Chicken Pot Pie

I  started watching a program on PBS about baking,  I was not shocked to realize how little I knew about baking, but I was overwhelmed watching this program and learning how different the English did things in the kitchen.  I had not noticed this in other cooking shows but this one really caught my interest.

I have always felt when I made a chicken pot pie I was doing something wrong.  I totally remember the little pot pies which were frozen and seemed to have 3 small pieces of carrot, 5 green peas, a chunk of something I would consider mystery meat, lots of yellowish liquid and only a top crust.  Mr. Bootsie always felt that a chicken pot pie should have a top and bottom crust.  I have tried to make this and it always turned out a mess.  Too much liquid and taking one slice out, the pie ran out of the crust which was just  discouraging for me.  Mr. Bootsie would say, "It tastes good, just doesn't look like you want it to look.  You can try again,  I am more than happy to keep eating your mistakes."

While watching "The Great British Baking Show", they did a savory pie, out came the spring form pans,  6 inch.  What the heck are they doing?  I had never thought about this.  Then came the talk of a different type of pie crust.  So off I went to do some reading.  Pie crust for pot pies should be 1/3 of an inch thick.  Interesting, I am pondering this, what about the liquid in my filling?  I already knew the answer to this one, as I always add to much liquid.  This I can fix, I think.

There was pot pie filling in the freezer and I decided it was time for me give all of this a try.  First I made my crust using an egg in the pastry.  The bottom crus wast put in the spring form pan and there was plenty of excess to work with.  I thicken the filling and had very little liquid, into the bottom crust this went.  The top crust was rolled out, I cut a circle just a little larger than 6 inches, located the center using a chicken cookie cutter from my childhood I made my cut and then the crust was placed on top of the filling.  The bottom crust was trimmed and was placed over the top crust, this worked and it was time to seal the crust together.  With the trimming I was surprised at how very easy this process was.  Into the oven and 45 minutes later out came a chicken pot pie which made me smile.

I was so pleased when the spring form pan was taken away, my crust was strong enough to hold the savory pie.  I had extra gravy because we do like a moist pot pie.  Now I have found there are 4 inch spring form pans, these will make a personal pot pie.  Taking the time to learn how to do this has added a new meal to our menu and I found out quickly it was enjoyed by all.

During the winter the pace is different, and this year with all the weather I had time to learn how to make a pot pie.

A Long Over-Due Update

IN THE KITCHEN

Lo-Mein (click here for the recipe link) is one of my go to meals, I use as many seasonable garden fresh veggies as I can during the summer,  frozen veggies from my garden during the winter.  I always freeze snow and sugar snap peas, I really enjoy fixing something fresh from the garden during the cold days of winter, makes me appreciate all of the work we do during the warm months.   Pizza crusts were made and frozen this week.  I use our sun-dried tomatoes and frozen peppers on these, along with homemade cheese which was frozen during the summer.  The freezer is a very important part of our meal planning.

As the snow was falling this week. I pulled a bag of frozen tomatoes and used them in chili, it was a good feeling to be peeling tomatoes from the garden as I watched the weather outside.  I freeze tomatoes when I just do not have enough to can or time to can.  I am now on a mission to get my freezer emptied before spring when it will be time to fill once again.   This is one of the most difficult  projects for me as I am always making something and adding the extra to the freezer.  

My afore mentioned project seems to be an ongoing battle.  I am using blackberries to make wine and veggies as often as possible.  The peppers I froze last summer as just about to end. 

While I was not doing my chores, I put the kefir grains on vacation.  I have returned them to the everyday working to make kefir.  Whenever I do this I think it takes a few days for the kefir to taste like it did before I stopped processing.  So after about 7 days I am enjoying my kefir once again.  I do prefer to work my kefir on a 2 day schedule as I like the punch.  I think my salad dressing have more zip with the kefir being processed for 48 hours.

THE FIRST SNOW FALL OF THE YEAR/WINTER

Boxwoods with top hats

I love how clean everything appears after the snow,  then the melt begins and the mud appears.  For me, a little dusting like this is a pleasure.  It was so cold this time it hung around for several days.  

Snow is not well received by the goats.  They seem not to care for anything which falls from the sky.  Belle has spent most of day trying to keep her front feet out of the snow, resting them on anything she could find.  The barn is open and they could go in but then, being as curious as they are, how could they know what is going on.  We went out, cut cedar and pine trees for them.  The vegetation acts as a wormer and they seem to love pulling the bark from the trees.  I love walking down to visit and the smell of cedar is in the air.  I think of how good the house smelled when I was a child at Christmastime.  

