Chicken Pot Pie, the ultimate comfort food

Chicken pot pie is such a comfort food. I love the flaky crust and the hot chicken-y goodness. (Really, anything baked in a crust sounds good to me.)

If you have never made chicken pot pie before, or if you've been making it with a concoction of cream-of-something soups, this recipe will rock your world. (I can say that cause I didn't write the recipe.) Never again should you make chicken pot pie with soup! This recipe is way too easy not to make. It's become a staple at our house, and it's often what I make and give when taking dinner to a friend who has just had a baby.

Oh, and if you live here in Coastal Georgia and are looking for the best pie plate ever, look for a pottery pie plate made by local potter Debbie Craig. It makes the best pies, hands down. My mom and I swear by them (and they're beautiful, too, which is a nice bonus). If you want contact info for her, lemme know. She works out of the St. Simons pottery studio. Debbie's stuff is awesome (she makes lots of stuff - bowls, casserole dishes, cups, baskets, etc.); they also make great birthday and Christmas presents.


Kara's Chicken Pot Pie
Really, my mom's recipe, adapted from the red-checkered Better Homes & Gardens cookbook
1/4 cup butter
2 shakes of onion powder
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cups water
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon instant chicken bouillon granules
3 cups cooked chicken, cubed*
1 cup vegetables or 1 can Veg-All (optional)
Pastry for double-crust pie

Place bottom pastry crust in bottom of 9-inch pie plate; trim edges as needed.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add two shakes of onion powder and stir. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Add water, milk and chicken bouillon granules all at once. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes more. Stir in cooked chicken and heat until bubbly. Add vegetables, if desired, and heat until bubbly. Cool slightly and pour into pie plate. Place top pastry crust on top of chicken mixture, trim as needed, and flute edges. Cut slits in top for ventilation. Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

*Okay, so I feel sort of ... less of a real cook for divulging this bit of info, but if you want to make this an even easier and quicker recipe, use two large cans of chicken (the all-white meat chicken). It's totally what I do. (Cause y'all know how I feel about cooking chicken. And it's even worse when it comes to boiling it. I just haven't mastered that yet.)