While The Wife's Away ...

My husband is fending for himself this week while I am away. He is not suffering. In fact, I cooked more for him in preparation of this week's absence than I usually cook when I'm home. I made him a turkey pot pie, my first pot pie of any kind, ever. Of course, I shouldn't be so proud; I used the dread canned, cream-of-mushroom soup (my mother's favorite ingredient) and the ever so helpful refrigerated pie crust. My aim is to make my own crusts with ease, but so far, the ease factor comes in a little red box in the frig.

This pot pie recipe is a doctored version of one my husband has. His version uses frozen vegetables, while I used fresh -- except for the peas. To the peas, I chopped and added a red bell pepper, a half small head broccoli, one carrot, one celery stick, one small onion, and two cloves garlic. When the vegetables cook down, approx. 10 minutes, mix one can cream-of-mushroom soup into the pan. Add approx. 1/4 cup chicken stock, or more as needed for the proper consistency. Add salt, pepper, and herbs (I used fresh dill and dried thyme). Continue to cook the vegetables and soup another five to ten minutes and set on the back of the stove to cool. If using a refrigerated pie crust, thaw for thirty minutes before unrolling bottom layer into pie plate. Fill with most of the pot pie mixture from the stove, leaving a half cup in the pan. To this, add the cooked turkey pieces, approx. two cups, and stir, coating with soup. Add the turkey on top of the vegetable mixture in the pie plate. Unroll the top crust onto the pie and crimp the edges. Cut steam vents in the top crust and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, until top is golden brown.

Dieting

If you are dieting, as I am, you may find a Diet Journal to be invaluable. Sure it seems more trouble than it's worth. But in keeping my journal for just two weeks, I discovered that even though I stayed within my calorie allotment most days, I blew my fat allotment every day -- by a lot. Either follow a diet plan so you don't have to do the math, or be creative with cookbooks and blog sites that list nutritional information. Lose the weight and then allow yourself a little more leeway ... but not much! I'm sure as hell not going to post "before" and "after" pictures, here, but I will say I want to lose 10 - 15 pounds. Any motivation will be appreciated.