Scoot playing with Auntie Bell.  

Scoot is enjoying her first snow fall.

Momma Duck with her 2 little ones.  

Baby ducks born this past spring.  They are enjoying their first snow fall, it is bath time in the fresh drinking water on a very cold morning.  They are busy girls, the little ones are laying every day while Momma Duck lays at least 3 to 4 times a week.  

All is well in the coop, the girls are slowly beginning to come out of winter molt and beginning to lay.  The pullets have kept us in eggs through the winter.  With the new pullets our eggs have gotten very colorful.  Now we have olive eggers along with our other girls, this makes the eggs earth tones, greens, tans, lights browns and of course when all them are back on line, white and blue eggs.   

IN THE GARDEN

Veggie seeds are on the table and some of them have been planted.  Maybe too early but in the dead of winter you sometimes have to do something for the soul.  Planting the seeds help me feel we are moving toward spring.  The tunnel garden harvest is good chard, kale and lettuces.  Cabbage plants are getting large, I am looking forward to some early cabbages. 

I bombed the moles/voles with castor bean seeds in all of the tunnels I could find in the tunnel garden.  Will it help? I don't know, but it was fun thinking maybe I might, just might win the one. 

IN CLOSING 

We are busy planning for the spring, trying new recipes, keeping the critters warm, watered and happy.  Spring will come. Everything will begin anew, I find this excites me.  Until then I shall continue dreaming about what the spring will bring.  

  

It is a New Year, 2015

December 21, 2014 it walked in the door.  I never saw it coming but it knocked me on the floor.  I was so prepared, more decorating for the holidays than I had done in all the years we had lived here.  The Christmas rolls were in the fridge waiting for Christmas morning when I would bring them out for the final rise and then baked.  Some of our farm raised chicken was thawing which I was planning on making into chicken salad to put on the rolls. The next morning, I could not muster the strength to get out of the bed.  Mr. Bootsie to the rescue, he went to the barn lot and took care of my babies for me.  In a couple of days I felt as if I was bouncing back.  On the 27th, it showed it's ugly head once again and this time Mr. Bootsie could not get out of the bed.  I was strong enough to make my way to the barn lot and take care of the animals who depend on us.  During this time of year food and water is very important.

I found myself not doing very well before the New Year and I was sleeping most of the day.  Some way we balanced doing our chores but that was all.  No meals were being prepared.  Cereal became our friend, it was easy and quick.  I called our Doctor and yes, you should come in this afternoon.  After he checked out both of us, he presented a few small pieces of paper and told me the drug store was closed but go there in the morning and get the meds.  If there is no change in 3 days to call him and we would move to another direction but he felt we had what we needed.  Following his directions we could feel a little improvement in 3 days and felt he must have nailed the problem.

As I look back, 2014 has been a hard year.  Never did I think I would see the end of my brother's life and it would happen so quickly.  Some of his family came over for a farm day visit and he joined them. He always left with his hen fruit, I remember that day as if it were yesterday.  There were others here and I gave all of them eggs.   My brother was sitting in his car and I gave him a dozen eggs,  He smiled and said, "Thank you for the hen fruit, you will never know how I have enjoyed your eggs."  Mr. Bootsie had taken him on the cart so he could be with his family who had come to take pictures of their little one with our baby animals.  This was first time he had seen our operation.  He was always interested but  he fell in love with my Belle.  She had her first baby and was very protective of ones she did not know getting close to her baby; however, there was a sense that my brother was safe.  As my brother was driving away that beautiful, sunny afternoon I felt something in my body, an empty place.  We knew he was doing as good as he had in the past but today I felt Bubba would never return to Triple Creek Farm.

My Belle

Time marched on quickly and my brother's earthly journey ended.  I was away from the farm far more than I would have thought, my brother had children, grown grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  I  never thought I would have been the person he would start turning to.  I quickly found myself making food to take to the hospital/rehab center and receiving calls from him for what he wanted.  One day he called, "Do you have any tomatoes?" Yes.  "Do you have any mayonnaise?"   Yes, I have Duke's.  Joking I said to him, "I know what you want, I will bring it tomorrow."  I packed my cooler and off to the rehab center I went.  As my bubba was eating his tomato sandwich you could not measure the smile on his face.  He savored every bite.  I took a kitchen towel to catch the drippings,  but there were very few.  I used about half of the large brandywine tomato for the sandwich.  After eating the sandwich, Bubba asked for the knife and tomato, he began cutting up the tomato reaching for the Duke's he loaded the tomato.  I weighed the tomato before leaving home, Bubba had eaten over a pound of brandywine tomato.  When I left the rehab center that day, I knew I could not have done anything which would have made him any happier.

