Last Week's Creations

Things are moving a little slow in my life right now.  I have been under the weather with a chest infection and strep throat for a few days, and haven't really been in the blogging state of mind.  When I get it, I REALLY get it. 

 All the raisins at our house were boxed on Saturday.  That was my second day of feeling really crappy, so I definitely wasn't going to show my face to the workers.  :)  But we had 8 acres into the packer before the rain came.  Chris had a crew out rolling trays till about 7:30 Monday night.  So thankfully everything was rolled before the rain hit late last night.  They will get unrolled when the storm passes and hopefully have enough time to dry out the rest of the way.

But last week I was feeling fine and decided to do some creating in the kitchen...all in one day. 

First, we had a bunch of extra apples left over from the fruit skewers I put together for Chris's cousin's baby shower a couple weekends ago, so what else can you do with an abundance of apples? Why, make an apple pie, of course!  I have an amazing crust recipe from a family friend, my mom gave me a killer apple pie filling recipe, and I found a simple crumb topping recipe on the internet.  

So, this went into the oven around lunch time...

No, I didn't eat it for lunch.

It turned out soooo yummy!  A little runny, though.  I think it was the Fuji apples, I needed a baking apple instead.  But boy oh boy did it have good flavor!

That night, I had some chicken that needed to be cooked and some fresh mushrooms that needed to get used before they went bad.  Browsed around on the internet, and of course I didn't have any of the fancy ingredients that they called for, so I made my own concoction...I get that from my mother.  Thanks, mom!!

This is what I made...it doesn't have a name.  

* 3 Chicken thighs

* Fresh mushrooms

* Butter

* Flour

* 1% Milk

* Garlic, salt, pepper, italian seasonings and whatever else you feel like throwing in

* Asparagus

* Cornstarch

Now, I didn't follow any kind of recipe, nor did I measure any of these ingredients out.  I just threw them in the pot till it tasted like something someone would eat.

I browned the chicken first, then threw it in the oven on 300 degrees and worked on the sauce in the pot.  All this is in my dutch oven pot, that I love!  Threw in the chopped up mushrooms and butter and sauted them till they were slightly brown.  Then I put in some flour to make a roux so the milk would thicken as it cooked.  Threw in 2-3 cups of milk, maybe more, I really suck of estimating measurements.  After I threw all the spices in and let it all cook together for a little bit, I threw the chicken back in and put it on low and just let it simmer for about an hour.  Chris & his friend had gone to check on some sheep, so I just let it cook until they got back to the house.  Then I threw the asparagus in, doesn't take look to get it to where it's just getting a little soft.  It was still a little thinner than I wanted, so I put in just a little cornstarch and that seemed to do the trick.

Boiled some penne pasta and threw this stuff over the top.  It even got the boys' approval!

And then this is what my poor kitchen looked like at the end of the day.  I think it took me three rounds of filling up the draining rack before it was all washed.

So while I was doing dishes, the boys were looking up information on the Arizona National Livestock Show.  We just might be going this year...pretty excited about that!

Isn't that just cute.