Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Today the temperature hovered around zero degrees, but factoring in the wind chill, it felt like anywhere between -10 and -15, according to the weatherman.  With tons of snow on the ground, and more snow in store for us throughout the week, this is shaping up to be an awesome week (I couldn't be any more sarcastic right now).  Just in case you haven't gotten this in past blog posts: I loathe snow!  It was just my luck too that today coincided with my need for a large grocery shopping adventure.  So, I donned my gigantic puffy coat, a scarf, my husband's gloves (I can't seem to find any of my gloves...must have been lost in the move), and ventured out into the bitter cold.  The car didn't want to start because it was so cold, but eventually it did start.  The drive to the grocery store wasn't that great either because the roads weren't very well paved.  Once there, I spent two hours shopping (I try to go only once or twice a month, depending on what all is going on that month - it requires hours of ad-scanning, menu planning, a typed up list, NOT taking the Terrible Two, and spending far too long in the grocery store) and walking around in a puffy coat because the store was ridiculously cold.  

By the way, why do people in Denver find it necessary to stop and stare and make openly rude comments about someone who has a full cart of food?  Do they really have trouble comprehending that someone would shop in bulk??  I never had this problem in Spokane, yet here I'm stared at every time I go shopping - and I truly mean every time.  The employees at the Safeway I shop at act like they've never seen a person with a large load before too...I don't get it.  John used to work at Safeway back in WA and he used to get people all the time with large loads, and it wasn't that big of a deal.  Anyway, that is my little rant, because I'm tired of people being rude about it, and I think the whole thing is ridiculous.

After getting home and unloading all the groceries and dividing bulk packs of meat into ziploc bags, I was able to finally relax and attempt to warm up (to no real avail - no matter how high the heater goes, it is so bitterly cold outside that it is still cold inside).  For dinner, I decided to make a homemade chicken pot pie for dinner, so that the oven could help contribute more heat in the apartment (it helped a little).  The recipe isn't exactly like pot pies that you would get in the freezer section of the grocery store - but definitely healthier.  It was more like a pot pie casserole with a crust on top.  Regardless, it was delicious, so I thought I'd share the recipe! :)  Oh, and I didn't get a picture this time, but it didn't look really incredible by any means anyway.  Just looked like a casserole with a golden brown crust on top.  ;)

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

4 cups cooked chicken in chunks (or turkey) - we used 2 chicken breasts and it was enough meat

1 - 16 oz bag of frozen vegetables

2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced really small so they cook all the way

1 cup chicken broth 

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1/4 cup onion chopped finely - we didn't use, since we don't really like onions that much 

Topping:

1 1/4 cup milk

1 1/4 cup Bisquik

3/4 cup butter, melted - we used 1/2 cup butter and it turned out wonderfully

Directions:

Grease 9x13 pan (we used a pyrex baking dish).  Layer chicken, vegetables, potatoes, and onion in the bottom of the pan.  Mix broth and cream soup and pour over meat/vegetables in pan.  

Mix topping ingredients together and carefully pour over that.

Bake at 400 for 1 hour until golden brown.

Recipe Notes:

This recipe makes a lot of food, so if you have a small family, then you might want to consider halving the recipe and baking it in an 8x8 baking pan instead.

Also, it might bubble over a little when baking, so you might want to consider putting a baking sheet under the dish while in the oven (we didn't have a problem with this in the 9x13 pan).  

What we thought: We really enjoyed this dish - John more so than me, which wasn't surprising.  My favorite part of pot pies has always been the crust, so I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more crust than what was on top.  However, it was a nice hearty meal that I really enjoyed.  It reminded John of these "Homestyle Bakes" that we used to buy at the grocery store (I don't think they make them anymore) that he loved.  It was a nice warm, semi-healthy (healthier than the pot pies you buy in the freezer section), and filling dinner.  It didn't do much to warm up my feet, but this was a good dish and I think this has earned a spot in our repeat recipe book. :)  If you try out this recipe, let me know what you think!

Click here to see the original recipe

I'm praying that it stops being cold and the snow goes away before we make our 18 hour & 1000 mile trek back to Washington State in a couple of weeks!! I hope that everyone is keeping their feet warm in nice comfy socks and drinking apple cider & hot cocoa at home with their families! :)