chicken pot pie!!!

You wanna talk about food?  Let's talk chicken pot pie.  YUMMM  I altered this recipe http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/chicken-pot-pie-ix/Detail.aspx.

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cubed
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup frozen green peas

1/2 cup sliced celery

3 red potatoes, cubed

2 tbsp. butter

half a medium onion, chopped

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

~2 1/2 cups chicken broth (full sodium kind...low sodium will make pot pie too bland)

2/3 cup milk (1 cup may work better as this pot pie could use a bit more liquid)

Place carrots, frozen peas, and potatoes in a pan.  Salt and pepper.  Cover with ~1/2 cup chicken broth and 1 cup water.  Simmer (slight boil) on medium heat for ~15 minutes or until veggies become slightly soft.  Drain and place in bowl.

Either use same pan or another pan (then can cook simultaneously as veggies) and place raw chicken in pan, add a little salt and pepper, and cover with water.  Simmer for ~15 minutes or until cooked through.  The reason why we boil the veggies and chicken is to get a more pot pie like flavor, as opposed to a browned, sauteed flavor.

Looks kinda weird, but that's OK.  Drain the chicken.  Then, I cut it up into smaller pieces and added it to a separate bowl containing the cooked veggies.

Next, brown the onions in the butter for a couple of minutes just until onions start releasing their juices and become somewhat soft.  Then, add in the flour and slowly add in the chicken broth and milk, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens.  This takes ~5 minutes.  This is the flour I used, a great brand of whole wheat flour.

Turn off the heat once the sauce thickens up.  Pour over chicken/veggie mix and leave aside.

Next, make the pie crusts. This is the best pie crust recipe from Betty Crocker!!!  No vinegar necessary.  I love this pie dough...mmmmm.

2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup butter
1 tsp. salt
~1/4 cup ice cold water

Crumble the butter in the flour and salt with your fingers until you get a coarse mixture.

Next, add the ice cold water and gently mix together with your hands.  I always start forming a ball (it will not easily come together) and just continue adding more flour to the ball.  It's best to not work the dough too much and to not worry about forming a perfect ball.  There may still be some flour at the bottom of the bowl, but you can roll this in with the rest of the dough when rolling it out.  Split the ball of dough evenly into 2 smaller balls.

Roll out the dough, continuously flouring your surface so the dough does not stick.  Transfer to an 8"x8" pan and press against the edges.  The filling will completely fill this pan, so you can use a larger pan if you want.

Fill with veggie/chicken/sauce mixture.

Place second pie crust over top.  Make sure you have rolled your dough out enough that it overhangs about an inch on each side.  Then, you can tuck under those overhangs and make the pretty, curvy sides as shown below.  Cut slits in the top to release steam while cooking.

Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes.  Then, take out and let rest 10 minutes before diggin' in!

Oh. my. goodness.  This is wonderful.  I served it with a green salad topped with carrots, avocado, and grated parmesan cheese.  I can't wait for tomorrow's left overs!  Let me know if you try this recipe and how you like it??!!

And, dark chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert!!! (sorry no photo)  I melted 1 tbsp. butter in a pan, added some dark chocolate chips and stirred until they melted and then added in 2 tbsp. whole milk.  You need the butter and milk in order to make the chocolate dipping consistancy and to keep it from solidifying.