My sister's got talent, plus more food topics & puzzles.

 So my thoughtful sister sent us one of her special gifts yesterday and it's definitely making the trek out to Colorado with us this summer - we love it and think it will be a great decorative addition to Rocky (our Cougar 26RLS).  She specializes in various needle works and creating custom greeting cards, etc. and this one is reversible - very cool.  I'll attach some monofilament at the corners for hanging. Thanks sis!   💙👍

Beautiful 2-sided western needlepoint

Italian Sausage & Veggie Pot Pie

So, the other day I had some Pillsbury pie crusts, a plethora of fresh vegetables that needed to be used and had picked up some "on sale" ground Italian sausage so it sounded like a Pot Pie was in the offing.  The veggies might sound weird or even discordant but flavor was great and it was very well-received by all. 

Besides the sausage there was cabbage (white),1/2 eggplant, fresh mushrooms, carrots, celery, onion, garlic and a plum tomato.  Everything was cut up to a smallish dice and sautéed with Italian herbs, Mrs. Dash garlic & herbs, fennel seed, caraway seed and onion powder.  While the mixture cooled I made up the "gravy" that would keep the filling moist.  It included tomato paste, ham & chicken stock, basil pesto, and sundried tomato pesto.  Whenever I make stock from bones or open jars of pesto or salsa, etc, I usually freeze some of it in ice cube trays then decant into freezer bags so I can use as needed without having to worry about spoilage - so handy!

After everything cooled off I mixed a modest amount of shredded Asiago cheese in, put the mixture in the crust, sprinkled some mozzarella on top, then added my top crust. Baked at 425 for 35 minutes and covered the edges after 20.

For us, we can get 4 meals out of a pot pie, so I usually freeze 2 portions and leave one in the fridge to eat in a few days (haha, my every other day easy meal).

If you ask my husband, this one will definitely be going into the rotation and I liked it too.

One more food item I made this week was fondant potatoes. Basically baking potatoes that are fried (in butter & thyme), then baked with stock. I used ham stock. Yummy. I learned how to make them by watching youtube videos.

2 russet potatoes ready for the oven 

When not amusing myself with food prep I work on the current jigsaw puzzle, here is the one I just finished - fun!

Boy, it's going to be great when we can get back to doing normal things. Spring is well underway here in N Florida, although we did have a small overnight cold snap with lows in the upper 40's.

Here's the previously completed puzzle that never got published - big whoop.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!