Lazy Saturday

The Barr family is thoroughly enjoying our lazy Saturday at home....at least until Michael has to go into work in a couple of hours. After a whirlwind week, we were sleepyheads this morning and the girls even got on board and slept until 8:00...this is a much better Saturday wake up time than the usual 6 or 6:30 they usually wake us up at. So far this morning the girls have been busy playing in their room....and playing with the new family toy...an Xbox Kinect. Michael got a steal of a deal from his uncle and we ended up with the gaming system, 2 controllers, a guitar for the GuitarHero2 game, and about 6 games...Michael spent a mere fraction for all of this than he would have spent to buy it all at the store...he used up the rest of his birthday/Christmas money and so far, it has been a great investment. The kinect component makes a lot of the games physical and I would rather the girls get a little exercise playing a game than sitting on their rears playing a game. Plus, now I have a new incentive for good behavior in the house, b/c the game-playing is going to be limited and used as a reward. Thanks Michael!

Friday we had Michaela's IEP meeting, and all went well. Her teachers said she is a joy to have in class and is progressing very well. Starting this week, she is going to increase her hours at preschool from 2 mornings a week to 3. I think it will be very good for her. She is excited about getting to go more!

AFter a very busy week of entertaining (we had company over for a big dinner on Wednesday night and Friday night), this week I get to kick back a little bit b/c on Monday night we are going to go enjoy dinner at our best friends' house and Wednesday night our friend Dave is going to come over and cook Japanese steakhouse type of food. Whoo-hoo....2 nights I don't have to cook! I love cooking for our friends and opening up our home to spend some time with our friends, but I also love not having to cook every once in awhile.

Our weekly Sunday dinner is being moved to my house tomorrow b/c my dad is getting a cold or something and the rest of us really don't want to catch it. So, we are having Pioneer Woman's turkey pot pie and my mom's apple crisp. Can't get much better than that. It's not exactly like the Pioneer Woman's because I thought it was a bit rich (half and half instead of heavy cream, and not so much butter as she uses).

*Chicken or Turkey Pot Pie
-2 pie crusts
-1/4-1/2 stick butter
-1/2-1 c. finely diced onion, carrots, celery each
- 2 c. leftover turkey or chicken
-1/4 c. flour
- 2 c. low-sodium chicken or turkey broth
- splash of white wine
-1 c. half and half
-frozen peas, optional
-fresh thyme, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400*. Melt butter in skillet and add vegetables. Cook until transparent (a couple of minutes.) Add turkey and stir. Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir. Cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour in broth, stirring constantly. Splash in wine. Pour in cream. Add frozen peas.
Bring to a slow boil and allow mix to cook and thicken for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper (do not under-season!). Add thyme to taste.
Put 1 crust in bottom of deep pie pan or casserole dish. Bake until firm. Add mix. Place crust on top of the mix and press crust into the sides of the dish. Cut vents in the top of the crust. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Allow to cool a bit before serving.

Have a great rest of the weekend....our plan is to enjoy the rest of the day, catch up on some DVR tonight after the girls go to bed, go worship with our church family tomorrow, and spend the afternoon with family. It doesn't get any better than that.

P.S. If you are a lurker of the blog, meaning you read but never comment, say Hi so I know who I am writing to! My stats show a lot of hits but I have no idea who is reading besides the people who have email subscriptions and family!