Chicken pot pie

Hello Everyone!!

I'm finally posting again! I probably should get better at this... anyhoo - today I decided to post a recipe that I make quite frequently - it's my daughter's favorite, so EVERY time I ask her what she'd like for dinner, her answer is almost ALWAYS "Chicken Pot Pie"...

I make it myself, with a little help from things like canned gravy and cream of mushroom soup (I do watch the nutritional values of the ingredients, for instance, I will pay a little more if the sodium is lower); I made it last night, and decided to take pictures and everything, so this is an all-encompassing post! LOL I usually make a double-batch (since my daughter loves it so much) - but if this is too much for your household, it's super-easy to cut it in half!

Okay, first, the ingredients I use:

• Most of a 3-pound bag of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts (or all of it, depends on how much chicken I want that day)
• 2 regular or 1 large bag of frozen vegetables (we like California blend, but regular mixed veggies are great too - and I've used canned veggies with great success as well, I just prefer frozen due to the sodium content of the canned - can you tell I watch my sodium intake? LOL)
• 2 cans of Chicken Gravy
• 2 cans of Cream of Mushroom or Cream of Chicken soup (or any creamy soup you like; I've also used cheesy soups, that adds a different flavor yet!)
• 2 packages of ready-to-unroll pie crust
• a small handful of pasta (any kind you like) to soak up extra moisture
• sometimes, a little bit of pepper
  

Now, the first thing I do is put the frozen chicken in my deep skillet with a bit (maybe 1/2 an inch to an inch) of water. I don't season the meat - I just get it cooked through and to at least 170°F internal temp. Here's a picture of that:
My skillet has a nice fitting glass lid, so I don't have to worry about the water evaporating and the chicken sticking to the pan. While that's cooking, I mix up the veggies and the canned stuff... this is what that looks like:

Then I toss in my few pasta noodles - and you don't need many, believe me - but just a few will help absorb all the extra fluid from when your frozen veggies are thawing.
After that's all mixed up, I put the pie crusts in my pie plates.Now, I cut up the chicken. I use kitchen shears and tongs - just hold the chicken with the tongs and trim it with the scissors. Of course, you always have the option of cooking thawed chicken that's already chopped up, or chopping up the cooked chicken with a knife; whatever works for you! I don't like to touch raw chicken, and once it's cooked it's usually "too hot to handle" which is why I do it the way I do.

This is what the mess looks like now:
Stir,
Now I divide the glop between the two pie plates -

there is usually enough to overfill the pie plate! See?

At this point, sometimes I grind a little pepper on the tops... and then...

Put the top crust on, squish the sides of the crust,

Trim the edges and cut a few slits in the top for steam release,

put them in the oven (I usually go with 350° for about an hour, and I also put them on cookie sheets to avoid spills in the bottom of my oven),

wait, and then - viola!!



CHICKEN POT PIE!! I hope you enjoy this recipe - and feel free to customize it to your individual taste!!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful day, week, month, year, and life!!