One of my favorite parts of being Brett's wife is that I get to cook for him. Now, this may sound strange but rest assure this is important. I LOVE to cook/experiment, test and practice and thankfully Brett loves to eat! Not only does he love to eat but he is always willing to try my creations and then give me gentle (if needed) critique or large amounts of praise! Last night I decided to venture in a world of making something that I grew up eating out of Marie Callender's box. Now, this is not to say my mom is not a fabulous cook because she is! Actually the best cook I know. She has taught me everything I know! But with 4 girls, multiple sports practices during the week and working full-time I can see why every once awhile she went for something easy! Now that I am a wife and cooking the meals I have decided on one very important thing, to me at least! If it comes in a frozen box, we don't need it because by gosh, I can make it! I like knowing what exactly is in my food and if I cannot pronounce something in the ingredients I am pretty sure we don't need it! Now, lets not be totally irrational and not admit that Brett does have a frozen pizza, hotpockets and bagel bites in the freezer along with a few boxes of the beloved Blue Box mac and cheese in the pantry but honestly I will never be able to kick Brett's midnight snacking habit. The above are his usual choices! (Don't worry, he has had his blood checked and he doesn't have a single mark over the normal level, even with all the frozen snacks and homemade cookies!)

Ok, finally, the reason for this blog!
Yesterday, I decided first what I wanted to make for dinner, then I headed to the grocery store for my regular items for the week as well as my "creation items" and came home and started preparing. Now, let me just start by saying I do not cook off a recipe. I did however look up 3 different ones and created my own version. I am only saying this because if you ask for the recipe I probably cannot give you the exact measurements because I truly do not measure but I can give sort of the idea! Sorry...

OK, seriously here is the reason...!!

HOMEMADE CHICKEN POT PIES!!!!!

Oh my goodness it was so amazing yet so easy!

1. I made the crust but added some Parmesan to make it extra yummy and flaky
2. The filling is: onion, carrot, peas, corn, parsnip (awesome addition), celery, mushrooms, parsley, cooked chicken, a dash of cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, a touch of heavy hipping cream, no sodium chicken stock and garlic.
3. I topped the crust with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper while it cooked and topped it with fresh grated parm when cooling.
4. It took me 25 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes so cool!!! How easy is that. I am sure you could even make it ahead and cook when ready.
5. I really wanted to make individual pot pies but my lack of dishes is proving to be more painful than I thought. (oh well, like Brett says, all our wedding present will be like new when we finally get then again- always keeping things in a positive light!!!)

The veggies doing their thing!

Letting the parm melt on the warm flaky crust

I let the edges of the crust drape over the for looks and as extra crust to peel off!

Dinner if never complete without a glass of vino- this one was intended for a hearty meal!!!!

I always have a batch of cookies in the freezer for the nights when Brett is needing something sweet! This recipe is awesome! Replace the brown sugar with 2 tbsp of honey and leave the rest the same! So delicious and so much less sugar! I also do half flour and half oatmeal! I learned this from Peggy- the cookie queen!

Proof that Brett has stuff, just in case there is "nothing in the fridge!"

Thanks for reading and I hope you are inspired to cook as well!
Love,
B and K8