Chicken Pot Pie

It's starting to get cold.... and with rainy days there's a few things that sound good- hot cocoa/cider, soup, or chicken pot pie.  Any of those are a win-win!  This time the Chicken pot pie sounded the best.  I wanted to try something totally new- since normally I do something super simple like chicken & veggies with a can of cream of chicken soup and then pour a runny Bisquick mix over the top. (that's my lazy version- tasty, but lazy)  So this time it was completely different!  A little more entailed, but honestly it tasted so much better! Even though it's not the prettiest.
First let me start by saying I was making 4 large pans of this- 3 for freezer meals/giveaway meals and one for dinner that night.  So I'll share the recipe I did and you can reduce it as much as will work for you- but really there is no rhyme or reason to it- it's all about what your family likes best.  If they like a lot of veggies, add a lot!  If they like mostly meat, add more!  If you want to use different kinds of meats or veggies, or make a brown gravy instead of a white one- by all means do it!

This is the ingredients I used:
6 chicken breasts
About 8 cups of water
4 T chicken flavoring
2 cubes of butter (1 cup)
8 potatoes
4 stalks of celery
1 large onion
2 T minced garlic
1 bag of frozen circle carrots
2 bags of peas
1 bag of peas & carrots
2 cans of cream style corn
2 3/4 c. flour
2 c. milk
salt & pepper to taste
4 frozen pie crusts from the store (defrosted)

So basically this recipe is like cooking 2 things at the same time then combining them towards the end....

In a large pot boil your chicken with water and chicken flavoring or chicken stock.
(I used a super large pot because it's eventually what the entire filling for all the pies will be in so it needs to fit more than just the chicken)

While the chicken is boiling, cut up your veggies.  Try to get them as close to the same size as possible then they will cook evenly.

Since I had chopped onion and celery in my freezer I used those (see this post to learn more)- but if you were chopping them fresh I'd say about 1 large onion and 4 stalks of celery.

I ended up using frozen veggies as well because it was on hand, if you have fresh by all means use those!

Once you have all the veggies you're going to use ready it's time to get cooking!

In a large frying pan melt 1 cube of butter.
Add your onions and about 2 T of minced garlic, cook until the onions start to turn clear then add your carrots (NOT the ones with the peas however).

While that's cooking your chicken will be ready to be cut up.  Using tongs, take the breasts out of the water one at a time, cut them up then return them to the water. (it's ok if some aren't fully cooked yet- they will)
Add the potatoes to the chicken & water.

Back to the frying pan-
Add the second cube of butter.  Once it's melted add your flour.  (I added 2 cups here, then when it didn't thicken up as much when I combined it with the chicken I took some of the liquid out and mixed it with 3/4 c. more flour then added it to the rest and it thickened up better.  That's a trick you can always use to thicken up a white gravy- it's all a matter of fat/flour balance.  If it's too thick, just add a little more milk)

Once the flour is mixed in well add your milk.  Once that is mixed it add the entire pan to the pot with the chicken and potatoes.

Now you have it all in one pot and it's just a matter of cooking it until the potatoes are cooked and the liquid thickens up a little.
Add the peas, peas & carrots, and 2 cans of creamed corn (the creamed corn will also help it thicken a little)
Taste the flavor- if it needs more, add some! Your potatoes will absorb the salt and some of the flavor so it usually needs a little kick at this point, I added about 2 T. chicken flavoring and 2 t. salt.

Once it's thickened up a little and your potatoes are cooked, pour it into a casserole dish.  Then unroll one of your store bought pie crusts (or make it homemade, but this was my shortcut lol) and place it on top.  Brush the top with a beaten egg and bake at 350 until the crust is golden (since everything else is already cooked)

Enjoy!!
It was a little more involved than my other recipe- but I have to admit it was also 10 times better!  The kids chowed down and I barely got a serving by the time I finished feeding the baby.  (and haha it had lots of veggies they probably didn't even notice they were eating! Score!)