Chicken Pot Pie

Today was just the perfect day for chicken pot pie. I got up this morning to make the filling, crust, and put it all together before I went to work.

I'm not really good at sticking by a recipe when it comes to cooking. I usually find a bunch of recipes for a particular thing and then make up my own "recipe."

Here is how I made my chicken pot pie. It is more of a guideline than an actually recipe (oh no, I think I'm turning into my grandmother!).

Racquel's Chicken Pot Pie

1 medium sized yellow onion, finely chopped

About 3-4 cups Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced

About 2 cups carrots, diced

About 1 cup celery, chopped

About 1 1/2 - 2 cups of frozen peas

About 2 lbs of chicken (white or dark meat), diced or shredded and cooked

About 2 cups water (or chicken stock, low sodium)

Chicken Bullion, low sodium (eliminate if using stock)

About 3 cups of low fat milk

2 tablespoons olive oil

Single pie crust recipe (I have searched for a long time for a versatile crust recipe that is quick and easy. I finally found a crust recipe that works for a number of different things!)

Okay, so here is how I do this. I heat the oil in a big stock pot on medium heat and then add the onions. I cook the onions until they are translucent. I then add the potatoes, carrots, celery. I add the water & bullion (or stock) and the milk. I let this mixture cook on low-medium heat for about 20 minutes. I then add the chicken and the peas and let it cook for another 5-10 minutes or so. After it starts to boil and thicken up a little, I add a few tablespoons of flower to give it some extra thickness. You can make it as thick or thin as you want. I usually add a little bit of salt and cracked pepper to taste. At this time, you can take the filling off the heat and let it cool for a little bit. Filling doesn't have to be completely cooled before preparing the pie(s).

While your filling is cooking, you can make your crust. I use a single top crust on my pot pies. I have used a top and bottom crust in the past, but the bottom one always seems be soggy no matter what I do. You can use your favorite pie crust recipe or the recipe I linked to above. If I double the recipe of dough, I can get 3-4 pies out of it. The filling recipe will make about the same. I almost always have a little filling leftover, but that's great. It can make a great second meal over some of your favorite rice.

Grease your pan(s) and scoop the desired amount of filling into your pie pan or any corning ware or other creative ways to do it work as well. Since I always make a big batch when I do this, I have get creative only having one pie pan. If you are planning on freezing, it is nice to purchase some of those aluminum disposable pans from the grocery store, so you don't have all your pans tied up.

After you put your filling in your pan(s) you can roll out your dough to cover your filling. Make sure you make it bigger than your pan. Lay over the top and crimp edge with a fork or your fingers. It doesn't have to be fancy. Make sure before baking you cut slits in the crust for ventilation.

Before baking, brush a little egg wash on the crust to give it a nice golden color. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 30-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling. A good rule of thumb is to bake it on a cooking sheet in case of spillage.

The great thing about this recipe is that you can add as much or little of a veggie at your hearts desire. You can different veggies that you like or not use one you don't like. It's all up to you.

You can freeze the extras for up to 1 month or so. I also have some other things I do with the leftover filling and other leftovers that will post in the near future.

I just love all the warm comfort foods that fall and winter brings. Oooooooh, I love cooking!

*This is actually a pretty low fat and healthy meal. I used olive oil instead of butter and low fat milk instead of heavy cream (like a lot of recipes said to use). Just keep the salt to a minimum and you have a warm, healthy fantastic meal.*