Better then Marie Calendar's...

Do you need a super easy meal or craving some kind of comfort food? Do you have a friend that just had a baby and you are bringing her dinner soon? Then this really easy and delicious chicken pot pie is just what you've been looking for, honestly, I don't even know if it qualifies as a recipe even, that's how easy it is! This is normally my go-to meal to take to new mommies or to make when I don't have the time or energy to come up with something new for dinner. Now, I do have brag, I have once been told by someone that they thought "This is better then that...what do you call it?? Oh yea, Marie Calendar's pot pie!" Haha, that was an awesome moment :) It is really simple though and its just a few ingredients thrown together, so I can't take a ton of credit for making my own crust or anything like that, because, well, who has time for that?!

Chicken Pot Pie

1 rotisserie chicken
1 box (2 shells) Pillsbury Pie Crust
1 12 oz bag frozen mixed veggies
2 cans cream of chicken soup
Salt/Pepper to taste
(I also like a little Sage)

Preheat oven to 375.

Thaw veggies in water in large bowl in microwave for 2 minutes, drain
Get all the good meat off the chicken, add to veggies
Mix chicken, veggies and cans of chicken soup together
Roll out one pie crust onto a greased pie plate
Spread chicken filling into pie plate
Top pie filling with other crust, pinch both crusts together
Make 4 slits in crust for steam

Pop in the oven for about 25 minutes
Then up temp to 400 for 10-15 minutes
Then up temp again to 425 for 10-15 min
Check the bottom of the pie plate to see if crust has fully baked
Make sure when getting pie out to place onto a cookie sheet to cut or else you will have a crumbly mess all over your counter. Don't be alarmed if the very edges are almost burnt looking; you can use a pie crust ring to help prevent that, or line the edges with foil about half way through (although in my opinion, this is a pain!) I know most people add milk to the soup, and I used to too, but I realized that it just makes the consistency of the filling too runny after it cooked, and I like the filling to be thick and full of chicken flavor.

Let cool for about 10 minutes.

That's it. Super easy and tastes like grandma's pot pie! Enjoy!

My Instagram Mother's Day

 I love Instagram . It's a really neat app for your phone that allows you to snap a photo and then you can instantly change the feel of the picture by selecting a different filter (like a preset or an action), then you can upload it and share with family and friends. I only use Instagram here and there, and often forget I have it on my phone. Well, for Mother's Day, I thought it would be fun to take pictures throughout the day using this app and post what I came up with. We had a fun day that included church, Arby's, the zoo, the play zone on base, Subway and a long drive home. The kids had a great time, and it was so nice to have my mom here for Mother's Day too.

What a great day! I hope you take advantage of Instagram too and have fun with your photos! To my fellow mommies out there, I pray you had a wonderful weekend filled with lots of love, hugs and kisses and appreciation; because there is no other job in the world like being a MOM! :)

7 down, 1 to go!

So, I don't really have a photo for this post, and it has nothing to do with photography. But, it's a big deal {to me} so I thought I'd write about it.

My husband has been gone {for training} for 7 weeks now, and will be coming home in 1 short week! Some days it seems like it has gone by fast and other days it feels like he has been gone for forever. It's always hard to be away from each other for an extended amount of time; especially with 3 kids, a dog and a house to take care of, but these breaks from our normal-every-day-married-life are what I feel makes our marriage stronger. We get to experience that excitement of seeing each other, those butterflies when we embrace for the first time in months, and that silly grin I can't get off my face when I'm on the way to pick him up. It's also really neat watching the excitement on our children's faces when they get to see daddy for the first time in what seems like forever to them.

Other exciting news...during these last months I have been participating in a "Biggest Looser" challenge on Facebook with some friends, and with all the hard work and dedication I won first place! It was my first time participating, so I was pretty hard on myself to do my best. I can't exactly say how much I've lost; my husband knows I was doing the contest, but I haven't told him how many pounds I shed, let's just say it's in the double digits.

My friend and I are planning on going shopping this week...good thing because my clothes are now too big, AND hubby and I are going to HAWAII when he gets back! The sun, the sand, the warmth, my man....I can't wait! We are luckily able to go without the kids since my mom is here visiting and very graciously will be watching them for us. I guess this will be a {year and a half} early 10 year anniversary get away :)

Well, so much excitement going on here lately, I just had to share....

I have had a few photo shoots lately and am coming up with some fun ideas in the area of prints and products I {will} offer.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

~Susan