Chicken Pot Pie Night!

If you know me you know I am a beginner when it comes to cooking. I love finding easy and yummy recipes that I can make for the kiddos and hubs. While browsing blogs I came upon this awesome site and found the recipe for Chicken Pot Pie. I decided to try it out and I was really proud of the end result.



Here is the recipe:

Total Time: 40 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 unbaked pie crusts ( I used the Pillsbury ready to roll pie crusts)
• 3 chicken breasts
• 5 red potatoes
• 2 can Cream of Chicken soup
• 1 bag frozen peas and carrots or mixed vegetables- thawed
• 1 sweet onion - diced
• butter
• 1 egg

1. Heat oven to 450.

2. Heat two large pans of water - these are for the chicken and potatoes

3. Trim fat from chicken and dice the potatoes, then add to the boiling water.

4. Cook the bottom of the pie crust first, in the oven. Just follow the directions on the back of the pie crust box for a "one crust pie" - cook for 9 minutes. After cooking, turn the oven down to 400 to cook the pie. You crust will come out golden brown.

5. saute the onion in butter until it is translucent and tender- set aside (it can even be a little golden. I cut my onion pieces really small and I didnt even taste them in the pie. You can omit the onion completely, but it does give the pie great flavor)

6. In a mixing bowl, combine cream of chicken soup, chicken, vegetables, onion, and potatoes. Season to taste.

7.Pour the mixture into the already baked pie crust.

8. Add top crust and trim! Try to make it look pretty! :D

9. whisk the egg in a small bowl and baste over the top crust. It gives it a great shine.

10. cut some vent holes on top of the pie with a knife to provide steam release while the pie is baking.

11. Bake the pie for 40-45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for a few minutes before serving.

VOILA! I tried this recipe and the kids and husband loved it! It will become a staple in our home for sure! Below are pictures of my creation! Enjoy! :)

My Second cake!

So unfortunately I could not make it to my class tonight, but I still tried my hardest to practice at home and make my cake. Since I missed class I was unable to practice making those weird clown shapes, but I did practice my drop flowers, and shell border as best as I could. I cant wait to go back next week for our final project: The Wilton Rose.


Here I am hard at work makin the shell borders :D

This was my end result. I was very pleased with it this time and I have to thank hubs this time around because he helped me make the icing :)

My First Cake!

Last night was my 2nd cake decorating class and it went really well!

We practiced all sorts of stars, border fill-In's, curving lines, zigzags, printing and the first part of the Wilton Rose. I totally didnt realize that holding the decorating bag a certain way would make my wrist hurt because by the end of the class I was in pain! I had tons of fun though. I decided to make the cake that was on the cover of my Wilton Cake Decorating Beginners Guide. This is what I ended up with:

and a cute one of Christina poking at it! She couldn't help herself!

I think its not bad for my first cake. Next time I have to make sure to add little more food coloring to the icing so that the colors "pop" a bit more. My green was way too light! I need to think of what to make for my second cake....so stay tuned for next week! :D

Wilton Cake Decorating Classes

So I signed up to take some cake decorating classes. Why you ask? because I want to learn to decorate cakes like a pro :P I did some researching and I found that Michaels offers cake decorating classes so I signed up. The awesome part is that my class cost me $17.50 for a 4 week course! Today is my first class and I am excited and nervous at the same time.

I will be taking the beginners course which is:

Course I
Discover Cake Decorating
Focuses on basic skills and techniques, from icing prep and simple borders to roses.

From there I can move to the other courses they offer

Course 2
Flowers & Borders
Teaches more borders and flowers. 8 different flowers, including pansies, mums, and daisies, plusbasketweave and Color Flow

Course 3
Fondant & Tiered Cakes
Introduces rolled fondant, advanced borders, lily nail flowers (lilies, poinsettias, petunias and more)and tiered cake assembly

Course 4
Fondant & Gum Paste Course
Our expert instructors show you how to marbleize fondant, work with the ribbon cutter, make gum paste flowers, and so much more!

I am excited and will be blogging about my progress as I go along!

Boston Creme Pie Minis

Since today is super bowl I wanted to make some tasty treats for the family. I was pressed with time so I went to one of my favorite Kraft website and found a recipe for some Boston Cream Pie Minis. This recipe calls for *gasp* boxed cake mix. I know I know many dont like to use it but when you have to get something ready pronto this is what I like to use. I was pleased with the end result and the family loved them as well.

Boston Cream Pie Minis

You will need the following:

1pkg. (2-layer size yellow cake mix)

1 cup of cold milk

1 pkg. (4-serving size) vanilla flavor instant pudding

1-1/2 cups thawed Cool Whip topping, divided

4 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate

PREHEAT oven to 350 F. Prepare cake batter and bake 24 greased muffin pan cups as directed on package. Cool 10 min. in pans. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

POUR mik into large bowl. Add dry pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Let stand 5 min. to thicken. Meanwhile, using a serrated knife, cupt cupcakes horizontally in half. Gently stir 1/2 cup of the whipped topping into pudding. Spoon about 1 Tspb. of the pudding mixture onto bottom half of each cupcake; cover with top of cupcake.

MICROWAVE remaining 1 cup of whipped topping and the chocolate in small microwaveable bowl on High 1-1/2 min. or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1 min. Stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended. Frost each cupcake with about 1-1/2 tsp of the chocolate mixture. Refrigerate at least 15 min. before serving. Store leftover cupcakes in refrigerator. Makes 24 cupcakes.

and one more pic because they look oh so good :)

Warm Winter Lemon Cake

This weekend I tried baking something new and I looked through my Kraft foods and family cookbook and found this recipe for warm winter lemon cake. I freaked out when I poured the lemon pudding and it looked as if it mixed right in with the cake mix but I felt better when I took it out in the oven and saw that both the cake and pudding had seperated like it should have. :)

Overall It was really easy to make and even Christian liked it (or so he says :P)

Prep Time:15 min
Total Time:1 hr 15 min
Makes:16 servings

1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
2 cups cold milk
1-1/4 cups water
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O Lemon Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Prepare cake batter as directed on package. Pour into greased 13x9-inch baking dish; set aside.


POUR milk and water into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes and granulated sugar. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Pour over batter. Place baking dish on baking sheet to catch any sauce that might bubble over sides of dish as dessert bakes.


BAKE 55 min. to 1 hour or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 20 min. (Sauce will thicken slightly as it cools.) Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Spoon into serving dishes to serve warm. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

and voila..... you have....lemon cake: