Daily doings, cool Wolf Moon and Chicken Pot Pie - finally!

 All summer long, while out in Colorado, I was dreaming of the Chicken Pot Pie I would make when we got back home, so as soon as we got home in October, I bought my Pillsbury pie crusts. But did I make the pie right away? Nope, I didn't get it done until yesterday - wha? 😮 Yep, somehow, I just didn't get around to it. Of course, it does involve a fair amount of time and effort, especially if you make your own chicken stock out of the dismembered chicken parts from the rotisserie chicken that you pulled apart.  In addition to all that, there was the washing and chopping of all the veggies plus sauteing them in butter and spices prior to making the gravy - whew! Took a bunch of time, but it was worth the efforts. Kind of amazed at how well the pie crusts held up in the fridge for 2+ months.

Filling all set and pie crust ready to fill

Top crust on and ready for the oven, and here it is baked!
We get 4 dinners out of 1 pie. Freeze, then reheat in 200° oven.

We've had some great looking full moon nights, and mornings. My neighbor, Debby, took this shot the other night during the Wolf Moon; the moon came up looking orange! Pretty unusual, I've seen yellow but never orange. I saw another shot like this from someone up in New Jersey and it looked identical, so unexpected. In doing some online investigation I saw several shots from around the world that had that bright orange coloration. I know oftentimes the sun/moon color is affected by volcanic ash, dust particles and even ice crystals in the atmosphere.

Moonrise the other evening. Nice shot Debby!

 Here's a shot of the sun at mid-day we took while anchored out at the Dakity anchorage on Culebra, Puerto Rico back in 2015. It was directly over the boat and was so huge it took up the entire viewfinder. Ice crystals I believe. Really wild looking! Apocalypse anyone?!?

You can barely see the tip of the masthead.

This week's weather has been dreary, somewhat rainy, and temps in the 50's for highs and mid+30's at night. Reminds me of growing up in Rochester, NY minus the snow of course.  This too shall pass.

To keep busy and to while away the time, I baked a new to us breakfast casserole. Usually we have Cornbread Strata every so often, (scrumptious!) but sadly, the freezer was bare. I decided to make my own Tater Tot version after watching Ree Drummond make hers. However, while at my Publix, much to my surprise, but not my husband's, the frozen potatoes section was nearly bare!? (Ed had warned me of an upcoming potato shortage). At Aldi I was able to snag a package of the rectangular hash browns and decided to use those instead.  

So, on the bottom went the hash browns, then cooked breakfast sausage, a layer of shredded cheddar, next my veggies; lots of sauteed onions, mushrooms and fresh tomatoes (sans seeds and liquid), then the egg, hatch chilies, sour cream and cheese mixture, plus some more shredded cheese (lol). Refrigerated overnight and baked for breakfast the next morning - so good!

I keep complaining to Ed about how stuffed the freezer is, (first world problem fer sure!), but somehow it doesn't stop me from making/baking these big casseroles - Doh. Last week, I got a little desperate. I had a 5lb bag of yukon gold potatoes, bought while on sale, that had been around for a couple weeks already and I was worried about them getting soft on me. The answer, give some away - whew, and make a batch of scalloped potatoes. Hello freezer overload! 😊 (where is the "sheepish" emoji?)

Doesn't look very toothsome in this shot, but the
delicate herb flavor (tarragon & Herbs du Provence),
along with the garlic, butter and half & half, made these a
rich treat and got great reviews from the boss.

On a "same but different" topic, I just LOVE a good mango! Lately the variety that is coming from Peru has been wonderful; sweet, delicious and most definitely not stringy.

How sexy is that!

Finally, I finished my latest puzzle and started a new one. Have to keep my puzzle pattern-finding muscles sharp, haha.

I cut off the bottom inch of the picture, whoops.

Well, thanks for stopping by for a visit. Not a terribly exciting lifestyle but I'm definitely not complaining. Luckily there are plenty of other blogs out there where people are traveling to satisfy your wanderlust. Until next time, bye for now.