Day 14 - Chicken Pot Pies with Buttery Crust

Day 14…of this crazy 31 Day Challenge…you can read WHY I'm doing this, as well as past posts. If you want any of my recipes…you can go here!

First up……I would love to know if I still have readers out there! AND if you've tried any of the recipes from the last 13 days…comments/feedback would be greatly appreciated!!

Second, today was kind of awful…woke up with a 101 fever…so I stayed home from work. Didn't get out of bed until almost 1 in the afternoon (sorry Mom), and all I wanted was some comfort food…and I didn't want to leave the house (or call for food, cuz frankly I don't have any money to do that).

SO…I looked in the freezer, and found that I had all the ingredients for Chicken Pot Pies…except for the crust. Awesome…got something in my head, and then realized I couldn't make it?? But wait…I could do this…I could make an easy dough, right?? Turns out I did, and I rocked at it…it was probably the best Homemade Chicken Pot Pie with Buttery Crust I've ever made…I don't meant to "toot" my own horn, but it was literally JUST what I needed for the way I was feeling (and still am).

Buttery Crust…
After doing a whole LOT of research online for easy pie crusts, I found this really great recipe from Crazy For Crust…perfect name for what I was looking for, right?? She's got a really great tutorial and picture step-by-step guide on how to make dough…but she's got a food processor - I do not. So below, are my steps for doing this WITHOUT a pastry cutter, food processor, AND rolling pin. Don't laugh - I'm not a baker…LOL.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter (one stick), diced and chilled
1 & 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
*Note: If you use salted butter, only use 1/4 teaspoon salt
2-4 tablespoons ICE water
1 egg (whisked for coating the completed dough, when you're ready to cook it)

Instructions:
(1) Dice your butter, and put it right back in the fridge (you want to keep this cold). (2) Wisk your flour and salt together in a bowl. (3) Add your CHILLED butter, 1-2 tablespoons at a time. Use your fork (or pastry cutter, or food processor - if you're fancy) to gradually "crumble" the butter into the flour and salt mixture. You want to do this increments of 1-2 tablespoons of butter so the butter doesn't melt or break down and get soft. (4) Keep cutting in the butter until you have reach a texture similar to sand. (5) Add 2 tablespoons of water to start and mix until the dough forms a ball - you should get something that is a LITTLE BIT sticky, but still in a ball form. Add another 2 tablespoons (if needed), but add them one at a time. (6) On a floured surface or countertop, roll out the ball of dough so it can cover whatever it is your covering. The recipe on Crazy for Crust said it can line a 9" pie plate. I wanted to COVER two 5" soup crocks, so I altered what I rolled out just a bit, although it doesn't show int he picture below, because I realized that AFTER I had already rolled out the dough (silly DayQuil head).

After you've rolled out the dough you want to use, be sure to keep it chilled in the fridge until you want to use it.

Chicken & Pot Pie Filling…
The chicken is cooked the EXACT same way I did for the Chicken & Stars Soup, the only difference being, I cut them into bite-sized pieces FIRST.

Ingredients (for chicken):
3 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (butterflied)
Lemon Pepper
Salt & Pepper
2 tablespoons Olive Oil

Ingredients (for filling):
2 Cups frozen veggies (whatever you have on hand)
1/2 Cup Golden Mushroom Soup
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
1/2 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
2 teaspoons Herbs de Provence
1 teaspoon Garlic Salt
Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Instructions (for chicken):
(1) Take your boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and butterfly them up. (2) Cut them into bite-sized pieces. (3) Season them with Lemon Pepper, Salt, and Pepper. (4) Make sure the seasonings coat all pieces of chicken - mix well!! (5) Cook up the chicken in a sauté pan covered with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Instructions (for filling):
(1) Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix it together. (2) Add your fully cooked chicken. (3) Mix all ingredients with the chicken.

Chicken Pot Pie with Buttery Crust…
This is just for the assembly…obviously all steps above need to be completed first :)

Take the mixture of ingredients and put them into the Crocks (or your ramekins of choosing) just make sure they're oven safe!! I have to say…if you're going to use anything, use these Crocks from CHEFS…after they came out of the oven, after 10 minutes of cooling, the handles were completely cooled, and able to be touched. They were great Christmas gifts from my mother last year (thanks Mom!!).