Classic Chicken Pot Pie

I love making pie crust, but having waste is so frustrating. Sometimes I’m so tired… aka late night Thanksgiving prep… I look away and throw it in the garbage (gasp!). Other times I have rolled sandwich cookies with jam centers; amazing way to use it up. I’ve also made mini-pies with it, which are always a big hit. But after all these years, and all these thoughts of making chicken pot pie, I have never thought to use it for that. What was I thinking!?!

A couple weeks ago I had family visiting and I made some fruit pies for our dessert. Each pie required a bottom and top, which left a considerable amount of dough. Enough, in fact, for me to roll one more crust and still have a little extra. I planned to make a pumpkin pie, hubby’s fave, but didn’t have all the ingredients. I almost threw it all away, but I plastic-wrapped it all and put in the fridge to see if I could get to the store.

The store didn’t happen and I was thinking and thinking about what I could do with it.  Then it came to me. Almost like a vision. Chicken Pot Pie sounds good on this colder September day. Why haven’t I tried one before? Wait... I have the crust…and all of the ingredients… do I have a trusted recipe? I searched and found an amazingly simple, fresh, straight forward recipe in Grandma’s handy-dandy cookbook she gave me. After a couple small tweeks to work with what I had on hand I had an amazing, awesome, scrumptious, delicious Chicken Pot Pie!

My kids were skeptical, and then proceeded to eat every last crumb off their plates. My husband was all smiles and so happy I finally tried making one after all these years. This will definitely be happening again! I love that it’s made with stuff on-hand and that I can flex what I need to make it work.  I actually used chopped chicken I had leftover from another meal, but it wasn’t enough so I added a can of chicken.  Whatever veggies you want to substitute, it all works for your taste buds.

Classic Chicken Pot Pie

1/3 c butter

1/3 c all-purpose flour

1/3 c chopped onion

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 14.5 oz can chicken broth (about 1 ¾ c)

2/3 c milk (I used 1%)

2 c cooked chicken or turkey chopped

1 pkg (12 oz) frozen peas and carrots

2-pie crust recipe (for bottom and top)

Preheat oven to 425F.  In medium sauce pan, melt butter over low heat. Add flour, onion, salt and pepper and blend until smooth. Add broth and milk and heat to a boil while stirring.  Boil and stir for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and add the chicken and frozen veggies. Set aside to cool.

Prepare crust in pie pan (can be homemade or store bought). Roll the second crust out so it’s ready to be placed on top. Pour the chicken mix into the pie pan. Cover the chicken mix with the second crust and pinch edges to seal. Cut a couple of vents on the top. Place in the oven uncovered and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool for at least 10 minutes. Makes 6-8 servings.