One of the most dear to my heart comfort foods is chicken pot pie. But, because one cannot ever find it without peas, I am forced to make my own. Actually, it is such a great dish to make. For some reason, it makes me feel like autumn is in the air, even though it is over 100. It brings back memories of sitting by a fireplace while the pot pie is in the oven and the apple crisp is sitting over on the counter waiting to bring about a wonderful closure to our meal. Yesterday I could not wait any longer. Chicken pot pie was on the menu. I didn’t care if there was no fire in the fireplace, or that the thermostat was turned down to 64 so the oven could be on. Because we had had the kids over for dinner on Sunday evening for barbecued chicken and hash brown casserole, there was still some of the potatoes left over so I began to think, “hum, the hash brown casserole could be used in my pot pie and give it a wonderful cheesy flavor. And flavor it did have. The pie was absolutely wonderful and we ate unit there would have been no room for apple crisp (ok, not for a couple of hours anyway, but we had pumpkin cookies and cherry pie so didn’t need to make anything else). The only thing I will change when I make it again is that I will homemake the biscuits to place on the top. Last night I used canned biscuits because I was in a hurry to get to game night at a girlfriends house. But it was still really really good.
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 cups finely chopped chicken
1 cup chicken broth
1 can Campbells cream of chicken with herbs (not ever store has this but if you can find it, get it, it is a great addition) I find it at Walmart
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2/3 cup finely chopped celery
2/3 cup finely chopped carrots
1 cup of finely chopped cooked potato
(If Randy would not have been here, I would have added 1 cup of sliced mushrooms and cooked them along with the onion, celery, chicken mixture)
1/2 teas poultry seasoning
1/2 teas thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Biscuits to cover the top of casserole
To a medium size saucepan, place carrots and potato in a little water to cook for about 3-4 minutes after bringing to a boil. Drain and set aside.
In a large skillet (If you use an iron skillet, you could actually complete the baking in the skillet and would not need to pour mixture into a different baking dish), melt the butter and add the chopped chicken, onion and celery. Sprinkle with salt and pepper until veggies are tender and chicken is done. Add the can of cream of chicken to the mixture. Stir. Slowly add the chicken broth (you might not need to add the full cup, so after adding about 1/2 cup, stir and add to thin mixture until it is still creamy, but not to runny) to this mixture along with the poultry seasoning and thyme. Stir in the drained carrots and potatoes. (Yes, if you are a pea lover, you can add those also, but be are and drain them well before adding.) Stir until mixture is well combined. If leaving in iron skillet, you an top with enough biscuits to cover the top and bake at 350 until mixture is bubbly and biscuits are done. (I cut each biscuit in 4th’s, but I think if I did use canned biscuits in the future, I would slice them in half horizontally making each biscuit into two. That way the biscuit isn’t so think on top.
If you are not using an iron skillet, pour into a greased 9×9 baking dish, top with biscuits or corn bread stuffing and bake until bubbly and biscuits are thoroughly cooked.
This pot pie reminded me so much of Thanksgiving that I think next time i make it, I am going to top it with corn bread dressing. The sauce in the pie using the cream of chicken with herbs was outstanding.
Chocolate cake (or cupcakes) always seem dryer than vanilla so wanted to share something a dear lady taught me years ago! When baking chocolate cakes, take the layers (or cupcakes) out of oven when they still have a glossy look to part of the top. They will continue to bake for a min after removing them from oven so this helps keep them moist. Plus after frosting my cakes or cupcakes, i cover them and place them in fridge until a couple of hours before serving. Ensures a more moist cake!
Some sweet ladies came to our house for a brunch a couple of weeks ago. Because I had talked about sausage gravy over biscuits at water aerobic class, a couple of the ladies expressed a desire to have some, as they had never experienced this wonderful southern dish. While others in the class are talking about how this class is helping them feel better and building muscle strength, we are at the other end of the pool planning our sausage gravy biscuit brunch. One of the ladies said that she would bring some watermelon so we would have one healthy food item, while yet another said that she would bring a coffee cake. Well, this is the pastry she brought and everyone had a hissy (I’ve been dying to see that word)fit over it. We had such a grand time that morning. The night before, I got this great idea to type out questions to pass around the table and let everyone pick out one a the bowl was passed around. Here are some of the questions that got us talking and getting to know each other a little better. So before I post the recipe a little further down, why not think about having some ladies over that you would like to get to know and use this idea to start the conversation flowing. IT was a really nice morning and we had some really nice memory sharing among us.
Last evening a friend of mine and I decided that after playing golf for a few weeks, we wanted to participate in what is called Glo Golf, here in Arizona. Apparently, this particular golf club entices folks to come out at night with this marvelous idea of playing after the sun goes down. All I can tell you is that I don’t remember having that much fun outside of the kitchen when I have a mixer in my hand and a pound of butter beside me. Our husbands decided they would like to go so they could “help” us find the balls, or shine the flashlight on the course so we wouldn’t end up in a water hazard trying to find the tee box. So off we went to play in our first glow golf tournament. We picked out our out-fits that would go with our 4th of July led necklaces. Randy was even instructed to wear a shirt that would match the blue in my necklace so our pictures would look perfect, color wise. We arrived to find that apparently the 50 golf carts that were lined up had made a trip (or 5 trips) to the Dollar Store. Every imaginable glow in the dark neon bracelet, necklace, hanging ornaments had been purchased and adorned the golf carts. We were the only ones that didn’t have a golf cart that could be seen from space. But, what a night. They had told us that if we found ourselves using the glow balls that were given to us and needing more, they would could be purchased for $8/each. Those of you who know Randy know that he would swim an ocean to retrieve a lost ball before spending $8 for a ball. So we take off, realizing that, if at all possible, that glow ball that came in our alloted amount, would be treated like gold. And swim some of us did. On about the 3rd hole, I actually (in the dark don’t forget) crawled under a wire fence that separated the driving range from the “out of bounds” area to the right of the fairway. But retrieve I did. With the help of two different golf clubs and muscles from crawling on my stomach that I had not used in years since trying to get dirty diapers from under furniture that was too heavy to move, when the kids were little. Thank goodness, it was dark. A little further down the course, Teresa found herself crawling over a fence to find her glow ball which was laying near the street. She came back with a splinter in her finger from the wooden fence. Both of our balls landed in the water hazard which we, once again, using the longest clubs we could get, dragged the ball to the edge of the lake, then sticking our hand in that filthy water, was able to rescue the treasured ball. We discovered drainage ditches that we had never noticed when we play in the daytime. All in all, we had a ball. The laughter, the new adventure, the memories that were made with our husbands there to cheer us on, were priceless. We cannot wait to sign up for the next one.
We have a young chef who comes into our community once a month who is absolutely wonderful. Not only does she bring us amazing recipes, but she is funny and just livens up the people who show up. You come away laughing and in such great moods, it is just a great class to attend. Last week she made 4 really good recipes of which I have already made one. It will be one of our staples from now on. Open Faced Caprese Sandwiches. She also gave us the recipe for Butterscotch Peanut bars, Watermelon-Feta-Basil Salad and a summer mixed drink which I will post tomorrow. But today I am posting the Caprese Sandwiches and Butterscotch Bars.
Chocolate Castles 