a 9" round cake pan.

2. First make the filling. Combine together the brown sugar, 1/4 cup granulated white sugar, cinnamon, salt, and the 1 Tablespoon melted butter until the mixture resembles wet sand.

3. Then, make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour; 2 Tablespoons white granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk and 2 Tablespoons of the melted butter together.

5. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon until absorbed, about 30 seconds. 

6. Turn the dough out onto a generously floured counter and knead until smooth, about 1 minute.

7. Press the dough out into a 9 by 12 inch rectangle using your hands or a rolling pin.

8. Brush the dough with 2 Tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle the dough evenly with the filling, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Press the filling firmly into the dough.

9. Loosen the dough from the counter using a bench scraper or a metal spatula.

10. Starting at a long side, roll the dough, pressing lightly, to form a tight log.

11. Pinch the seam to seal. Slice the dough into 8 even pieces. (The more even each roll, the more evenly they will cook!)

12. Place the slices in the greased skillet.

13. Brush with the remaining 2 Tablespoons melted butter. Bake until the edges are golden brown, 20-25 minutes.

14. Meanwhile, in a stand mixer combine all of the ingredients for the cream cheese icing until fully combined and smooth. 

14. Let cool for 10 minutes before frosting with cream cheese icing. Serve warm!

recipe adapted from Moms Who Think

and because I'm a little weird, this is a little video I took as I oohed and aaahhhed over the yummy smell and bubbling deliciousness

I know that Christmas is over, but this is the perfect breakfast treat for any cold Saturday morning. You have to leave a little wiggle room in your New Years Resolutions, and there's a lot of winter left :) These completely fill your home with a delicious cinnamon sugar fragrance and warm happiness. I'm not even kidding. These fill your home with happiness. 

Christmas Traditions

hello loves! i'm linking up with Ashley at 5ohwifey and Kerrie at The Williams Post for this month's Girl Behind the Blog link up. This month's prompt was to share our favorite holiday traditions. My vlog is a little scattered and rambly but hope y'all enjoy. Be patient if I'm not able to comment on everyone's videos right away- I will be away from internet access for a few days!

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Fun Holiday Playlist

There are some songs this time of year that I cannot stand. The Christmas Shoes, Last Christmas, Santa Baby. BUT I really do love Christmas music. 

For your listening pleasure, here are my cross-genre, classic and remixed, favorite songs of the season. Some are distinctly Advent- related. Some are simply songs for the winter. But each song comes together for a fun and festive celebration of this Christmas season. In  no particular order, here are some of my favorite songs this year!

1. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm STUHR Remix by Kay Starr
2. Oh Come All Ye Faithful by Johnny Cash 
3. Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow by Dean Martin
4. Christmas Tonight by Dave Barnes with Hilary Scott
5. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day by The Civil Wars
6. You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch by CeeLo Green ft Straight No Chaser
7. Wonderful Christmastime by The Shins
8. Winter Song by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson 
9. Rockin Around the Christmas Tree by She & Him 
10. All I Want For Christmas is You by Mariah Carey 
11. Do You Hear What I Hear by Carrie Underwood
12. White Christmas by Michael Buble with Shania Twain
13. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear by Frank Sinatra 
14. Sleigh Ride by Relient K
15. The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole
16. Christmas Eve/Sarajevo by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
17. The First Noel by Josh Groban with Faith Hill
18. I Saw Three Ships by Sufjan Stevens 
19. Santa Claus is Coming to Town by the Jackson 5 
20. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by the Glee Cast (don't hate.)

What are your favorite songs this season? Which ones drive you crazy? You can check out my complete Christmas playlist here

Crock Pot Peppermint Mocha

I made a batch of this Peppermint Mocha for a day-long finals study session. I loved that I could whip it up the night before, refrigerate and then keep it warm in the crock pot the next day. I also loved that I had most of these ingredients on hand, saving me some serious money that I could have spent at a coffee shop. I made double this recipe and adjusted flavors by taste. I used instant coffee, 2% milk and heavy cream, and a mix of white and semi-sweet chocolate chips. SO GOOD.

It is creamy and sweet, with a hint of refreshing peppermint. A reminder of this sweet, refreshing season. Christmas in a cup. 

One of my favorite family traditions is our Christmas Eve brunch. We go all out with bacon, sausage, eggs, hashbrowns, scones, quiche, kolaches, French toast, and/or cinnamon rolls. This peppermint mocha would be a fantastic addition to our traditional feast (if any of my other family members would drink it, that is)

It would be great for Christmas mornings too!

What You'll Need:

• 4 cups milk
• Either 4 shots of espresso, 4 rounded teaspoons instant espresso powder plus 1½ cups water, or 2 cups very strong brewed coffee
• ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ¼ cup peppermint syrup
• Whipping cream and shaved chocolate bar for garnish

Peppermint syrup

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 2 teaspoons peppermint extract

What To Do:

1. First prepare the peppermint syrup. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the water and sugar to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in the peppermint extract. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.
2. Make your peppermint mochas: In a 3-quart or larger slow cooker/Crock Pot, stir together the milk, espresso/coffee, chocolate chips, and peppermint syrup.
3. Cook covered on low for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally to help distribute the melting chocolate, until steaming. You can also cook it on high for about an hour and fifteen minutes (depending on your slow cooker), stirring often – just watch it a little more carefully when the slow cooker is on high. Reduce heat to warm and keep covered once the mocha has heated to steaming. Taste and adjust flavors as desired. 
4. Serve in festive mugs, topped with whipped cream and garnish with a candy cane, chocolate shavings or a sprinkle of cocoa. Enjoy your Christmas in a cup.

recipe from Kitchen Treaty

Recipes for Christmas Parties

Getting ready for some fun office and school parties? Here are some fantastic party food suggestions for your celebrations!

