Chicken Pot Pie

Upon request from hubby, chicken pot pie was our dinner yesterday.  Sometimes hubby requests things, and at dinner time he finds that they're not what he expected.  Knowing this, he gave specific things he was looking for in his chicken pot pie.  

Real pie shell, not a casserole.  Thick and creamy inside.

So I set out to look for something easy, probably with frozen mixed veggies and cream of chicken soup.  The recipe I ended up with includes neither of those things!

After checking some of the blogs I follow and trust, I still didn't have what I was looking for.  I moved on to google and clicked on a link to Taste of Home.  This recipe has excellent reviews, so I decided to go for it.  It was not difficult, but was a little time consuming.  Probably would have been a little less time consuming if I hadn't shattered a pie plate.  Really, shattered.  Good thing this yummy comfort food would be coming out of the oven an hour after that disaster.  I tend to burst into tears every time that I break something glass.   Yesterday marks the first time I have broken something glass in our house and NOT cried. Woo hoo!  Luckily I had 2 pyrex pie plates, so pictured below is the other one.

Okay, back to the food.

This chicken pot pie was excellent!  Nick said "Yes" to "Better than store bought?"  

After another minute of chowing down he said "Better than Costco."  I guess Costco doesn't fit into the same category as any other store?  According to Nick they have very good chicken pot pie... so if you're too busy (or lazy) to make this, you can buy it there.  But this is better than Costco, so it won't be as good.

This was my first time cutting something out of the top of a pie like that.  Do not make fun of my little hearts.  I was thinking nobody but Nick would see it, so it didn't matter.  As I put the pie in, I realized I was going to take pictures to blog.  Oh well!  Also, my crust was slightly overdone, as you can see, by the time I checked it at the minimum recommended cooking time (35 min).

This recipe makes two pies - save one in the freezer for a rainy day.  Or a busy day when you don't have time to make dinner :)

My suggestions: Use Yukon Gold potatoes.  Yum.  

And I added an extra half a cup of peas - changing the recipe from 1 cup peas to 1 1/2 cups of peas.

Use a flaky pie crust.  I used the one with the Cook's Illustrated Lattice-Top Peach Pie, which I blogged last year.  You can view it on my blog here.  This has been my go-to crust since making that pie.  Remember to double your pie crust recipe! 

Chicken Pot Pie

(Makes two 9-inch pies)

• 2 cups diced peeled potatoes (suggestion: Yukon Gold)

• 1 3/4 cups sliced carrots

• 2/3 cup chopped onion

• 1 cup butter, cubed

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 3/4 tsp. salt

• 1 tsp. dried thyme

• 3/4 tsp. pepper

• 3 cups chicken broth

• 1 1/2 cups milk

• 4 cups cubed cooked chicken

• 1 1/2 cups frozen peas 

• 1 cup frozen corn

• Pastry for two double-crust pies (9 inches)

1.  Place potatoes and carrots in a large saucepan; cover with water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat;  cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until crisp-tender.  Drain and set aside.

2.  In a large skillet, saute onion in butter until tender (Yes, a whole cup of butter! Remember, this is your base for two pies).  Stir in flour, salt, thyme and pepper until blended.  Gradually stir in broth and milk.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.  Add the chicken, peas, corn, potatoes, and carrots; remove from heat.

3.  Line two 9-inch pie plates with bottom pastry shells.  Fill shells with chicken mixture.  Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pies.  Cut slits or decorative cutouts in pastry.  Place over filling; trim, seal, and flute edges.  

4.  Bake one pie at 425° for 35-40 minutes or until crust is lightly browned.  Let stand for 15 mintues before cutting.  Cover and freeze remaining pie for up to 3 months.

To use frozen pie: Shield frozen pie crust edges with foil; place on a baking sheet.  Bake at 425° for 30 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350°; bake 70-80 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown.

Source: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Chicken-Potpie-3

Chicken, pepper, and mushroom alfredo

This sauce was EXCELLENT.  It made a huge difference using shredded cheese instead of the Kraft grated cheese in my alfredo sauce.  I had about half a bag of Sargento 6 cheese Itailian cheese left, which was great.  It had shredded mozzarella, smoked provolone, asiago, parmesan, romano, and fontina cheeses.  I should sometime actually plan to make alfredo with fresh cheese.

The peppers and mushrooms were just thrown in because we have tons of peppers in our garden and mushrooms from the farm... but they went perfectly with the dish.

I adapted the recipe to use my last 3/4 cup of heavy cream (from the goat cheese ice cream we had last week... recipe to come!).  Here is the recipe before my quantity adaptations.  Oh, also I tend to cheat on garlic.  I just dumped in some garlic powder instead of using a garlic clove.

