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.