Chicken Pot Pie

Weather here where I live has warmed up a lot and we're already thinking less about soups and more about light, minimal cooking meals. But I know in other parts of this country (and probably lots of other places) its still snowing. So this will probably be the last "wintery" meal I share, but I did want to share it before its too late for anyone to enjoy it. Chicken Pot Pie for me is really just an avenue for enjoying pie crust. My mom always made hers with pie crust, not biscuit topping. My mom, however, usually, made her awesome pie crust but then just opened up a can of chicken, a can of mixed veggies, and a can of cream of chicken soup to mix up for hers. I've had to adapt that for where I live since I can't get any of those things! So below is what I do for my Chicken Pot Pie. I use pie crust, but you could totally make the same filling and top it with biscuits if that is what you prefer. This recipe is totally adaptable to personal tastes for the veggies and such, too. I'm just sharing more what I've done to avoid using cans!

Chicken Pot Pie
Recipe of double pie crust
~2 cups shredded, cooked chicken
~2 cups cooked, diced mixed veggies* (potatoes, carrots, corn, green beans, peas, etc)
1/2 recipe condensed cream of chicken soup
Salt and Pepper to taste

Prepare chicken by boiling or baking, then shredding or chopping. This can be done in advance and frozen or refrigerated. For veggies, I choose what I want and then dice them up and boil in slightly salted water for about 15 minutes. Its fine to toss them all in together even. You can prep this ahead as well and freeze (however, potatoes do not freeze well--they get mushy--so don't use potatoes if you freeze them). Prepare a double pie crust. Using half of it, line the bottom of your pie plate. Mix together chicken, veggies, soup and additional salt and pepper if needed (I almost always add at least 1/4 tsp pepper if not more and usually some salt, too). Pour into pie plate. Cover with 2nd pie crust. Pinch together crusts on edges and poke top several times with a fork. Bake at 350F (180C) for about 30-40 minutes, until pie crust is a nice light brown.

Notes: This does great to be made ahead and frozen (pre-baked). Just thaw before baking. However, keep in mind about potatoes. Leave those out of frozen ones! Also, if you want less pie crust, you can just do a single crust and put it on the TOP of the pie. Just make sure to grease the bottom of your pie plate a little. For me, its all about the crust so I always do a double!