Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Tiffany's Famous Chicken Pot Pie


2 Frozen deep dish pie crusts (bake for 5 minutes at 450°F) 
2 top pie crusts
6 Tablespoons butter
6 Tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup half and half
Salt and pepper to taste
4 cups chopped or shredded chicken (cooked)
½ onion, chopped
¼ cup frozen peas, thawed
¾ cup frozen carrots, thawed
¾ cup celery, chopped
2/3 cup potatoes, cut into bite size pieces


Cream Sauce:
Cook together into a paste the 6 tablespoons butter and 6 tablespoons
flour until the color is light brown – DO NOT BURN; whisk in 2 cups of 
chicken broth slowly.  Cook until thickened.  Add 1 cup half and half;
let thicken; take off heat; add salt and pepper.  Sauce will thicken
more as it sits.

Vegetable Filling:
Chop potatoes into bite size pieces; boil until done, but not mushy. 
Add celery into water with potatoes for a few minutes; drain potatoes
& celery.  Saute onions until translucent.  Place potatoes & celery
back into pot; add peas, carrots, & onions. 

Mix together the cream sauce, vegetable filling, and chicken.  Divide
the mixture evenly into 2 pies.  Place a top crust onto the pot pies;
cut slits on the top of crust for ventilation.  Brush the top of crust 
with 1 beaten egg.  Bake at 450°F for 35-40 minutes for until golden
brown.

To Freeze:
Before baking, place pot pie in freezer.  Once frozen, cover pot pie with aluminum
foil and place in zip lock bag.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Chicken Chili

Tiffany tried this recipe and really liked it. Am I correct Tiff? It's a family fav. 1 onion, chopped (I actually don't use a whole onion, maybe half) 2T. oil bottled green salsa (1-2 cups)(use less if your kids don't like it hot) 2 cans corn (i used frozen) 2 cans white beans (northern beans) 2 cans chicken broth 4 cups chicken, cooked and shredded 2T. lime juice 1 t. ground cumin dash of chili powder 1/2 t. ground pepper cheese fritos In a large saucepan cook onion in oil. After it is carmelized a little bit, add the green salsa. Heat for about 3 minutes. Then I just threw everything in the crockpot and put it on high for about 4 hours. Serve with cheese and fritos on top.

Sweet N' Sour Chicken

This was one of my FAVORITE recipes that my mom made when I was younger. I still make it! It's really easy, it just takes a while in the oven so you have to plan ahead, which I'm realllly bad at. 1 1/2 cups ketchup 1/3 cup soy sauce 1 tsp. salt 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup vinegar 2 1/2 TBSPN cornstarch Mix all the ingredients together and pour over chicken in a 9x13 pan. Cover with foil. Bake for 2 hours @ 350*. Serve over rice.

Jell-O Popcorn

Per Sheri's request. ***NOTE that this recipe looks a lot more complicated than it really is. It's easy and oh so delish! This is from Our Best Bites. 8 cups popped popcorn 1/4 C butter (that’s half a stick) 3 T light corn syrup (honey is a good substitute) 1/2 C sugar 1 3.5oz box jello, any flavor (not the sugar free kind) Preheat oven to 300°F. Line a jelly roll pan with foil or parchment. If using foil, spray lightly with non-stick spray and set aside. Place popcorn in an extra large mixing bowl. Place butter and syrup in a sauce pan on medium heat. Stir until butter is melted. Add sugar and Jello and stir to combine. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat so it just simmers. Continue simmering for 5 minutes. You’ll start off with a mixture that’s sometimes thick (depending on the flavor, see note at end) and as it cooks the sugar will dissolve and it will become a little more liquid-ish. After the sugar mixture simmers for 5 minutes, immediately pour over popcorn in bowl. Be careful, it’s super hot!! Mix right away and keep stirring so everything gets well coated. Spread mixture onto prepared pan and spread out evenly. Pop in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes. I’ve noticed that some flavors of jello have more mix than others (kind of like my discovery about different brands/flavors of cake mix noted in this post). For example, the strawberry is usually much thicker than the lime. If you notice this, you might want to bake the mixture for a few minutes longer to make sure it gets cooked all the way. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool to room temp. Then break into pieces and enjoy! You can certainly eat this un-baked as well and it’s just soft and gooey, but definitely bake it if you’re going to pack it up for giving, or serve it as party food so it will be light and crunchy.