Chicken Pot Pie

This is one of my favorite comfort foods my mom made growing up. I made a couple of changes to make it a little more economical, but trust me, it doesn't degrade the taste! I use the flakiest pie crust recipe I've posted previously for the crust to my pot pie. I was also able to get 2 whole pies out of this recipe, but if you have a larger pie plate, you might only get 1.

Chicken Pot Pie

1 cup chopped onion
1 bag frozen peas and carrots
2 cups diced potatoes, cooked until tender (I used 2 large baking potatoes)
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
2 cup chicken broth
1 cup half-and-half (milk should work fine, too, but I'd use 2% or whole)
2 cups cooked, diced chicken
pie crusts (I was able to get 2 whole pies from this recipe, which means 4 crusts, or 2 double crusts)

Saute onions, peas and carrots in butter until tender. Add flouur and stir until smooth. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth and half-and-half. Cook, stirring constantly until thickened and bubbly. Stir in chicken and potatoes.

Place 1 crust in pie dish and fill with chicken mixture. Place second crust on top and cut vents. Repeat with other crust. Bake at 375* covered, for 35 minutes then uncovered for 20 minutes.

Notes: You can use any vegetables you want, you should just have at least 4 cups total. My mom's original recipe called for 4 cups chicken- I cut it in half and substituted potatoes to make it less expensive. If you want to freeze the filling or a whole pie, do not use the potatoes in the filling. Use 4 cups of chicken for the potatoes and chicken.

Chicken Croissants

This another recipe I remember my mom making when I was growing up, and I think it came from Pampered Chef. It is also a really easy dinner to pull together, especially if you cook your chicken ahead of time, cube it up, and then throw it in the freezer. It's also really kid friendly. If you notice from my picture, I didn't use the canned crescent rolls, I just made some of the Debbie's Roll dough that I have previously posted and used that instead. But I have used the canned crescent rolls before, I just find it cheaper and more filling to make my own dough.

Chicken Croissants

2 cups cooked chicken, cut into cubes
1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/8 tsp pepper
1 (4 oz) can mushrooms (these are optional, but I never use them)
2 cans crescent rolls

Stir cream cheese, butter and pepper together. Fold in cooked chicken and mushrooms. Roll out rolls (put two triangles into a square) and put a big glob of the mixture in each roll and seal (so you'll end up folding the rectangle you created with your triangles in half). Cook at 325*F for 20 minutes or until golden brown on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Caramel Apples

I'm sorry there haven't been very many posts lately. I've been dealing with a sick husband and a sick 16-month old, and when one gets better, the other gets sick! However, I have decided that I'm going to try to post 1-2 times a week via the scheduled post feature. So hopefully, there will be a more consistent selection of new recipes started.

I thought to start my new conviction to blogging, I would share a recipe that definitely makes me think of fall. These caramel apples are so yummy! I remember making them as a young women group and we gobbled them up. It does make quite a large batch (at least a large batch for just 2 people who can eat caramel apples), so if you don't want 12-15 apples, cut your recipe in half, or even better, make the whole thing and share with your neighbors. It's also a great time for these recipes because apples are in season, and you can get them at a great price! I thought I'd be creative and go back to when I made them in YW's and drizzle chocolate on them. But I learned a great lesson- if you want to do this, fine, but wait for the caramel to cool a little bit first. Otherwise you end up with a large pile of chocolate and caramel at the base of your apples. Mine didn't look very pretty, but they still tasted good!

Caramel Apples
Courtesy of Juilana Lookhart

1 cup butter (I used salted butter, and omitted the salt)
2-1/4 cup brown sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup white corn syrup
1 cup sweetened condensed milk (this is a little less than a can, so measure it out!)
1 tsp. vanilla
12 to 15 Granny Smith apples, washed with stems and stickers removed (I used 15 small granny's and could have still done more. You could also use different apples. Granny Smith's are just tart and go well with the sweet caramel.)

Melt butter in large heavy pan. Add brown sugar and salt. Cook, stirring constantly, until well mixed. Add corn syrup. Mix well. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly. Cook and stir to 115* C (or the soft ball stage). Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Sprinkle powdered sugar on a cookie sheet. Put sticks into apples and dip apples in caramel. Place apple on the cookie sheet. After dipping apples you can dip them in cookie crumbs, cinnamon, or any topping.