I was baking zucchini bread for him every couple of days, slicing and wrapping it so it would stay fresh.  He had plenty to share if he wanted.  I was asked to can snaps for him and his wife,  they were planning on eating these beans this winter.   I picked, cleaned and canned beans for him as he told me he did not enjoy the grocery store beans like the ones I canned.

I had been going to the hospital which put us on the  road 2 hours every day we went, also, taking care of my animals and garden.  I kept picking the garden so it would keep producing.  I was feeding string beans to the goats, tomatoes to the chickens and my compost pile was busy with fresh produce.  I was milking the goats and making cheese.  I never gave up all summer.  I was so pleased my cucumbers did not have a good crop year because I always made pickles for Bubba.

I stopped milking the goats around the first of October.  No more cheese to be made.  I was thinking this is one job I am glad to have over.  If I sit down, I would fall asleep.  If we went anywhere I was like a baby in the car, I would go to sleep.  It got to the point I really was not doing a good job of making meals for us.  I went through the motion and put something on the table.  I started doubting myself all of the time.  I never once thought I could be worn out.  Well, after 2 weeks of getting a lot of rest, I have realized just how worn out I was.  I have never said never in my life but this could change in the future.  Fatigue is not my friend, I was the one who baked all of the bread we ate, I cooked all of our meals, planted the garden and started all of my plants from seed.

Well, there may be less garden, because I have learned I can only use so much.  This is my first start in my program to take care of myself.  But after being sick for 3 weeks and still working on getting really well, I know I am the only work horse I have and time has come for me to start taking care of myself.

At this time I am the only member of my Happy Hallow family who is still alive.  I have stood by and watched my family slip away, one by one.  But I have my memories and some of them are already shared with you.  I just hope there is time for more sharing, as I work to keep my farm up and moving forward.  Yes. it is a new year!!!

My Brother, Bubba

First the Turkey

For me, I must say, turkey is far from my favorite meal, but for some reason my family thinks it should be the meal of the day on Thanksgiving.  I know,  I read somewhere there was deer and turkey gathered for the first Thanksgiving, so I would have no problem doing Prime Rib with all the trimmings but I am over ruled.   This year on the flip side, I decided to make the leftovers a dining adventure for the eye, soul and taste buds.

Preparing the bird to be roasted was brining first, making stock, using the goodies inside the turkey, for the dressing and gravy, I began the process Wednesday.  Thursday, the bird make it's way to the table, in less than an hour I could see there was much more bird left  than I had felt there would be.  Another storage issue, so I picked all the meat from the carcass which quickly made it's way into the stock pot along with  stock veggies from the freezer.  Friday, there were 15 pints of stock canned. This left me with a bowl of turkey in the fridge, the next leg of this journey was turkey salad.  We do enjoy the salad, this was a win, win.

During the summer I made crab imperial,  could, would, just give it a try.  I made turkey imperial following my recipe, I would use more Old Bay seasoning if I did this again and I need to choose some type of sauce to add a little more flavor.  Maybe a little more or different seasoning would add flavor.  Not having shells to cook the turkey imperial, I used my moon pie pan, worked great.  Yes, I would do this again.

I still had quite a lot of turkey remaining, so it was time to try another dish.  One of my favorites, egg rolls.  There is pac choi growing in the tunnel, so I was off to harvest some of this wonderful green.

 I used my fresh garden greens, celery, onion and turkey to make the filling,  I proceeded to make the wrappers and fill them.  Deep fried, what a treat we had.  But all of us know there  never seems to be any end to the turkey.  I looked in the bowl and there was more  to be used.  I had heard one request for leftover turkey and that was a pot pie.  I decided the final leg of this journey would be pot pie filling.  There was one pot pie made and enough filling frozen for another.





 I was so pleased to look in my fridge and no longer have a bowl  which contained turkey.  I hope somewhere, someway, somehow, there can be a rule unwritten but known by all.  If you want turkey for Thanksgiving at Triple Creek Farm it is your responsibility to take home the remains at least some, leave me enough to make egg rolls.