Chicken, pepper, and mushroom alfredo
Ingredients:
• 6 oz. Mushrooms
• 1 green pepper
• One large chicken breast, or two me
• 1/2 box Fettucine
Sauce:
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parm cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

• 
  

Prepare pots and pans - Prepare chicken pan by heating pan and adding oil.
                                      Prepare veggie pan by heating pan and adding oil.
                                      Prepare pot for pasta by boiling water.
                                      Get out a small pot for sauce.

Chop veggies and pre-measure for sauce.

Add pasta to boiling water and multi task!  Cook your chicken and veggies, and begin to melt the butter in the sauce pot.  Once butter is melted, whisk in cream and simmer for 5 minutes.  Add garlic.  Add cheese little by little, whisking until mixed in.  Stir in parsley.

When chicken and veggies are done, remove from heat and slice chicken into bite-sized pieces.

Drain pasta and return to pot, tossing with sauce.  Add chicken and veggies and serve!



If you are looking for a "healthy" alfredo sauce, check out this one instead.


Source: allrecipes.com

Colby BBQ chicken

This is an easy BBQ chicken stuffed with cheese.  There is no mixing or measuring, and if you're like me, husband does all the grilling - so this is an easy one.  Or, if you don't have a grill, or a husband, or just don't feel like grilling, you can also broil it.  When I first found this recipe I figured I'd broil it, but grilling just seemed so much better that I changed my mind.

So, watcha gotta do for this scrumptious chicken is cut it in half, and put cheese in it.  Cheese of your choice.  The recipe said pepper jack - but I had slices of colby, so it's what we used.  My chicken is a little beat up, as you can see in the picture below.  That's because of the lady that was buying chicken at the same time as me at Giant Eagle.  We were discussing how all of the "thin sliced chicken breasts" cost way more than the regular ones.  She said, "Just get those ones and pound it out."  And as I stood there and continued to look at the chicken, she choose her thick chicken breasts, shoved them in her overflowing basket, and starting saying to her little girl, "I'll just have to pound it out.  Pound it out."  I think she was giving herself a pep talk.  So I followed suit, got the giant thick chicken breasts, and pounded it out.  Nice and pounded out, it became 2 chicken breasts (cut in half) and then I sliced them in half the other way and stuck the cheese in.

Colby BBQ chicken:
• Chicken breasts
• Colby, Pepper Jack, or other sliced cheese - 1 per chicken breast
• BBQ sauce

If necessary, pound and cut chicken to desired size.  Carefully cut a pocket for cheese.  Insert 1 slice of cheese in a chicken breast and close it with metal skewers or wooden skewers (soaked in water first).  Grill over medium heat, brushing with BBQ sauce often.  OR broil 4 in. from heat for 6-8 minutes on each side until juices run clear, basting frequently with BBQ sauce.  Remove skewers before serving.

Source:  Taste of Home Simple and Delicious Cookbook (2007), page 63

Mustard Chicken

Pros for this recipe:

• Made with stuff I already had at home

• Only 3 ingredients

• 5 Minutes or less prep time

• Yummy (with respect to how easy it is)

This is maybe not the best chicken that I've ever had, but considering how easy it is, we said it's good enough to make again.  I've had corn flakes, bread crumbs, spice mixtures, etc. coating chicken, but I've never had French Fried Onions on chicken.  We liked this one because it was different.  Plus, I've never used French Fried Onions for anything but green bean casserole.  I like knowing that I can use them for more than one thing.

Some of the reviews on allrecipes.com said it doesn't really taste like mustard.  We thought it tasted like mustard.  Those people are nuts.  Not that it was a bad thing.  It just... tasted like the mustard that was on it.

I didn't measure how much mustard or onions I used.  I pretty much just estimated.  That's what I usually do when I coat stuff.  Then if I need more, I just dump in more.

Mustard Chicken
• Chicken breasts
• Mustard
• French fried onions

Preheat oven to 375°.  Lightly grease a glass pan.
Get out two bowls.  Put in one bowl enough mustard to cover your chicken, and in the other bowl enough French fried onions to coat your chicken.  Dip the chicken in mustard, then move it to the second bowl and coat with French fried onions.  Place in lightly greased pan.
Cook for 40-50 minutes or until juices run clear.

Source: "Juliet"at allrecipes.com

Chicken Bacon Cheddar Sandwiches

It is just as good as it sounds.  It has bacon... how could it not be good?

This sandwich is just simple pan-fried chicken breasts topped with bacon and cheese of your choice.  I just happened to prefer cheddar.  You can pick your own cheese if you want.

Oh, Ree's recipe also included lemon pepper seasoning, and I completely forgot to use it.  I included it in my recipe anyway and will try it next time.

As you can see below, I cut ours in half and we both had 2 little sandwiches.  Don't do it.  Just have one giant yummy chicken bacon cheddar sandwich so the bread doesn't dominate.

Forgot to take a picture once they were on buns.  Oops.  They were pretty buns, too.