Libby's Pumpkin Pie

Ok, I know you can get this recipe just as easy by looking on the label of your canned pumpkin. However, I did make some substitutions to use powdered milk and I made my own pumpkin puree (I know it sounds crazy, but it was really easy, and it didn't have extra preservatives AND it was CHEAPER than buying a can of pumpkin). This was really good and it's nice to know I can make a yummy dessert using what I have in my pantry.

Libby's Pumpkin Pie

• 1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust (if you are making your own crust, you can use a regular pie dish, just crimp your crust edges so that they are high and can hold the filling inside the pie)
  
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 eggs
• 1 (15 ounce) can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin (or 1-3/4 cup pumpkin puree)
  
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can NESTLE® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk (or 1-1/2 cups water + 1 cup powdered milk)
  

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
2. Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.
3. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean (don't judge its doneness by if it wiggles or not- my pie was still a little jiggly, but it firmed up as it cools. Check it by the knife method). Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. (Do not freeze as this will cause the crust to separate from the filling.)

4 Ingredient Easy Cobbler

I made this after a foiled dessert recipe attempt (my ingredients were moldy- yuck!) This recipe came from Tasty Kitchen, the recipe search engine started by the Pioneer Woman. This is very versatile. Although it calls for sliced fruit, you could also use pie filling or frozen fruit (thawed of course), or you could even just use canned fruit, just drain the syrup/juice from the fruit. The left overs held up pretty well in the refrigerator, but I wouldn't suggest keeping leftovers (if you have any) for more than a day or two. The topping will just get soggy if you keep it longer. This is also really good served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top!

4 Ingredient Easy Cobbler

6 whole Peaches Or Any Fruit- Peeled And Sliced
1 cup Flour
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 stick Butter

Peel and slice 6 to 8 peaches, apples or any other fruit, enough to cover the bottom of a 2 quart shallow baking dish. Combine the flour, brown sugar and stick of butter using a fork or pastry blender until it is well blended and crumbly. Cover the fruit with the mixture and bake at 375 deg. for 30 minutes.

Yummy Potatoes

This was a really yummy dish that I threw together one night. The leftovers even tasted great! Another name for this casserole is funeral potatoes and I got the recipe from the book Cooking for Two by Debbie G. Harman. I added 1 can of ham, shredded, so that it was more substantial of a meal. I also left out the cornflake topping and just used cheese because I didn't have any cornflakes. I also want to add a disclaimer that I will probably be posting a lot of potato recipes during the next couple of weeks due to the fact that it is harvest time in Idaho for potatoes, and potatoes keep showing up on my doorstep. Seriously, I have over 30 pounds of potatoes sitting in a box, some of them red potatoes and some of them russets! I'll do my best to not go overboard with recipes, but even when I don't have a surplus of potatoes as I do now, I know I have a hard time using up the last of the bag I bought from the store.

Yummy Potatoes

3 whole, unpeeled potatoes
1/4 cup chopped onions
4 Tbl butter
1/2 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup grated cheese
1 cup crushed corn flakes

Boil unpeeled potatoes for 15-20 minutes, or until tender, but firm. Remove from heat. Run under cold water. Allow to cool. Meanwhile, saute onions in 2 Tbl butter until the start to turn brown. Mix onions with soup, sour cream, and cheese in casserole dish and stir well (it should fit in a 9"x9" pan, but you can use a larger pan- it will just spread the mixture out more and it will probably cook faster in the oven). Peel and cut potatoes into small pieces. Stir potatoes into sauce. Saute corn flakes in remaining 2 Tbl butter. Sprinkle corn flakes over top of potatoes. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes (or until cheese is melted and casserole is bubbly).

Home-Style Potato Soup

This is really quick and easy, and pretty versatile. Sometimes I add broccoli and cheese, etc. Just play around with it.

about 14 oz of chicken broth

2 large potatoes, cut into large pieces

1 1/2 c. milk

2 medium green onions, thinly sliced

salt and pepper

1. Heat chicken broth and potatoes to boiling in a 2-quart saucepan over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until potatoes are tender (about 15 minutes).

2. Remove saucepan from heat, but don't drain. Break potatoes into smaller pieces with a masher or large fork. It should still be lumpy.

3. Stir in the milk, salt, pepper, and green onions into potatoes. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally until hot but don't boil to prevent curdling.

If you're going to add frozen broccoli, add it with the milk, etc. If you're going to add cheese, add it after everything else has been heated and stir until melted.