Chicken Pot Pie

The best picture I took.... We all dug in and ate, and I realized as I was packaging up leftovers I forgot to take pictures!

I remember having those little frozen chicken pot pies when I was a kid.  I usually picked out the veggies, like most kids do.  They fell off my radar because it wasn't ever one of my favorite meals.  A couple months ago, Kevin said pot pies sounded good.  I knew I could go buy the frozen ones, but what fun is that?  I found several recipes, all with great reviews, and combined a couple to come up with my own recipe.  It's by far one of my favorite things I make, and the family loves it too (although there's still some kids that pick out some veggies!)  I should mention, this is the only time I eat peas :-P

I like to pre-cut and pre-measure all my ingredients before I start. 

I know this looks like a lot of steps and ingredients, but I promise it comes together pretty easily and the end result is SO worth the little bit of work!  You'll also have leftover ingredients and can make my favorite chicken noodle soup! 

Pot Pie Ingredients:
2 chicken breast
6 Tbsp butter
3/4 of a sweet onion, chopped very small
2 small stalks of celery, chopped very small
1/2 tsp salt
sprinkle of pepper
6 Tbsp flour
2 C chicken broth
2/3 C 2% milk
2 medium potatoes (I used red potatoes), pealed and chopped into bite sized pieces (soak in water until ready to use so they don't turn brown!)
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into bites
1 C frozen peas, defrosted
1 C frozen corn, defrosted
Pie Crust  (I use my homemade one because I prefer the taste, recipe below!)
1 egg, beaten

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425*
Place chicken breast in pan, cover with water, and bring to a boil.  It will take about 15 minutes to cook them.  While the chicken cooks, prepare your pot pie filling.
In a large sauce pan, melt the butter.  Once melted, add the celery and onion.  Cook for about 2 minutes.  Next add the salt, pepper, and flour.  Cook 4 minutes.  Next add the chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.  Simmer 8-10 minutes and allow mixture to thicken.  (The chicken should be done by this point.  Remove and cut into bite sized pieces.)  Add the milk to the sauce pan and cook another 4 minutes.
Remove sauce pan from heat.  Drain the water off the potatoes, and add to the sauce pan.  Also add the carrots, peas, corn and chicken breast. 
Pour the filling into a 9x13 pan and set aside while you prepare the pie crust.

Pie crust ingredients:
1/4 C crisco
1/4 C soft butter
1 1/2 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
approx 1/2 cold water (I use a 1 C measure cup, fill it half full of water and add ice cubes to get the water really cold!)
Mix crisco, butter, flour and salt together with a fork or pastry blender until very crumbly.  Add water a little at a time until it holds together but the dough is not sticky.  Feel free to mix with your hands.  Sometimes it's just easier!  Roll gently on a floured pastry cloth (or your counter top, I just think the pastry cloth is easier) until slightly larger than the 9x13 pan.   Gently lift the pie crust and place on top of the pot pie filling.  Tuck extra pie crust into the sides of the pan.  Use a pastry brush, brush beaten egg on top of the pie crust.  This prevents the crust from burning while baking.  Lastly, with a sharp knife, cut X's or slits into the top of the pie crust to allow the pie to vent.

Bake for approx 40-45 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow the pie to cool 10 minutes before serving.  This is the best meal for when it's cold outside!  It's also a great meal to take to someone!  Hope you love it as much as we do! :)