It All Started With A Purple Pan!

And it made for a cute title! 

It also reminded me of the very thoughtful gift that Holly and Brad gave me! I love this pan~ I'm so glad they chose this color of Le Creuset cookware for me... I would never have believed that I would also be adding purple accents throughout my home today!

 I plan on adding more pieces to this collection!

(back to why I'm posting)

So when I realized we would be home for dinner tonight I began to try to think of something to make for us to eat!

 Nothing came to mind~ Imagine that!

But I had a rotisserie chicken in the fridge...

(and as you can see I began the process of bbq chicken pot pie!)

And lately my mind has been on barbecue. 

I'm not really sure why except that I live in Alabama!

(in fact, at this point I had already added the chocolate!)

 yes, chocolate!

Who knew chocolate would be so incredibly good in this sauce!

Well it is and this is definitely a dish I will continue to make! 

It's actually in the cookbook I made for my family several years ago but I haven't made it since then.

 I will now be the bbq chicken pot pie advocate!

(obviously I have way too much time on my hands!)

With it's cornbread topping it's basically a one pot wonder!

I mixed it together in two seconds flat

But then I got nervous~ Yes...I really did! 

Why do I stress over the simplest of things?

As you can see it turned out just fine! 

Don't stress over the little things. Trust me on this.

 They all "even out" in the end! 

(wow...I am old!)

This dinner was so yummy! I hope you will give it a try!  

I really hope to get back to posting...I miss it and I miss the fun that I gained from it. 

I promised myself today to start doing the things I used to love again!

I'd love to hear from you if you try this recipe!

Barbecue Chicken Pot Pie

1 medium onion, diced

1 small green bell pepper diced

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 T olive oil

Saute the veggies in the olive oil until tender and then add:

1 1/2 Cups Chicken broth

1/4 Cup apple cider vinegar

2  Tablespoons brown sugar

12 ounce bottle Chili Sauce

 1 ounce square unsweetened chocolate, chopped

4 Cups cooked, chopped chicken

Heat over low heat and then pour in a 11 x 7 casserole dish or similar pan. 

Top with cornbread topping.

Cornbread Topping

1 Cup all purpose flour

1 Cup yellow corn meal

1/3 Cup Sugar

1//2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1 Cup buttermilk

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Whisk dry ingredients together. Whisk wet ingredients together and then add to dry ingredients just until blended. Pour over chicken mixture and gently smooth. Does not have to be perfect!

Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees!

Enjoy!

It Was One Of Those Days...

photo courtesy of The Kitchn

You know the kind...raining, dreary, cold, somewhat depressing. AND it was Monday! 

Anyway, we had my family over for the Super Bowl the night before (for my yummy Brunswick Stew) which you can see HERE and quite frankly I just didn't feel like cooking again. The only thing that even remotely sounded good to me was pancakes! Pancakes for dinner has always been a bit odd for me but when the mood hit I ran with it! And I was so glad I did! These were truly the best pancakes I've ever had and I will never make them the old way again! 
On a side note..pancakes for dinner also reminds me of my favorite movie so that's always a plus! 

Only pancakes were cooking in my kitchen though! 
And maybe some bacon!

Sure hope you'll give these a try! Let me know what you think...

Ricotta Pancakes

1 Cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 Cup whole milk ricotta cheese

3/4 Cup milk

2 large eggs, separated

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

~mix together the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Combine ricotta cheese with the milk and the egg yolks in a large bowl. Beat egg whites with a hand held mixer until stiff and set aside. Add dry ingredients  to the ricotta mixture and whisk well. Add in a small amount of the egg whites and stir until blended. Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites. 

Heat a griddle or pan over medium high heat. I sprayed mine with Pam and then added a teaspoon or so of butter when I began cooking. Pour about 1/3 Cup of the mixture onto the hot griddle for each pancake.Turn when ready...about 3 or so minutes per side until golden.~

So, heres to eating lots of great pancakes...morning or night! 

Empty Nesting Is For The Birds! ( A Southern Sunday Post )

Literally, we became empty nesters last June and began the journey of raising chickens right about mid August. For those of you that don't me very well it seems that most of my close friends find this quite out of character for me!

 I on the other hand see it differently. I see it as doing something I've always dreamed of doing! 

And even better is the fact that my granddaughter and I had toyed with the idea for a long time. Once I relocated my shop it seemed inevitable.

 This beautiful chicken coop picture that I found on Pinterest was my inspiration.

 Lucky for us we already had our "shed" that was built years ago to hold pool equipment. 

It was the obvious choice for the renovation!

It's been a fun adventure for all involved. We hired David Saunders of Saunders Bradford to do the work...I cannot begin to brag on him enough! 
He saw my vision from the get go and that was really fun for me! 
He loved the vintage screen doors and pine shutters I chose for the outside and he made sure the inside of the coop and the "run" are secure enough for us to be able to leave them out when we are out of town.

The details that David put into this "adventure" are above and beyond the call of duty!

So, without further adieu, let me introduce you to my girls!

Gracie ( the Golden Cuckoo Marans)

Tommy ( the Black Copper Marans)

Ethel (the Easter Egger)

Lucy ( the Welsummer)

Here are Lucy and Ethel together...they are really never far apart from each other.

Buffy (the Buff Orpington)

Star (the Red Star)

Lulu (the Black Silkie)

Lillie (the Dutch Bantam Frizzle)

Lulu and Lillie were the first two chickens that we bought. We stopped off on our way home from Highlands, N.C. and brought them home even before the coop was ready. 

That was quite an adventure!

 For obvious reasons...these two stick together! One would think they would get picked on but the truth of the matter is they truly rule the roost. It's quite comical to watch!

I've begun to worry about myself a little...but in the end I count it as therapy to enjoy watching all of them interact! You can find me almost every afternoon down in the run with them. Their favorite treat is watermelon and they come running when they see it.

Lillie and Ethel

Zoie checking it all out!

These two are always dreaming of the outside world!

Star is the ring leader!

But at night...they tuck themselves into bed and and we don't hear a peep from them until morning!

Before too long we will have fresh eggs! They will be all different colors which is one of the reasons I chose these particular chickens. We will have blue, green, tan, olive, chocolate and perhaps salmon colored eggs!

All in all it's been a fun distraction project! 

It's given me something to do and have fun with and hopefully my children and grandchildren will enjoy it as well.

We were able to incorporate an old saddlestone "mushroom" that we had as well as a vintage concrete bench into the landscape.

After all is said and done I don't just have really great chickens...I also have a really great farmer!

Lets talk soon!