Chicken Bacon Cheddar Sandwiches 
(2 sandwiches)
• 2 chicken breasts
• 4 pieces of bacon
• Cheddar cheese (or your cheese of choice)
• Lemon pepper seasoning
• Buns

Use kitchen shears to cut the bacon in half.  Cook bacon on med-low.
While the bacon is cooking, use the smooth side of a meat tenderizer to even out the thickness of the chicken.  Sprinkle both sides of chicken with lemon pepper seasoning.
When the bacon is done move it to a paper towel lined plate.  Dump out most of the grease, leaving about a tablespoon.  Add the chicken.  Cook until the outer edges of the top become opaque.  Flip and begin arranging the bacon on top of the chicken.  Then add your cheese.  Cover for a few minutes to let cheese melt and chicken finish cooking.
Make into sandwiches and enjoy!


Source: The Pioneer Woman

Easy Shake-n-bake Chicken

All you have to do is combine these in a bag...

shake your chicken in it, and bake it to get this....

As you can see, we prefer chicken legs...
But it's also because they come in 4 packs, and if we got other pieces it'd be way too much for 2 of us.

TA-DAH! Simple.

Here's the recipe I used, once again original from allrecipes.com.  I halved everything and estimated the 1/8 tsp amounts, and also used less salt.  I also added the garlic and onion powder.  Some of the reviewers said it's good without putting butter on before putting in the spice mixture... so I did 2 legs rubbed in olive oil and then in the spice mixture, and 2 with nothing but the spices so that we could compare.  Nick and I vote for definitely using olive oil or butter before putting it in the spices- the skin tastes SO much better.

Easy Shake n bake chicken:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. paprika

1/4 sage

1/4 black pepper

couple shakes garlic powder

and onion powder

olive oil or 1/2 cup melted butter

Prepare flour and spices by dumping in a large ziploc bag.  Rub chicken pieces with olive oil or melted butter.  Toss them in a bag with the spices.  Shake... then move to a pan... and bake.

Source: allrecipies.com, added by Candy
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Shake-and-Bake-Chicken/Detail.aspx

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

Looking around on the food network website the other day I found this page, which disgusted me with the amount of fat and calories in a typical fettuccine alfredo.  From there I found some links for "light" versions  and used one of those recipes (this one).  Alfredo sauce is easy to make and you do not need to use heavy cream for it... you probably already have all of the ingredients in your fridge!

The only problem was that there wasn't enough sauce.  I made a whole box of fettuccine which was enough for us to have hefty portions for 2 days.  The second day I made an extra recipe of sauce.  I would suggest making 1 1/2 times the recipe or just doubling it for sauce.  There could also probably be more chicken.  Considering it made about 4 servings, I might use 3-4 chicken breasts.  I also used 1% milk and eliminated the half and half from the recipe. 

 Here's how I adapted:  (Makes 4 large servings)

4 chicken tenders (or 2 chicken breasts) (I'd use more next time)

2 stalks of broccoli

1 box of fettuccine

Sauce:

2 Tbsp. butter

1 cup milk (I used 1%)

1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Garlic powder

Parsley

Turn water on to boil for pasta.  Cook chicken in a pan with a little bit of oil.  If desired, cut up chicken into small pieces.  Chop broccoli and put in a pot with just enough water to cover the bottom.  Put on the lid and put the pot on med-low for 6 minutes or until broccoli is soft.  Set aside chicken and broccoli.

Begin cooking pasta and sauce.  For sauce: Melt butter over medium heat.  Add milk and mix until hot.  Whisk in cornstarch until mixture begins to thicken.  Add parmesan cheese and continue to heat and mix until desired consistency.  Sprinkle in garlic powder and parsley.  

Drain pasta and dump pasta and sauce into large pot.  Mix in chicken and broccoli.  If chicken and broccoli are no longer hot, put the lid on and let it sit on low for 2 minutes or until it's hot.

Easy Balsamic Chicken Breasts

 

This was pretty good for an easy-to-do chicken with not too many ingredients.  

Not spectacular, but pretty good.  I like chicken that you bake because I can do other stuff while it cooks... so I think I prefer this to a similar recipe I made a few weeks ago cooked in a pan.

Ingredients:

Chicken breasts

Minced Garlic

Rosemary

sprinkle of salt and pepper

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

Here's what I did:

Heated the oven to 450.  Rubbed chicken breasts with some minced garlic, rosemary, a sprinkle of salt and pepper.  Let sit for a little bit.  (Little bit = until my potatoes were half done so that they would be done the same time as the chicken).  Put some olive oil in my corningware and put it in the oven for a few minutes so that it would thin out and cover the bottom (not really necessary to heat it).  Stuck the chicken in.  Cooked for 10 minutes.  Flipped the chicken, poured some balsamic vinegar on, cooked for 15 more minutes.  Done!  Don't forget to pour on some of the leftover juices!

Our easy meal!

This recipe inspired by: Balsamic Chicken

Nick likes taking pictures of food for me.
I told him I wasn't going to blog about steaming broccoli...
But he had fun capturing pictures of the steaming broccoli anyway.