Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

I tried my good friend Jennie's recipe today and it was gooood. I love food. I love cooking yummy things to eat! It is a hobby for me, I am thinking. I love making things from scratch. So much cheaper, and better for you. I know what every ingredient is! LOVE that. Anyways, I posted a picture of it on facebook and got some request for the recipe. So, here ya go!

• Chicken Pot Pie


• 1 1\3 cup frozen peas and carrots


• 1 c diced potatoes (if using fresh, raw ones, dice and cook a bit first. I put them in my trusty pampered chef microwave cooker bowl for 5 minutes with a bit of water and it was perfect.)


• 2\3 butter ( I didn't use quite that much)


• 2\3 c chopped onion


• 1 t salt


• 1\2 t pepper


• 3 1\2 cups chicken broth


• 1 1\3 c milk


• 6 cups cooked, diced chicken (I just cooked 2 chicken breasts and chopped them up. Probably wasn't 6 cups, but it was enough for us!)


• 2 pie crusts


• Rinse frozen peas and carrots. Melt butter, stir in onions, flour, salt and pepper. Cook stirring contantly until bubbly. I used a whisk. Remove from heat. Stir in broth and milk. Heat to a boil, stirring constantly with whisk. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Stir in chicken and veggies. Pour into a 9 x 13 pan.


• Place 2 pie crusts over the top. Bake at 425 for about 30-35 minutes until the crust is golden brown. You will want to put pan on a cookie sheet to catch the sauce that will bubble over.


• If you don't want to buy the pie crusts, make them! I got this recipe a few years ago from Sister Taylor who is an amazing cook! It is yummers!




• No Fail Pie Crust (I have included the entire direcitions for the pie crust in case you want to use it for dessert pies, not just for this pot pie recipe. Hope it is not too confusing.)


• Sift together:


• 3 1\2 cups flour


• 1 T sugar


• 2 scant t salt


• Then cut in 1 1\2 cups shortening with a pastry blender. Keep going until the shortening pieces are about the size of peas.


• Beat together and stir into the above mixture to moisten: 1 egg 1 T vinegar 4 T cold water Knead lightly and form into 5 equal portions. (For the pot pie recipe, I just used enough to cover the pan. I put the rest into the fridge and will probably make an apple pie from the leftovers.)


• Roll out between two sheets of Saran wrap; this makes it so easy! Rolling pie crust can be a pain and doing this way works perfectly! Remove top sheet of saran wrap and fit tightly into pie pan (if you are making a pie).


• Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes if you want to use it for a pudding pie. If using it for an apple pie, follow directions for the kind you are making.

"Miss Scarlet, with the rope, in the study..."

Ok, so still no picture on my posts. You don't care, right?

I am gonna get that cord. Soon.

Here is what we have been doing:

1. We taught the kids to play "Clue". Will and I both spent hours playing this as kids. LOVE it. It is actually kinda morbid to be playing a game with your kids about someone getting murdered, for heavens sake. Oh well. Does that make us bad parents?? We had to change the rules a bit since Seth and Addie are a little young and easily frustrated. We just let them pick a room to go to and they don't have to roll the dice to travel around the board. Seth must always be Mr. Green. Addie and Sasha both want to be Miss Scarlet. I was the same way. The first time we played, Addie was Miss Scarlet and she was the murderer. She cried for a good 15 minutes about that. For reals. Huge tears. So we played again, and she was Miss Peacock. Guess who was the murderer? Yup, Miss Peacock. Again, the tears flowed. Will and I laughed as quietly as we could. Oh, Addie we love you. The kids want to play "Clue" all the time now.


2. 
   
   Baby #5 is naughty. My ob said so. "He" won't show us if he is for sure a "he" or not. As of my most recent appointment, (22 weeks, yep, yep) it is still a "he" but we will see. My mom says she thinks it is. I think it is. Seth will hear nothing about it being possibly a girl. Boy or nothing. It will be fun to have another boy. I will have 5 kids.....5......kids! That is exciting! Can't wait. Sasha is a pro at laundry. She is getting ready to take Audrey and be her mommy #2. Seth and Addie are great helpers too! :)


3. 
   
   I am grateful for the Gospel and good people in our life that love us, uplift us and help us. I am grateful for a fun calling. I am grateful for lots this week which is good since last week I was a grouch and a brat. Ask Will. He will confirm.

The End...........

Off to play "Clue"........again........I wonder if I can be Miss Scarlett this time????

Crockpots RULE!!

Yes, it's true, I have found another hobby: using my crockpot! Have you looked at the blog, http://www.crockpot365.blogspot.com/?? You need to. Right now! I have used my crockpot a lot this week and I love it! I tried her recipe for Cranberry Pork Roast, but I used a turkey roast because that is what I had on hand. Pretty good! Today I am using her Apricot Chicken recipe! It is similar to my recipe for Russian Chicken, only you plop it in the crockpot! Hooray!! Oh, and I tried her recipe for Split Pea and Barley Soup with Ham. Super dooper! We all love split pea soup, so I was excited to try her version with barley added! It was really good!! It is a great website!

Here is a great recipe I got from a magazine that I made this week. My kids gobbled it up and I thought they would hate it since it looked like mud. Black bean soup looks like mud but tastes divine! Can you say "cheap meal"??? I had most of the ingredients in my food storage, so I bet it cost me pennies to make. Yippee! Here ya go:

No soak Black Bean Soup
(Yes, NO SOAK!! It is hard for me to plan the night before when I want to use dry beans, since you need to soak them overnight. So this recipe was a dream come true for me!!)

1 T olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 T garlic or more if you want
1 pound dried black beans, rinsed and drained (about 2 cups)
5 cups water (I had to add more water throughout the day since my crockpot tends to cook fast and the water gets used up quick)
3 cups chicken broth
2 (4 oz) cans of green chilies, undrained
1 T ground cumin
1 t dried thyme leaves
1 t salt
1\2 t black pepper
2 dried bay leaves (remove before serving)

1. Add olive oil to crock pot and saute onion on highest setting for 5 minutes. Add all other ingredients to crock pot. Cover and cook on high for at least 8 hours.

2. Before serving, mash soup a little with a potato masher to break up some of the beans and to make the soup a little thicker.

3. Top with sour cream, cilantro, chopped bell pepper, onions, or our favorite: crushed tortilla chips.

This is seriously yummy! It works great as filling for a burrito the next day, if the soup is thick enough. Or as a dip for your chips or veggies!! YAY!