Chicken Pot Pie

CHICKEN POT PIE

 

Today, I needed something hearty and filling, not too rich, but not lacking in flavor - this recipe was the ticket.
It is pretty simple to make, with minor preparation time.
It makes a ton, a whole pie's worth, in fact.

What You Need:
-1 cup chopped celery
-1 cup chopped onion
-1 cup chopped carrots
-1 small can of mushroom (Obviously you can use fresh, but I didn't want to mess with them this time.)
-1/2 cup frozen peas
-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
-1/2 cup cream of celery soup
-1 package of skinless, boneless, chicken breasts or tenders - chopped into cubes.
-2 cups (exactly 1 can) of chicken broth
-2 deep dish frozen pie crusts
-butter, salt, pepper, garlic powder - to taste

What You Do:
-Preheat oven according to the directions on the package of the pie crust.
-Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (this is to catch any drippings that might pop out of your pretty little pie!).
-In a bowl, whisk together chicken broth and cream of celery soup, set aside.
-In a large pot, saute chopped vegetables and cubed chicken with a little olive oil and butter - add salt and pepper for flavor...saute until vegetables are softened and chicken is cooked thoroughly.
-Reduce heat to medium and sprinkle the 1/2 c. all-purpose flour over the vegetable/chicken mixture...stir CONSTANTLY for 1 minute.
 -Slowly pour broth/soup mixture into the large pot. Cook until everything is thick and bubbly (stirring often).
-Pour this lovely mixture into a thawed out deep-dish pie crust. Carefully place the second pie crust on top of the mixture. It will probably break and make you go crazy - it is okay, as long as you can patch it back together. Press the edges together, making a nice seal. Make a few slits in the top of your pie, for venting purposes.
-If you want a nice, brown, crusty crust (why would you not?) then paint the top crust with an egg wash (1 egg and a little cold water mixed together).
-Place this concoction on the middle rack of your oven and cook until the crust is browned!
-Let it cool for JUST a little bit and then dig in and eat until your heart's content.

You can obviously take out or add any vegetables so that it suits your liking. And, if you are better than me, you can make your own pie crusts. Seeing as how I have a mental breakdown every time I attempt to make a pie crust, I went with the store bought. No shame.

Serve with Sweet Tea and Baked Apples and you are good to go!

A Day of Mod Podge.

Today was spent ripping up the pages of old books and mod podging (a verb?) them onto random household items; namely, a textured mason jar, a hurricane candle jar, and an old picture frame.

This is an extremely easy project, even for the artistically impaired.

All you need is: some old paper (book, newspaper, etc.), Mod Podge, sponge stick or paint brush, and whatever you want to fix up.

For the paper jars:
-Rip up pieces of paper in different shapes and sizes (I treated some pieces with watercolors beforehand for a touch of color to break up the monotony of the white pages...).
-Paint the piece of paper with Mod Podge and stick to the INSIDE of the jar. Make sure you work out all the kinks and air bubbles so that the paper lies flat. Cover the inside of the jar in its entirety.
-Coat finished jar with Mod Podge and let dry. Repeat. This will create a sealant.
-Wipe off any Mod Podge that got on the outside of the jar with a little warm water and paper towel.
-You can use this as a candle or fill it up with whatever (the sky is the limit!)...If you were using it for candles, old newspapers work best because they become more transparent than regular paper when the Mod Podge is applied.

Do the same steps to treat an old picture frame, etc.

Easy, fun, and sticky...really, very sticky. I would have posted step-by-step pictures, but I didn't want to subject my camera to the stickiness.

The textured mason jar is probably my favorite.

Not sure how I feel about the picture frame yet.

Here is a link to the blog where I first got the idea!

http://www.bubbyandbean.com/2011/08/diy-tutorial-pretty-decoupaged-mason.html