Chicken Pot Pie

Hello friends.  Just recently, I decided to eliminate as much as possible processed foods and foods containing High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).  I recently found out that one of my favorite foods, stuffing, contains HFCS, just in time for Thanksgiving.  So, this year, I am going to give it a hand to make my own….the old fashioned way.

But, I'm not here to talk about Thanksgiving….at least not yet.  I'm here to share a recipe that used to be 100% processed foods, chicken pot pie.  When I first started making pot pie, I used the following ingredients:

can chicken
Veg-all
cream of chicken soup
refrigerated pie crust
spices

Now, I've come up with a new recipe.  I've replaced everything with items not from cans, with the exception of pie crust.  (Mine aren't that good, so I use the refrigerated ones.  I've checked the ingredients, and it's ok to use.)  Keep in mind, as with all my recipes, some ingredients are not measured exactly, but done estimated amounts.

So, are you ready to make a chicken pot-pie that the kids will fight for seconds?  Let's get started.

1 tsp olive oil
3 chicken thighs (without skin, or cook with skin and remove later.)
salt, pepper, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, & parsley (all to taste)
2 carrots, sliced
2 stalks of celery, sliced
1/2 bag frozen mixed vegetables
2 TBS butter
2 TBS flour
1/2 - 1 cup of milk
1 pilsbury pie crust

In a stock pot, heat olive oil.  Add chicken and all spices and cook covered on medium heat until cooked through.  Remove chicken.  Let cool.  Add carrots and celery.  Remove skin (if not already skinless) and cut cooled chicken into bit size pieces.  Add back to pot with frozen vegetables.  Heat until warm.  Add butter and cook until melted.  Add flour.  Cook until flour is a sandy color and then add milk until just even with the vegetables.  Cook on high until thickened.  Transfer pie base to a pie pan and cover with pie crust.  In a 375 oven, cook until pie crust is just brown, about 20 minutes.  You may want to line your oven with foil, or place on a baking sheet.  Also, if you want to use a double crust instead of a top crust, you can.

Let cool, and serve with a salad.  And there you have it.  A complete, whole food, dinner, which costs way less than all those can goods, and contains tons less sodium. 

Enjoy, and until next time, God Bless you and yours. 

Chicken & Dumplins

Have you ever gone to the Cracker Barrel and thought:  Hey, I wish I could cook like this.  Well, you can, and I'm here to share one of my favorite recipes. This is NOT the exact Cracker Barrel Chicken and Dumplins recipe, but it tastes very close.  

I rarely cook with exact measurements, so most of these are guesses to what I normally use.  

Here's what you need to get you started:

Soup Base:

6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, thawed, cut into cubes

2 stalks of celery, deveined and chopped

1 small red onion OR 3 scallions, diced

3 cloves of garlic, diced

1 can cream of chicken soup

splash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

2 chicken bouillon cubes

salt and pepper to taste

Biscuit Dough (my recipe, but you can use a bisquick, or any biscuit recipe that you like):

3 cups all purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

9 Tbs Crisco (I used butter flavored)

milk (I don't have a measurement for this, but it's about a cup.)

In a large pot, or stock pot, heat EVOO on medium heat, and brown onions, garlic & celery.  Salt and pepper chicken and brown with vegetables.  Add bouillon cubes, cream of chicken soup, and 6-8 cups of water.  Bring to boil.

While soup base is cooking, mix biscuit dough.  In large bowl, mix flour, salt, and baking powder.  Cut in, with a pastry blender, the Crisco.  Pour in just enough milk to make a soft dough.  At this point, you can roll the dough, and cut to make little squares, but I enjoy pulling the dough apart and dropping it into the broth.

Once soup base is boiling, drop in biscuit dough, one piece at a time.  Bring Chicken and dumplins to a boil, turn down to a simmer, and simmer for about 10-13 minutes (allowing the dumplins to cook through.)

And that's it.  It makes about 8-10 servings.  I'm guessing the serving amount because it feeds my family of 6, some of us have seconds, and then I will normally eat it for lunch the next day.  If you have a small family, then I suggest freezing 1/2 and save for another meal.

Total cost: Not that much.  I normally have all ingredients on hand, so it's a quick, last minute throw together meal.

Enjoy!  Come back for more, yummy recipes.