Turkey pot pie in my cast iron skillet

  

Memories of Momma

This morning, as I was washing my frying pan, I had a memory float through my mind.  I have been cooking and using the same frying pan plus a few others for 50 years.  Why?  After 50 years did I have a look into my past that moved me like this.

Momma had 1 cast iron skillet and 1 griddle pan.  She took wonderful care of them.  I never remember there being any rust, food never stuck to her skillet and what wonderful food was on the table cooked in this one skillet.  Fried pork chops, fried chicken with white gravy, Momma could really cook wonderful meals.

I have read many articles and posts on how to care for cast iron, burn the pans in a fire.  I have burned pans in the fire and I have cooked the pans in the oven.  All of these things work.  This morning I saw Momma standing in her kitchen wringing out the dish rag until it was dry.  She had just finished washing her skillet, she took the dish rag and wiped the skillet.  It was so clear to me, I have never remembered Momma doing this until this morning.  So, there I stood, dish rag in my hand, wringing it out completely dry and began to wipe my skillets as I was washing 2 this morning.  Mr. Bootsie stood watching me with the look of why are doing this?  He could see satisfaction on my face, I began to share with him as I just did with you.

My comment to him was 50 years I have been cooking and doing whatever to take care of my skillet but this one morning it was clear to me; in the future, I shall be taking care of my skillet the same way Momma did.  You see one of the skillets I have was Momma's and I, also, have her griddle.  I think if I would take the time to do some research I am cooking in a cast iron skillet which has been used in our family kitchen for over 90 years.  I have no idea as to how old the griddle is because Momma found the griddle on the farm.

No, I am not suggesting to any of you this is the way to take care of your skillets, but for me this just pleased  me to realize a memory of growing up could bring me so much comfort.  Now if I could find some of those red and white dish rags Momma used.

Garden Review 2014

This week, the tunnel has been covered, and the spring/summer garden will be slipping away.  I did pick a large basket of butter beans and a few more pole beans (snaps) which I added to a cheese vegetable soup.  There are peppers waiting for me to make pepper jelly and spinach, lots of spinach, I will be freezing more of this to use during the winter.

My mind is now thinking what will not  be planted next season.  The first no, no, no is lazy wife green beans (pole) the japanese beetles enjoy this plant and the summer damage was bad.  I did have a good harvest from these beans but they were a haven for the beetles which moved to the raspberries and blackberries. I grew several hills of blue lake pole beans, no beetles and I did manage to harvest a few in September and October.  I can't complain about the beans because I did not do a good job of getting these started.

Tomatoes, the backbone of the garden and the kitchen, I did not get my late tomatoes started so I only had a few plants which volunteered, they were paste tomatoes.  My early paste tomatoes did a great job and these will be planted next year.  The sun-dried variety was picked, dehydrated and are on the shelf waiting for me to make something wonderful with them.

paste tomatoes---Opalka, some of these grew to 5 inches long.

dried tomatoes---Principe Borghese, good harvest, lots dried.  I like to use these in summer          
cooking, great in pastas and salads.
                                            
I had the best results from Roma paste tomatoes this year, I was at the point of thinking I would not plant them in the future but they will be on the list for next season.

The tomato cages are already set for next spring.  I dug down 2 feet added manure, filled the hole, set my tomato cages and the bed was mulched 6 inches deep.  I do not plow or turn my garden as I garden with shovels, hoes and forks.

Peppers, I have always had a good pepper crop here, but this season was a little off.  Again, this was my fault.  I like to make pepper jellies, this requires several varieties of peppers.  Our most used pepper is the pepperoncini which begins producing early and continues until frost.  The deer ate this plant this season and I had to wait for recovery from their damage.

pepperoncini, use these in many recipes, pickle.freeze a number of them for winter use.

cayenne, red pepper

jalapeno,  use for poppers, jellies, cowboy candy

aconcadua,  use for saute

red pepper, have not settled on a variety, use these in cooking and jellies

This is the area (tomatoes and peppers) of my garden which gets the most variety.  I must settle on seed selections and not wander through the seed books saying to myself, I must try this, this looks good or I must plant this one.  As I have gotten older my decision is to settle on varieties I like and plant these.

I am pleased to report as of November 1, there has been no frost, but I feel it is just around the corner.  The tunnel is ready, plants are growing and I am happy with what has been accomplished this season.  I learned a little about late gardening, as I have never had such good harvests in September and October.

I have my rocking chair setting by the wood stove, a cup of tea ready for sipping and I am just waiting for the new seed books to arrive.  Spring will arrive in my mailbox one day.

