Perfect Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Pot Pie















Directions for puff pastry topping:
4 sheets frozen puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cut each sheet of frozen puff pastry into 1-inch strips, 8 inches long. On a large cookie sheet, weave strips into a lattice large enough to cover the pot pie. Brush beaten egg onto lattice square. Bake for 5 minutes, or until dough has risen and turned light golden brown. Set aside until ready to assemble pie

Ingredients:

• 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breast--cooked all day in the crockpot with a little chicken broth and garlic powder and thyme. Cut up--about 3-4 cups of cooked chicken.
  

• 8 tablespoons butter
• 3 or 4 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 leek, sliced
• 3/4 to 1 cup thin sliced celery
• 3-4 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
• cups of frozen diced potatoes, thawed
  
• 8 ounces sliced mushrooms
• 5 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons sherry or white wine
  
• 1 cup frozen peas
  
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 sheet puff pastry

Directions:

Grease a 2-quart baking dish. (I made mine in a 9x13 glass baking dish)

In a large saucepan, heat 4 tablespoons of butter over medium heat.
Add mushrooms and cook, stirring, until mushrooms are browned and tender. Add the green onions and continue cooking for 1 minute. Remove mushrooms and onions from pan.

Add the leek, celery, carrots and potatoes, adding more butter if needed and saute until vegetables are crisp tender. Add mushrooms and onions back to pan. Remove from heat.

In a sauce pan:
Melt 4 tablespoons of butter.
Stir in flour until well blended.
Stir in the reduced chicken broth, cream, and sherry. Continue cooking, stirring, until thickened. Add the peas and chicken, and vegetables to sauce.
Taste and add salt and pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.
Spoon into the prepared baking dish.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until hot and bubbly.

Add pre-cooked puff pastry top and bake 5-10 minutes more--depending on how brown topping turned out during the pre-bake.

Cheeseburger Soup

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
• 1-3/4 cups milk
• 1 cup frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
• 1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies
• 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
• 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• Coarsely crushed corn chips, shredded Monterey Jack cheese and chopped green onions, optional

Directions:
In a large saucepan, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in the soup, milk, potatoes, chilies, taco seasoning, onion and chili powder until blended. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until heated through. Garnish with corn chips, cheese and green onions if desired. Yield: 4 servings.

(recipe and photo from tasteofhome.com)

Chicken Potpie

Chicken Potpie
(recipe from Taste of Home)

Ingredients:
4cups cubed cooked chicken

1 package (12 ounces) frozen broccoli and cheese sauce

1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken and mushroom soup, undiluted

1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted

2 medium potatoes, cubed

3/4 cup chicken broth

2/3 cup sour cream

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/4 teaspoon pepper

TOPPING:

1-1/2 cups biscuit/baking mix

3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

3/4 cup 2% milk

3 tablespoons butter, melted.

Directions:
In a Dutch oven, combine the first nine ingredients; bring to a boil.

Transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish.

In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients; spoon over top.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until bubbly andtopping is golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Pot of Pinto Beans

Pinto beans recipe, Mexican-style, for the slow cooker or crockpot.

Ingredients:

• 1 small bag of dry pinto beans (1 pound)
• bacon
• onion
• cilantro
• small jar of salsa, or to taste

Preparation:

Rinse bag of beans and soak overnight. Next day put in crockpot or slow cooker covered with water, almost to the top; cover and cook on LOW heat 5 to 7 hours, until beans are tender. After about 5 hours, when beans are tender, fry up desired amount of bacon, onion and cilantro until bacon is cooked through and onion is clear; drain well. Add to beans, along with some of the drippings from bacon.(Before I add this to the beans, I scoop some of the water out of the beans.) Add salsa to taste. Cover and cook about 1 to 2 more hours.

In the last hour, I added salt, a bit of cayenne, a bit of black pepper and some garlic salt to taste...They were a hit at our house!

Served over rice, topped with sour cream, lime flavored tortilla chips, and cheese.