"Our Body: The Universe Within"

I am big fan of the International Museum of Surgical Science.  They are a lot of neat stuff there, including one of the last iron lungs! There are also one of the few remaining mansions on Lake Shore Drive, and the only one open to the public.   So imagine how excited I was when I got 50% tickets for their new exhibit "Our Body: The Universe Within."

Well we went and to be honest it wasn't all that great.  The individual exhibits weren't that interesting, and the craftsmanship appeared to be poor.  I am sure it is a painstaking long process to preserve the bodies in a such a fashion, but it seemed like the creator rushed through it.  Even the support structures were  subpar; PVC cut unevenly and missing digits.

Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds is much better.  I have seen it twice already and I am planning on seeing when it comes back to the Museum of Science and Industry this spring.  Von Hagens' work is much better, it really gives a new prespective on the human body.

The Cake Ball Experience

Cake Balls are quite the fad nowadays, they are everywhere! You can even get a book that is all about cake balls.  I will admit a lot of them and awlfully cute.

I have been intrigued by them for some time and I have wanted to try them out.  They just sounded so gross.  Mashed up cake, mixed with icing, dunked into a candy coating, then rolled in sprinkles?  Talk about sugar overload!  Recently a friend asked me to come over and help make some cake ball pops for her niece's first birthday, so naturally I jumped at the chance.

It took us three hours to make 50 cake ball pops, not including baking the cake!  These little suckers were very labor intensive, a two woman job minimum.  And they tasted just as overly sweet as I had expected!  The cake itself had a weird, "already been chewed" texture to it as well.

While they did end up looking cute, in my opinion they weren't worth the effort.    Mini-cupcakes are just as cute and taste way better!

Chicken Pot Pie

This is one of my husband's favorite dinners.  So I figured what better recipe to be my first blog post!  This pot pie is much easier to make than it looks.  Plus it still tastes great microwaved the next day!

Chicken Pot Pie
* adapted from Pillsbury.com

 Ingredients:

1 box (15oz) refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 3/4 chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cups cut into small pieces cooked chicken. (I use two large chicken breasts)
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

Directions:
1.  Heat oven to 425F.  Place one pie crust in bottom of glass pie pan.  Press into bottom and up along sides.
2.  In 2-quart saucepan melt butter over medium heat.  Add onion, cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until onion is tender.
3.  Stir in flour, salt and pepper until well blended.
4.  Gradually stir in milk and broth cooking and stirring, until thick and bubbly.
5. Stir in chicken and veggies, remove from heat.  Spoon mixture into crust lined pan.
6.  Top with second crust, seal edge.  Cut slits in top of crust to vent.
7.  Bake 30-40 minutes or until crust in golden brown.  During last 15-20 minutes of baking, cover edges with strips of foil to prevent excessive browning.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Notes:
-To seal the pie crust press the tines of a fork into the edge.  Make sure to overlap.
-Until you get the hang of sealing the pie it is a good idea to put a piece of foil or a baking sheet on the rack below your pie to catch drips.