Appetizers 

Stuffed Mushrooms

the bad phone picture can't capture decadent deliciousness of these creamy, savory bites.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Jalapeno Bites

nom nom nom

Queso Blanco

melted cheese is always a winner.

Guacamole

(hey it's green

add tomatoes for Christmas colors!)

Jalapeno Popper Dip

flavorful without being too spicy, creamy without being heavy and one recipe people will definitely keep asking for...

Baked Brie 

again, melted cheese is always a winner 

Desserts 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies 

The goodness of Reese's in cookie form

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

oatmeal means healthy, right?

Caramel Brownies 

ooey, gooey, rich and irresistible 

Chocolate Trifle 

my mom's signature dish that gets requested every. single. year. 

Caramel Apple Cheesecake

My mom and I wanted to do something a little different for dessert this Thanksgiving. I saw this tasty idea over at Feeding My Temple and we decided to go for it! This treat went with us to day two of our family festivities and provided a delicious and decadent alternative to the pecan pie. It is full of yummy fall flavors (which normally get overshadowed by pumpkin in my house). 

This dessert is a fantastic combination of a shortbread crust, classic cheesecake, cinnamon-sugary apples, crunchy topping and gooey caramel. 

Do I have you convinced? 

By the way, the best way to prep all of the ingredients is to move everything into the living room so that you can cheer/yell/cry at the Texas football game at the same time. Oh, that's just me? 

I've adjusted the recipe slightly from the original, so you might check out her version as well :)

What You'll Need:
for the crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
for the filling:
2 8 oz pkgs cream cheese (the real stuff, people)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs 
2 large apples- peeled, cored and diced
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp sugar
for the topping
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 tbsp butter
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup caramel cubes
2 tbsp heavy cream 

What To Do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, and butter. Using 2 forks or a pastry cutter, mix until a crumbly mixture forms. Press the dough evenly into prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly brown.

Using a mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Adding the eggs one at a time, incorporating well before adding the next. Mix in vanilla extract.In a small bowl, combine chopped apples with cinnamon and sugar. Toss to coat. Pour cheesecake mixture over prepared crust. Sprinkle apples over mixture evenly.

In a smaller bowl, mix together flour, oats, and brown sugar for the crumb topping. Cover cheesecake mixture and apples with the crumb topping. (This will be a thick layer.)Bake 30 minutes or until cheesecake is set. Let cool completely before cutting.

In a medium glass bowl, add caramel cubes and heavy cream. Microwave bowl 20 seconds at a time, stirring between each interval. Pour caramel sauce over the top.

Recipe Adapted from Feeding My Temple 

A Thanksgiving Photo Overload

((So I may or may not be avoiding working on some major school projects right now))

I thought I'd pop in and share a few scenes from my Thanksgiving!

For the first time in years, I was able to spend almost a whole week with my parents. I went to work with my dad one day, got to visit a good friend from high school, had quality sister time, visited both sets of grandparents, and ate LOTS of delicious food. I had some quality time to reflect on how blessed I am, and just focus on thankfulness. 

I left my camera in my purse for most of our time and tried to focus on where I was, but here are some snapshots of our week. 

Got to have lunch with my best friend Monday before I drove to my parents' house! I rocked some #cheapgirlfashion with a hand me down cardigan, $3 tank top (JCP), $10 jeans (F21), free red shoes (Blowfish shoes), and a headband from my sister! 

Ringo likes to sleep in uncomfortable places and positions. Instead of laying on this nicely placed pillow on the spacious front seat, he crawled into my purse between the seats. Of course.

One day of feasting wasn't enough for my folks. We had chicken and dumplings Monday, a shrimp smorgasbord Tuesday and delicious homemade prosciutto pizza Wednesday.  

Preppin the good stuff! Lots of mashed potatoes and homemade green bean casserole. Ok, so I burnt the topping just a little bit. 

Pretty drives to the grandparents!

Photo shoots from the back seat

Baked Brie with Cranberry Chutney on Thanksgiving. You're probably supposed to let it cool a little longer but I like the brie lava flow!

Shannon made this super cute veggie tray!

We got back just in time for the last quarter of the Texas game! Me and Ringo cheered and yelled and cried. I'm still a Longhorn fan. 

Got some fun hand me downs from my sis! Love all my new flannels. 

Stopped for Starbucks on the way to Thanksgiving #2 and reveled in some Christmas spirit!

 Caramel Apple Cheesecake. Recipe to come. It was tasty. 

 We braved Wal-Mart on Saturday to pick up some board games. My cousin and his fiance are cute. And apparently I'm their paparazzi. 

We got the tree set up before I had to return to Fort Worth- wish I could have stayed to help do all the decorating!

My sister is gorgeous and she doesn't even know it. 

So is my mom. It might be easier to tell when we've got our eyes open though...

We finally wrangled dad into a family picture. And that's all folks!

Hope y'all had a very Happy Thanksgiving week as well!