Leftover Pot Pie and Twins in the Oven (again)

I wish I could give you a recipe for a pot pie made from leftovers, but it truly is a fly by the seat of your pants sort of endeavor.  For this one, I started out with half of an onion, about a pound of boneless, skinless chicken chopped into small pieces, a cup and a half of leftover cooked green beans, and then a cup of peas and a cup of corn.  The only thing these ingredients had in common was that they were in the refrigerator, needed to be eaten, and seemed like they might taste good together.  Invention is born of out of necessity, right?  You could use just about any combination of fresh or cooked vegetables and meat, making sure to cook the raw vegetables and meat first, and then adding cooked ingredients later.

I sauteed the onions, then added the chicken and cooked it until it was mostly done, added the green beans, peas, and corn, and cooked until they were warmed through.  Then I made a well in the center of the ingredients, into which I added a half a stick of butter and a quarter cup of flour (also measured loosely!).  I mixed those together with a fork until the butter was melted and the flour was slightly brown.  Then I added two cups of milk, whisked together, incorporating the meat and vegetables as I went.  About a minute later, the chicken and vegetables were in a lovely cream sauce (if I were to give you a recipe, it would be for this ratio of butter, flour, and milk to make a roux.  It works well).  I'm sure Julia child would scoff at my technique of making a roux, but this saves the step (and extra dirty dish) of using a separate pan and works for me.  I topped it with an extra pie crust I had in the fridge, baked for about thirty minutes along with some cupcakes Zosia had made, and the plates and pie dish were literally licked clean by the end of the meal.  I have come to value "recipes" like these that can be amended and altered based on what's on hand!

And if you didn't get your fill of naughty babies climbing into ovens last week, our saga continued into the week!  The twins were very excited to play with the play kitchen that Ben made years ago for Christmas, pulled up from the basement for their enjoyment.  They spent the better part of the week sorting the play food and putting toys in the sink area. Then, on Saturday, we walked into this:

I do believe this was a brilliantly planned example of twin teamwork.  Clara climbed in, Dorothy closed the door, and voila!  I must have walked by them a couple of times before Ben pointed out that Clara was in the play kitchen.  I'm sure the fact that she was lavished with attention from all of her siblings didn't further our cause of trying to get her out, but oh my goodness, it was so cute.

Happy Monday!