Pot Pies, East Texas and a Baby

With Christmas coming up and my bank account basically empty I've been trying to come up with things to make for presents. I took up crocheting again and I'm working on a couple of scarfs and hats.

My mom has taken up scrap booking so I've also decided to start working on some of that stuff also. I have a bajillion pictures from a bajillion vacations and such so those ought to be organized somehow, right? Well, I've decided to do it. I haven't actually started anything. Same thing though right?

In case you forgot my budding obsession for clouds, this is the kind of sky you get in Texas.

It's crazy to think there are only a couple of weeks left until Christmas. I've essentially done nothing so there's quite a bit to get done in the next couple of weeks.

Aside from all of that, I've been enjoying the kitchen. It's nice to have all the things I'm used to having access to — the utensils, the bake-ware, the spices, etc. It makes cooking and baking so much easier/fun.

I always make such a mess in the kitchen. It drives my mom crazy.

It's always kind of been my thing. I enjoy cooking and baking. I find being in the kitchen to generally be relaxing.

So last week, the day after Thanksgiving, we took the leftover turkey and made turkey pot pies. I've never made pot pies before. I've never really been a pot pie person. They seem great in theory, but considering my only exposure to pot pies in the past had come frozen out of a cardboard box, they've never really been the kind of meal that just pops in my head.

Yummy, green beans, carrots, potatoes and peas! Oh my!

Then again anything that can come in a cardboard box can be home made and taste infinitely better.

So after scouring a couple of cookbooks for ideas, my sister and I winged it with what was left of the holiday turkey. I whipped out some pie dough (omg, I'm such a pro at pie dough now!) and she mixed up the filling (frozen veggies, left over turkey, left over gravy, add a little chicken broth to thin it out a bit).

They aren't even baked yet and they already look delicious. Am I right?

It was a) super easy and b) super yummy. That and they were adorable. We had gone that day to Pier 1 (yes, into the frightening madness that is Black Friday) and bought a bunch of over-sized ramekins to make the individual pies it.

My mom loved them so much (she's a general pot pie lover, but of course she loves her daughters' cooking) that she made chicken pot pies the other day. I came home to her rolling out pie dough so I took over that part while she finished the filling (have I mentioned I have super skills with the pie dough?).

The adorable finished product cooling and waiting to be devoured.

I forgot to take pictures of the post-Turkey Day turkey pot pies, so I took pictures of my mom's since they look the same.

Other than that here are highlights from the days post-Turkey Day:

I was in a car a lot.

This is actually on the way to DFW when I got stuck in traffic driving between 10-30 mph. Can we say annoying? I seriously should have known better than to leave at 1:45 p.m. the day before Thanksgiving.

Smart.

I went to East Texas with my sister.

This is only one of the many tailgates I saw like this. Keep it classy East Texas. I think that about sums it up.

While I was in East Texas i got to see my best friend from middle school.

No, she's not a baby. But she just received a 6 lb. 14 oz. bundle of precious and adorable girl! Basically, I got my newborn baby fix and that ought to hold me over for awhile. She didn't make a peep and she just laid there and let me hold her forever.

There were lots of other little things but I think that's about it for now.

The countdown to Prague continues: 26 days left.