My kids have been out of school for the last week, winter break.  We live in Maine and it has been a very snowy winter.  We have been on a major comfort food kick.  My husband surprised us with an awesome lasagna last weekend and the entire pan was gone in less than 24 hours.  Somehow we started craving a chicken pot pie but I felt like tweaking it.  I love chicken pot pie but the chicken always seems so bland.  So I decided to use ground turkey.  We have really yummy organic ground turkey at our market and it has much more flavor than chicken breast.  Anyway......check out the pie:

Oh my good gracious......it was super yummy.

Recipe:
4 Tbs butter
3 Tbs olive oil
6 Tbs flour
1 cup milk
2 cups water
1 lb ground turkey (see recipe below)
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp oregano
1 salt
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp fresh cracked pepper
1 onion chopped
2 cups potatoes cubed
1 1/2 cups carrots sliced
1 cup frozen peas

Biscuit topping:
I used Alton Brown's recipe which is perfect!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/southern-biscuits-recipe/index.html


Turkey:
Warm up your saute pan and add 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds.  Cook on medium heat for 2 or 3 minutes and then add the turkey on top of the seeds.  Sprinkle the turkey with 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of oregano, 1 teaspoon salt.  Cook the turkey until browned.  You will add the turkey and juices to the veggie mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, blend (or whisk) in flour, add milk and whisk for a minute.  Then add water and stir until thickened.  Add turkey and all seasonings, cover and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.  Be sure you stir often because the mixture tends to stick to the bottom.  Mix in the rest of the ingredients then spoon or pour into casserole dish.  Prepare biscuits and plop them on top of the pie.  Place casserole on a baking sheet.  Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until the biscuits are golden and the gravy is bubbling.  

Its going to be sooooo good!

Or should it be a murder of crows.  Several years ago a family of crows started hanging out at my bird feeder.  There was something about the crows that reminded me of my children.  The crows would send one of their group down first, eat a bit then call the the others. Sometimes they would all be near the feeder and they would squawk at each other and occasionally one would steal food from the other.  I absolutely loved their morning visits and began to leave food out for them.  I would save the crusts of bread from my kid's sandwiches which they gobbled up.  Soon I was giving them the leftover cornbread or handfuls of granola and on special occasions pumpkin seeds.  Of course I have no way of knowing if these are the same crows but the way they show up each day, around the same time makes me pretty sure they are.  Strangely, in the summer they don't visit often.  Probably because my kids are so often in the yard.  

I'm not sure what this has to do with starting a blog but this is an aspect of my life that I sincerely enjoy each day.  

I am an artist and being creative is the way in which I move in this world.  I am a painter, a potter, I enjoy cooking, sewing, crafting things with my kids.  I hope to use this blog to record the many ways in which creativity seeps into every crevice of my life.