Chicken Pot Pie - Free Recipe Card Download

Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

This recipe is a compilation of a number of recipes I found online for Chicken Pot Pie, plus one I had in my head. All of them have in common that they are "kind of" homemade... although I find that the more I cook homemade, the more I like it! I generally make my pot pie with just a top crust which saves on a lot of calories, and saves the hassle of making sure the bottom crust doesn't get soggy! The version in my head uses a can of cream soup as the gravy, but now that I've had a homemade gravy version, it's so much more tasty!

INGREDIENTS

• 2-3 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1 lb bag frozen mixed veggies (carrots, green beans, peas & lima beans)
• 1 cup diced potatoes
• 4 Tbsp. Butter, divided in half
• 1/2 c. finely chopped onion
• 1/2 c. finely chopped celery
• 1/3 c. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. salt (plus more to taste)
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. crushed garlic (optional)
• 1 1/2 c. chicken broth
• 2/3 c. milk
• 1 9-inch refrigerated pie crust

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Defrost vegetables and drain if needed. In a large bowl, combine chicken and vegetables and set aside.
• In a large skillet, place the potatoes in water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover an simmer for 8-10 minutes until potatoes are tender. Drain, then add to chicken and vegetables.
• Dry the pan, then over medium heat, melt 2 Tbsp of butter and add the garlic, onion and celery. Cook until nicely tender and onions are browned. Add the remaining butter and cook until it melts, then add flour, salt and pepper. Slowly mix in the chicken broth and milk, and stir frequently at a simmer until the mixture thickens. Check the taste to determine if you want to add additional seasoning.
• Pour the gravy mixture over the chicken and vegetables and stir until all is mixed together. Pour mixture into 9-inch pie plate and cover with crust. Pinch the crust around the edges, and poke several holes in it to allow pie to vent. 
• Bake for 30-45 minutes until crust is browned, and mixture is bubbling. If edges of pie are brown before pie is ready, cover the edges with foil. Remove and let cook 5-10 minutes before serving.

TIPS

• A glass pie plate makes it easy to see if the pie is bubbling.
• Pie can be made ahead and frozen. Thaw overnight in refrigerator before baking and cooking time may need to be extended to 1 hour - 75 minutes. (If cooking from refrigerator, a metal pan is recommended.

RECIPE CARD DOWNLOAD

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30 days of blogging, day 11: Favorite Recipe

Recipes. Yummy! For this one, I'm going to share my favorite summer recipe, because in the summer, I make this at least 2-3 times per week. I often have this for breakfast, I just blend it up and drink it in the car on the way to work.

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INGREDIENTS
16 oz Crystal Light peach tea
7 1/2 oz frozen tropical fruit (I use the mix from Costco with strawberries, pineapple, mango and papaya.)
6 oz fat free yogurt
Optional:
1/4 c Fiber One cereal



DIRECTIONS
Add everything to a blender and blend until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
Add extra peach tea if needed!

MAKES one giant 32-oz smoothie.

~~~

This also works with just the peach tea and frozen fruit. I also like a fruit smoothie with lemonade and frozen mixed berries. It's a great no-guilt summer treat!

Just for fun, I made this into a recipe card (click on the recipe card to grab the full-size image.)

-- Originally posted at: http://rebeccasmiscellanies.blogspot.com/

Garlicky Onion Cheese Spread Recipe

This is for my friend Tami, who really, really loved this dip when I brought it to a church event this week.

Garlicky Onion Cheese Spread

8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
2 green onions, slice the green leafy part into thin rings, but leave out the white bulb end
2-4 cloves garlic, crushed (1-2 tsp crushed garlic)

Soften the cream cheese by allowing it to reach room temperature. Mix in the sour cream, garlic and onion. Refrigerate until ready to serve. I like it best with pretzel chips, and it would also make a good sandwich spread.

The consistency will be thick, but if you prefer it to be more like a dip, add more sour cream.

-- Originally posted at: http://rebeccasmiscellanies.blogspot.com/

Rum Bread Pudding

I made this last night for "Big Easy Bunco," and it turned out so well. It was literally melt-in-your-mouth good! I always try to plan Bunco food around a theme, so I tried to find recipes from or inspired by New Orleans. This sounded so good, I had to try it! I started with a recipe from the Experience New Orleans website, and made a few changes.

RUM BREAD PUDDING:

- 8 slices Hawaiian bread, cut or broken into small pieces (I used Van De Kamp's Sweet Hawaiian Bread)
- 4 oz butter (1 stick), melted
- 8 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 5-oz can evaporated milk
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla (I never measure vanilla, so approximately)
- cinnamon and sugar mixture

Mix butter, eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla in a large bowl. Add the bread, and fold the mixture until the bread is all coated. Pour in a 9x13 pan and sprinkle the top generously with the cinnamon and sugar mixture (I'm guessing I used maybe 1/3 to 1/2 cup.) Place the pudding pan in a larger pan of water, and bake at 350 for about one hour.
** The instruction about baking in a pan of water is in pretty much every bread pudding recipe I've seen, so it's important. If you don't have a pan larger than a 9x13, it's probably better to make a smaller recipe to fit the pans you have, than to bake it without the second pan. I'm speculating

SAUCE FOR BREAD PUDDING
1 lb. box powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla (approximately)
4-6 ounces of rum (approximately; I just added rum until the consistency was right)
6 oz butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted
** Variation: use 1-2 tsp rum flavoring and thin the sauce with milk instead, the amount may vary.

Slowly heat the butter, rum and vanilla on low. Add powdered sugar, about a third at a time, stirring until blended. Pour over hot bread pudding. (I drizzled a bit over the pudding, and served the sauce on the side. This recipe makes a LOT of sauce, and because I didn't exactly measure the rum, I knew some of my guests might want to have less.)


-- Originally posted at: http://rebeccasmiscellanies.blogspot.com/