Pot Pie baby!!!!

Do you know those days when everything just goes as planned, and your kids are so well behaved and you just love them so much you want to just kiss their cute, adorable, clean, well dressed little persons? And your hubby comes home and his day was the BEST and he didn't bring any of it home? Yeah, me neither...I'm not sure I've really ever seen that scenario. Dinner time at our house is absolute MAYHEM. Kids are getting hungry, the house is cluttered with toys, the baby is smelling food, so she thinks she needs to eat RIGHT NOW....and that weird mommy guilt that says you should have hot dinner on the table by the time hubby is home is working overtime. Yeah, thats more like it. I feel so much better admitting that...this blog is a NO JUDGMENT blog....I think....which is why I love pot pie.....

Pot pie, lets talk about it! This recipe is so super easy, and so super good. (and so super clean, eh hem!) I used to make pot pie, but it was just with frozen mixed veggies and usually a boxed pancake mix..you know what I'm talking about. But after cooking and baking and being in control of ingredients became such a HUGE part of my life, I can't go back. I just can't. 

A homemade pot pie mixture: It has basic ingredients such as veggies, flour, chicken stock or broth, chicken and spices, so its nothing to be scared of...I promise. The recipe I use, is pretty fail proof. I even left out one step tonight because I was in a  hurry and there was no difference on the quality of the food. The only thing that may give you a bit of a fright is the fact that you have to make a roux. A roux is used to help thicken recipes...so maybe you've been making roux for lots of recipes and didn't even know! Usually its made from something being sautéed in butter or oil, then you add in flour to coat the mixture. In this pot pie recipe, its used by sautéing veggies (onion, carrots, celery) in butter till tender...add the flour and coat all veggies. Once its coated, you cook it for a min or two then add broth. After boiling the broth it will thicken. This is your base that only gets thicker from there after baked. Cooking with a roux makes me feel like such a grown up...

Here is the goal folks: a beautiful individual pot pie: 

 

I'm not a huge fan of pretty fluted edges...either because I can't do them, or I really do love a "rustic" look about pies and pie crusts. I'll let you decide. 

Individual Pot Pies

4 Tbs butter

1 medium onion, diced

2 medium carrots, diced (I used carrot sticks and just eyeballed how much I wanted)

1-2 celery stalks, diced*

1/4 cup flour

3.5 C chicken broth (more if your mixture becomes too thick)

2 C shredded or chopped cooked chicken (flavored with salt and pepper)

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp thyme (dried)

1/4 C half and half (I use cream)

Pie crust (I make mine from scratch, but you can use a refrigerated pie crust as well)

1 large egg

Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring until they are softening. 3-5 min. (maybe longer. I usually cook for about 8 min.) Sprinkle in the flour and mix in to cover the veggies. Cook the flour coated veggies for about 2 min. Add in chicken broth and stir to combine. Let it start to bubble and thicken 3-5 min. 

Stir in the cooked chicken, turmeric and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Add the half and half or cream, then stir the mixture and let it bubble and thicken. This will take about 5-7 min. If it seems overly thick, stir in a bit more broth. Remove from heat and set aside. 

Roll out the pie crusts slightly and cut out 8 dough circles just a bit larger that the pie pans.** Press dough circle into each pie pan, making sure the dough comes almost to the top of each pan. 

Fill the pies with the chicken mixture. 

Lay a second piece of dough over the top of each pie. Press the dough so that the edges meet, then use a fork to seal the edges. Mix the egg with 2 tsp water and brush all over the tops of the pies. Cut small vents in the surface of the crust. Place pies on a cookie sheet and put in a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for 25-30 min until the crust is a deep golden brown and the filling is bubbling. 

In my home, since I have an infant, I have to be one step of the game. I usually prep most of my food around 1-2PM so that when 4 rolls around, I'm ready to just throw things in pans and cook. Much luck on the recipe. I hope you make it and love it!!

Don't forget to get crafty, get cooking, and get a little mayhem going on!!

XOXOXO

Annisa 

*You can use any veggies you like. I've used beans, peas, carrots, onions, celery, corn. Our fave mixture is Peas, Carrots, Onions, Celery. 

**You don't have to do individual. We like individual because the kids LOVE eating "small" things. I'm sure we will be talking about that more on this blog. If you want to just make one large pie, use a pie pan, and just don't cut the crust.