RECIPE - Simple(r) Chicken Pot Pie

 Simple(r) Chicken Pot Pie

Recipe courtesy of Heather McCroan

Ingredients

• Frozen pie crust

• 2 tbsp oil

• 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables (thawed)

• 1 onion, diced small

• 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1” cubes

• 3 tbsp all purpose flour

• ½ tsp dried thyme

• ⅛ tsp turmeric

• ¼ cup heavy whipping cream

• 3 cups chicken stock

• Salt and Pepper to taste

• Egg mixed with 1 tbsp of water (egg wash)

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees and place one pie crust into bottom of pie pan.

2. Meanwhile, heat up oil in large skillet and add vegetables, onion, and chicken until chicken is cooked and vegetables soften, 8-10 minutes.

3. Once oven is heated, cook bottom crust in oven for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 400 degrees.

4. Add flour, turmeric, and thyme to chicken and vegetables, mix,

5. Slowly add heavy whipping cream and chicken stock to allow flour to dissolve into liquid, stirring constantly until thick sauce forms.

6. Add salt and pepper to taste.

7. Pour into pie crust, top with second crust, brush crust with egg wash, bake for 10 minutes or until crust is sufficiently browned for your taste.

8. If you don’t let this rest before serving it will be piping hot, but won’t ruin the flavor!

Long Story

I was watching The Pioneer Woman and she had a recipe for deconstructing chicken pot pie where she made it in under 16 minutes.  This was fascinating to me because I love chicken pot pie, but if you make it from scratch you are talking hours of prep.  And really, half the time I don’t have a plan, I just want chicken pot pie on a cold day.  So I decided to combine her recipe with some hacks of my own to reduce some of my workload and take advantage of some of her methods.  I didn’t necessarily save any time, I didn’t track it either because I was kind of putting it together as I cooked, but it is still easy and simple, and semi-homemade.

What I Used

Great Value 9” pie crust, 2 count

Birds Eye Steam Freash frozen mixed vegetables

Perdue Free Range boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tbsp Better Than Bouillon Roast Chicken

3 cups of water

$.16 for Foaming Hand Soap!!!!!

 

I wanted to try out making my own foaming hand soap to see if I would save money.  I also wanted to replace using plastic in favor of easily recyclable glass.  And eventually, I decided to make it in a scent that I love.

Here is the recipe in case you don't want to read my jibber jabber.

FOAMING SOAP RECIPE

3 parts water

1 part of your favorite liquid soap or body wash (NOT foaming soap)

Directions:  Fill measuring cup to line with water, then add soap (putting soap first then water will make it foam), stir until mixed, pour in foam dispenser.

MATH SKILLS... if you're confused about 3 parts to 1 part, also called a 3:1 (three to one) ratio, here is an explanation.  Take the total of how many ounces or mL you want to make and divide by four.  That number is your 1 part.  Take that number and multiply by three, and you get the three parts.  It's like taking a pizza divided into four slices, three getting pepperoni (3 parts) and one getting sausage (1 part).  Another way to do it is 75% water and 25% soap.