Chicken Pot Pie on a snowy day

So we have been having a bit of snow here and what better comfort food is there than home-made chicken pot pie? I love that I can use produce that I put up last summer now in the dead of winter. I found the recipe that I use on a Pilsbury web site, but I have modified it slightly.

The first difference is I make my pie crust from scratch, instead of paying for the boxed ones. I found a recipe that is super easy and always flaky.

It is from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook which has been my favorite for more than 20 years.

For a two crust pie:

2 cups flour
2/3 cups shortening (I use Crisco)
6 to 7 Tablespoons water

After measuring the flour and shortening into a bowl you need to work it with a pastry knife (or a fork would work too) until everything is clumping together like balls around the size of peas. After you get to this and it only takes a couple of minutes I take the bowl over by the sink and you add one Tablespoon at a time working the water into the flour mixture and turning the bowl before adding the next Tablespoon of water so you don't overwork the dough. You do this until it is all moist and then give it a good stir (a couple of times will do) again you don't want to overwork the dough, unless you like to eat tough/chewy/leathery dough. Form the dough into a ball and divide it in two.

I put parchment paper on my table to make for easier cleanup after it is all said and done and sprinkle it with some flour. Take one of the balls of dough and push it down a bit to make it easier to roll. Flour the rolling pin as this keeps it from sticking and then just roll it out until it is big enough for your pie you can check this by setting the pie pan on top. To make it easier to move from the table to the pie pan you can simply roll it onto the rolling pin and then unroll it over the pan.

You will do this for both the crusts.

Filling at a glance:

1/3 to 1/2 cup chopped union
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 3/4 to 2 Cups chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
2 cups (or so) chicken
2 cups mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, green beans and corn)

For the filling cut up a small onion 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup and cook in 1/3 cup butter until tender. Then add 1/3 cup flour with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. After this you add 1 can/jar chicken broth (between 1 3/4 cups and 2 cups) and 1/2 cup milk. Cook until it is starting to thicken. Add 2 cups chicken (I use leftovers from my baked chicken) and 2 cups mixed vegetables (last summer I dehydrated peas, carrots, green beans and corn just for this). Since I used dehydrated veggies I had to set them out earlier in the day in warm water to rehydrate. But you can also use frozen vegetables from the store, when I use the frozen from the store I just add the whole bag.

Cook at 425 Degrees for 35 to 40 minutes pull out when it is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Let it sit for about 10 to 15 minutes so that it can set up a bit and cut it and enjoy! This is one of my families favorites and it is easy.

A fun thing that you can do with the extra crust that gets trimmed off is to put it on a baking sheet and sprinkle it with a little cinnamon sugar. You just need to bake it for about 5 minutes at the 425 and you are a hero, who just made desert.