My Favorite Season To Cook

It's no secret that I love cooking.

I've never been the BEST (I don't have a sophisticated palette by any means) but I like to try stuff.

I just started to get more experimental in the kitchen with "just throwing stuff in" instead of following a recipe.

I can read, so I can follow a recipe.

I did start to make recipes my own by doing my own thing to them, but I've never been one to just make something.

I wanted to make baked potato soup because, well, it's chilly and Fall. I love making soup in this weather.

Boil ya taters.

Onion and bacon to be rendered

It should turn out like this

Taters are a-boilin'

Butter, onions, garlic

Add flour to make the roux

Make sure to cook out the flour taste

Add your milk and chicken broth

Mash them up a bit

Everybody in the pool

Then cheese, of course. 

Now, I failed to get a pic of the final product. And that's probably a good thing.

See...something may have happened at the very end. 

The soup didn't look all that appetizing. But it tasted AMAZING.

I'll need to go back and see what I did wrong. 

Steve and I also love Chicken Pot Pie.

There's a place about 15 minutes from our house that sells strictly pies. 

Fruit Pies.

And their famous Chicken Pot Pie.

It's $15.

I finally decided it was time to make my own.

And holy fuck people. 

I will never, and I repeat, NEVER buy chicken pot pie again.

I've never been so impressed with myself.

It was legit the best chicken pot pie I've ever had. 

OMG LOOK AT IT. 

It was so, so good. And forgive my paper plate. I didn't feel like doing dishes. 

The pie crust was so buttery and flaky. 

I didn't take pics of the steps because I was so focused on not screwing up. I just wanted to make sure I did it right.

I used store-bought pie crust but will try my hand at homemade next time.

The rest of the filling was all homemade and made from scratch.

I honestly can't believe how freaking good it was. 

I now have another dish that will go into our main rotation.

It's also a great meal to make for other people since it freezes well too. 

Here's to chilly weather! This is when I start to love cooking and baking while watching my favorite cooking/baking shows on TV. 

Makes my heart warm.