Chicken Pot Pie from Marilyn 1/2 cup frozen peas 2 carrots sliced diagonally 1 celery stalk sliced diagonally 1/3 cup butter 1/3 cup flour 1/3 cup chopped onion 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 3/4 cups chicken broth 2/3 cup whole milk or cream 2 cups diced cooked poultry 4 individual pastry shells, baked or pie crust rolled out and cut rounds to top the pot pie Combine vegetables and steam over boiling water or in microwave until tender; set aside. Melt butter over low heat. Blend in flour until smooth, cooking for 1 minute. Add salt and pepper, stirring constantly. Gradually whisk in cold milk until blended and add broth. Heat to boiling stirring until mixtures boils; boil one minute. Stir in vegetables along with chicken. Pour filling into individual crust and serve immediately. To make 4 individual pastry cups: Divide pastry dough into four equal parts; roll each into thin circle. Turn four oven-proof custard dishes upside down on a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet. Lay crust over the out side of each dish. Or just put crust into 4 foil pie pans. Using a fork, pierce dough. Bake at 400ð until crust is golden and crisp. Remove from oven; cool and remove shell from dish. Fill with hot filling and serve immediately. posted Marilyn (DanaIN) ***This is what I saved Lars

Thank you so much everyone for the nice birthday wishes. My day was a busy day. The forenoon spent on making a lot of phone calls to doctor's offices and then made lunch of potato soup. Cheryl, Amber and Alyssa came and we ate and then we started cleaning the living room and moving things out and about and dusting well. We were making room for a small round dining room table to move into there which did get moved in last night. In the late after noon, Terri, Mandy and little Alex came with a very nice birthday supper from Bob Evan's. Pot roast meal, chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, green beans, mac and cheese, rolls, banana bread, and they brought a birthday cake. Son Randy also came and ate with us. Our son in law Kevin had to work over so he came much later. It was a very different birthday eating in the living room so Norm could eat with us. Oh, by the way, I am now 80 years old. Thanks again everyone for the good wishes. Sue

The dried packages?. For a holiday meal, if it is your family tradition, i might just prep my noodle/pasta pot the night before, all ready to go with water and colander insert, and cook that puppy first thing am. Easy while every other prep is happening. Fresh cooked, even cooked that morning and cooled, then re-heated...still a not much saving of time if it needs to be warm. I like to put noodles and grains in 1/2 pint containers in the freezer when i make stock, then cover the grain/noodles with the fresh stock, than freeze. Nice to have for an easy soup addition. (the noodles are slightly underdone as they will finish cooking later)...in the soups. Even if you slightly under-cook, then lay out on a sheet pan in the freezer, then package loosely, then freeze, you still need to re-heat somehow...in another pasta pot. But i don't know the dish. Seems a lot of work to freeze and might just be a lump clump and starch gummy. If just noodles that are a plain side to have with turkey and gravy, i vote for fresh boiled. Not a good do-ahead unless it is a casserole type thing with other creamy ingredients to bake easily with other baked dishes. (with peas and cream and onions and a bubbly cheese topping) If you make your egg noodles by hand like we do, they for sure can be partially dried, nested on a sheet pan and frozen. Too much work for the day of.

Mine will be fresh and so I won't pick it up until just a few days before Thanksgiving. My menu keeps growing, LOL, and dinner will be the Saturday after Thanksgiving to accommodate everyone's work schedules. Amanda is a CNA in an assisted living facility and is working, making Thanksgiving nicer for "her" residents. My son in law is a police officer and since Ashley isn't able to work at this time, he's picking up some holiday pay. So, dinner is Saturday, and it doesn't matter to me, as long as we all get together. Menu at this time is: Turkey with two kinds of stuffing, bread/celery/onion/sage version for most of the family and cornbread/gluten free for Amanda and my southern husband Elery. Mashed potatoes with turkey gravy Fruit Salad to be determined Broccoli with cheese for Mother Green Beans for everyone else, LOL Baked sweet potatoes, plain for me and for Elery, with brown sugar and marshmallows for everyone else LindaC's cranberry Jezebel for me and Elery, Ocean Spray for everyone else Homemade dinner rolls, either Sol's Honey Rolls or Grandma's Farmhouse White Gluten Free sweet potato torte, Amanda's request Raspberry pie from the berries I've been "hoarding" from this summer's picking, one cup at a time Something chocolate Maybe Banana Cream pie because I'm making crust anyway and my SIL loves it Anything else goes, as I see recipes or decide something sounds good! Happy Thanksgiving. Annie