General Musings from a Scattered Mind!

                          (the sunset from my front porch through the trees)

Sitting on our front porch is the best place I find to think and ponder!  Rocking back and forth in my favorite rocking chair and watching the birds fly, seeing the bright blue sky or the dusky evening sky and setting sun and listening to the sounds of nature, especially my wonderful clucking hens in the background, is the perfect place for me.  I am on top of the world, contemplating foreign affairs, great inventions, Nobel prize worthy writing; oh yeah, and to do lists, what is for dinner, how to fix something that is continually breaking and what is the best way to break up the next teenage argument.  I think the latter is more apt to my style then the ways of the world.  I love when it is warm enough to sit outside in the mornings to drink my tea and I am yearning for those days to get here quickly.  I get a warm sensation in my heart when we sit outside together as a family and eat dinner, laughing and enjoying ourselves.  I get nostalgic and remember wonderful moments in my life outside under the bright stars and vast, black sky.  I just love to be outdoors.  Although we have had a mild winter, and I am so thankful for that, I am about over the dreary cold days and all the rain, that again I am thankful for, but am ready to see warmer weather.  I have an urge to play in the dirt, to see blooms and color.  I want to go for long walks with my herd of dogs and enjoy the sun on my face and not wear a jacket or long sleeves.  I am severely infected with a disease that is Spring Fever!  

I am including tonight's dinner recipe.  I have some chicken already cooked and I thought it would be a good day for some comfort food.  I have to learn to start writing things down more often, I get these great ideas for dinners throughout the week when I'm doing something off the wall like mopping or cleaning the bathroom.  They disappear from my memory as fast as they come to it and then I find myself standing at the freezer mumbling "what will I cook for dinner?"  Just yesterday I had three different things come to mind and I thought right then, you should write these things down!  So, I have concluded that I am going to make myself a little string line against the inside of my pantry cupboard door, so that I can close pin notes to it.  That way it will be nearby and easy to write with and I will have everything I need right there, pen, paper and a way to keep from losing it.

I am in a very crafty mood lately, and I really think that I have to thank Pinterest for it.  I get so many great ideas from that website, and then my mind goes wild and I come up with even more.  I have been storing water, for that emergency mode that I am in lately, and I made myself a nice dark place to store it for up to six months.  I used two coordinating pillow cases to make a cute drape over the front and I was quite proud of myself.  So, thank you everyone at Pinterest for cultivating my creative juices again, I think they had gone flat!

Chicken Biscuit Pie

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1 cup frozen diced carrots
• 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken meat
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons shortening
• 3/4 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2.  Butter a 2 quart casserole dish.
3. In a large saucepan, saute chopped onion in the butter. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Add chicken broth and milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Cook for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add frozen peas and carrots and cooked chicken. Pour into buttered 2 quart casserole dish.
4. In a medium bowl, mix together 2 cups flour, baking powder, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Cut in shortening until mixture is crumbly. Stir in milk just until dough is moistened, then drop by spoonfuls onto chicken mixture.
5. Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 12 to 15 minutes, or until biscuits are golden brown, and cooked on the bottom. This tends to bubble over so I place a piece of aluminum foil under the pan to catch the drips.