Moles, Out, Out, Out...Get Out of my Garden

I wonder if any of you have any idea how many different types of plants the moles find delicious.  I had no idea how many veggies could become victims of their habits.  We have about 1/3 of an acre in garden and this is one big battle.

My first loss this spring was the walking onions.  They ate almost all my plants.  I plant a row in the garden each year for harvesting in the spring, I dehydrate the stems and have green onions to add to soups and many dry mixes I make.  This spring was a total loss.  No onions, as I went to harvest my tops I found the tops wilted, I pulled and there were only tops with no roots.  Some of the tops had been pulled down into the holes where the onion had been.  There were a few plants in the herb garden and I am now working on growing lots of sets.  My big decision is to start growing onions in gutters,  I have talked with a roofing and gutter man, he is going to keep me on the list for used guttering.  I plan to bury the gutters in the garden and plant my onion sets in the gutters.  Mr. Bootsie will drill drain holes in the bottoms of the gutters.  In the meantime, I will be planting in flower pots.  We did have an old freezer we had used for grain storage, that has been moved to the garden, filled with good soil and now has become a home for my winter onions.  I have had another thought but I need to check and see how costly effective this will be.  I thought about the bag on a roll which is just one long bag.  I could cut one side and hopefully they would not be able to invade from the bottom.

Time to harvest the peas, oh well, this was just wishful thinking.  The vines were blooming and all of sudden they started to wilt.  What is going on?  Start from the ground up and what do I find but the vine is cut at the ground level, mole has eaten the root of the peas.  I plant pole beans after the peas and they climb on the same wire.  It was time for me to put some thought into how this was going to be handled.  I lost some of the pole beans last year, so I had been thinking about this  through the winter.  All of my pole beans were planted in 6 inch pots.  I manure the pot to about 3/4's full, add good soil and plant my pole beans (2 beans) in the pot.  I was adding yard long beans this year, the same method was used for these beans except one hill, I went out one day to water, found one hill of beans wilting, realized this hill was planted directly into the ground and had been attack by the mole.

Bush beans, I plant contender snaps and they do produce.  I had been picking beans and canned 14 quarts only to find in the row the bean plants roots were being eaten.  There was an excellent harvest of green bush beans; however, I do try to leave a number of them to harvest as dried beans.  This was a major loss as the mole had a picnic eating the roots of the green beans.  I plant too many green beans to try and do something with them, so I will just be taking my chances.

Root veggies do not stand a chance around here, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, beets all are mole food, I do harvest a few turnips and radishes.  Last year, we tried parsnips only to realize they would have to be planted in pots.  I am quite fortunate to have a number of large pots and even some huge pots as I am a pack rat for pots.  There are, also, those horrible blue barrels in our garden.

The blue barrels have been effective in my war against the stink bugs on my squash plants.  I plant early in the spring and my plants do not reach the ground, I am able to control the stink bugs because of this method of planting.  Well, it worked this year, 2 years ago there was war fighting the squash bug.

I am sharing this with you because I need help, suggestions and someone to send me boxes of tissues as I cry over my efforts to feed us going down into the soil as I can  see the top of my plants as they disappear.  I know there has to be someone having this problem beside me.  Now that I have cried on your shoulder I have one more to share with you.  Those moles are eating my strawberry plants.

           THIS IS WAR!!!
              (once again)

                            A few pictures of our tunnel during the summer and winter.

During the summer, the tunnel is covered with climbing plants.

This is the inside before I start adding the cool weather crops.

Snow load on top, plants inside, we were able to harvest all winter.

Here is a picture of our planting beds

All of our beds are constructed from wood, mostly logs.  I prefer for them to be close to the ground as this will reduce watering.  Beds are 4 feet wide and various lengths.

As I ponder how to handle my mole problem, I shall move forward.  The garden is moving into the tunnel for the winter, Swiss chard, lettuces, onions, beets, kale, peas, broccoli are all being planted in pots.  Holland greens are a direct seed as I did not have a major problem last year.  Garlic was planted in the soil, it seems to do well.  I like having some garlic in the tunnel as it is ready to harvest a little earlier than those grown in the garden.

Your thoughts are welcome.  I would love to hear how you handle problems in your garden.  Comment here or on the Happy Hallow Facebook page, please.  Link at the top right.  

I must run along as no one has dropped by wanting to feed the pasture animals so I am off do some chores.  Maybe a cup of warm tea would be nice first, shall I make a cup of tea for you?