Joy of Cooking, Recipe 1: Chicken Pot Pie

My first attempt at the Joy of Cooking was Chicken Pot Pie, for the sole reason that I was craving it. This recipe isn't just one recipe, though. No, no, that would be too easy. This recipe was actually 3 recipes, and would have been 4 if I didn't buy a premade rotisserie chicken from Sprouts.

First you have to make the base, which seems simple enough. Just melt some butter in the pan, whisk in some flour, stir until smooth, add some broth and some milk - then stir in the shredded chicken. Easy enough, right? Well, I had either too much flour or too little butter, because I got butter pebbles. I fought my way through it, and it was finally thickened and hearty looking.

The second step is to make the topping. Are you going to make a pie? Because then you use one recipe. Do you want to use biscuits? Use another altogether. If you are making biscuits, do you want to use regular or buttermilk? If you are using regular, will they be traditional or quick??

I will pause just a moment to tell you about me and decision making. Mark will tell you that I'm terrible at decisions, but love being given choices. I have this horrible feeling that if I make a particular choice that it will be the worse one yet, and I will have somehow screwed everything up. Lordy.

That in mind, I decided on buttermilk biscuits.

I've never been good at pastry. I think it's God plan for me to fight pastry making of any kind. That one day I make it good and right, I will feel I have conquered the pastry king, and the next day, most likely I will die. Ugh.

So I made the biscuits and left them in the fridge in a sticky ball in a metal bowl.

The last step is to chop up the veggies, and then sautee them just a bit in butter (oh yes, I said it, BUTTER - not olive oil, not canola oil, pure BUTTER). Add a little salt and pepper to taste then mix that with the base.

Sprouts didn't have frozen peas, so I didn't add that, but I did put in the parsley (which by the way, has no flavor, really, so what IS the point?). I mixed it all together and put it in a prepared 9x13. I made very sloppy balls out of the dough and dropped them on top.

I let it cook, and let me tell you, the smell was divine. Oh yummy.. I made it last night because I tend to get off work late, and my house mates are not willing to eat at 8:30 or 9:00 pm. So Aunt Isy reheated our casserole today and it was dinner tonight. I was pleasantly surprised at how yummy it was. The biscuits were ugly, but they tasted good to me. I even went back for seconds, and I'll have some for work tomorrow. YIPPEE!!

Not sure what the next recipe to conquer will be. Any suggestions?

Uncertainty

This week is a big week for us. Our whole life hinges on what happens this week. No matter what, I'm visiting California in a couple weeks to attend the baby shower of my pledge bro Melissa. But for the past 4 months, Mark and I have constantly been asked, "So when are you getting a job in Texas?" or "So what's going on with the job in Texas??". We keep telling people that we'll know more in January.

Well, it's now January.

Mark will make THE CALL and see if there will budget to get him out here in the next few months. If there is budget, he'll be out here probably by March. If not - I have no idea what will happen.

And we have zero control over anything.

None.

Zip.

Zilch.

Nada.

So, if you live with me, work with me, communicate with me in any way, pardon my distraction. My future is in the hands of this company I love, and what they decide will decide if we stay in Texas or find roots somewhere else.

Ugh.

No pressure.