Recipe #27 and #28: Pie Crust and Chicken Pot Pie

Recipe: Perfect Pie Crust
Source: Pioneer Woman Cooks
Time: 20 minutes to make, plus freezer and thawing time
Ease: 3
Taste: 6
Leftover Value: 10
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep in the Strainer!

Recipe: Chicken Pot Pie
Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Time: 1 hour*
Ease: 5
Taste: 9
Leftover Value: 6
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep in the Strainer!

*Does not include time to make the pie crusts or chicken since PW has them in the ingredients as if they have already been prepared.**  Plan ahead and make your pie crust and chicken at least a day in advance!

**Note: I am not that awesome.  I usually realize things like this much too late and have to postpone making the recipe.

Chicken Pot Pie is a recipe I have avoided for some time because I thought it was one of those recipes that should only be purchased as a frozen dinner.

Boy, was I wrong.

Homemade chicken pot pie is as comforting as comfort meals come, and the best part is that it really doesn't fall under the "super complicated" food category.

At least, I don't think so.

And I try to tell it like it is.

You could easily skip one step by purchasing your own pie crust, but naturally, I made my own.

For two reasons:

1. My inner chef would never let me cheat and use a pre-made crust.

2. I needed to make pie crust as part of the recipe challenge.

3. PW says to use one of her pie crusts for that pot pie.

I've learned quite an abundance about pie crusts over the past few weeks.*  The best thing I learned is that they can and should be made ahead of time.  All pie crusts can be made a day ahead of time and left in the fridge.  However, PW's crusts (and probably all others, too) also can be frozen.

*Making four different kinds for Thanksgiving breakfast will do that.

I made my PW pie crust and packaged them just as she instructs.  Three of them I froze to use at a later date (two were for her Flat Apple Pie) and one I used for the Chicken Pot Pie.

I had to resist leaving the celery out of the veggie medley.  I have never been a fan of celery in any way shape or form.  I avoid it in soups and covet those who enjoy munching on raw sticks of it.  However, I was delightfully surprised to find it didn't bother me at all when eating the pot pie.

The chicken for the pot pie is made the same way the chicken was prepared in Chicken Spaghetti.  I used a pretty large fryer chicken, so I ended up with a few cups extra.  I packed it up and froze it so I can make pot pie again in a few weeks with one less step!

I call this picture "Snow Fell Down on Veggies".

Yum, yum, yum!  At this point I had to resist the urge to grab a spoon and start gobbling this chicken and veggie mixture--it smelled that incredible!

I can show you exactly how confused I was about chicken pot pie.  It wasn't until I reached this point that I realized I only needed one pie crust.  For some reason I thought a pie crust was supposed to be placed on the bottom of the dish as well.

This left me with an extra pie crust (now in the freezer for the next time I make this recipe) and a breath of relief.

The chicken mixture was a little much for the average pie plate, however, just because this is called chicken pot PIE doesn't mean you have to use a pie plate.* Any old casserole dish will work just as well.

*I, however, could not convince myself of this.

Please make sure you serve this with the most buttery and creamy mashed potatoes possible.

Recipe 25: Chicken Spaghetti

Recipe: Chicken Spaghetti

Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Time: 2 hrs 

Ease: 2

Taste: 6

Leftover Value: 4

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Down the Drain

This dish taught me that Hubby hates casseroles.

It also taught me that I think I do, too.

I had to do some of the prep for this at different points in the day due to my schedule, so I chopped my veggies first.*

*Note: I would recommend doing this while the chicken is cooking.

Cooking the chicken was the best part of this recipe.  The recipe calls for one cut-up fryer chicken.  You can either cut a fryer chicken up yourself or purchase one already cut-up at your local grocery store.  It's easier to buy it cut up, so naturally, that is the choice I made.  The chicken pieces are placed in a stock pot, covered with water, brought to a boil, then simmered for 25 minutes.

I have never made chicken this way before, but I certainly think I might start doing it more often.  It is a great way to get a load of shredded chicken, as well as broth.  Even if you don't use it for dinner, it's awesome to have shredded chicken on hand for lunches, snacks, etc.

Did I mention that I was a little excited that the veggie colors were the colors of the Italian flag?

There are things about this dish that I liked, but the overwhelming flavor of peppers throughout is, I think, what keeps me from loving it.

That and the fact that it uses cream of mushroom soup.  I learned this weekend that I absolutely and most definitely do not like mushrooms.*

*More on that later.

One of my favorite parts of the dish was that the noodles are boiled in the remaining chicken stock.  I probably could have simply eaten them with the chicken and been content.

If you don't have a slight aversion to certain peppers, enjoy the flavor of cream of mushroom soup, and are a casserole lover---I'm sure you'll enjoy this meal.

If you're like me, skip it.