Chicken Potpie

When I was growing up, mom would occasionally buy the chicken and beef frozen potpies. My brothers and I thought they were so good, and I remember the flaky crust. Plus, we each got our own (I remember being very excited). Then, she stopped purchasing the potpies.... When I tried them again years later, I was very disappointed to find the potpies didn't live up to my expectations for taste, flakiness, or filling!

Well, I got up the courage to try a homemade chicken potpie, and it is definitely a keeper recipe. My whole family liked the flavor, filling, and flaky crust. The smell of the potpie baking brought all the kids into the kitchen at some point.

This recipe makes two pies. You can bake one and freeze one; or bake both, if you need more than six adult servings. The first time I made the recipe, I cut it in half because I didn't want to have extra, if it was a flop. This week, I made the full recipe and put one in the freezer. I'll update later to let you know if the frozen pie bakes up as nice.

TIP: You may want to bake the pie on a cookie sheet to catch drips. The first pie dribbled over the pie plate quite a bit and would have caused a burnt mess in the oven. The second batch was fine (which is good, because I forgot to put a cookie sheet under it!).

CHICKEN POTPIE
Yield: 12 Servings
Cook Time: 35-40 minutes

INGREDIENTS
2 cups diced peeled potatoes
1 3/4 cups sliced carrots
2/3 cup chopped onion
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 teaspoon pepper
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups milk
4 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
4 pastry crusts for a 9 inch pie (2 crusts per pie)

DIRECTIONS
1. Place potatoes and carrots in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain and set aside.

2. In a large skillet, saute onion in butter. Whisk in the flour, salt, thyme and pepper until blended.

3. Gradually whisk in broth and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add the chicken, peas, corn, potatoes and carrots; remove from the heat.


4. Line two 9-in. pie plates with bottom pastry. Fill pastry shells with chicken mixture.

5. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pies. Place over filling; pinch the edges of the bottom and top crusts together. Cut slits in top pastry to release steam. Cover the edge of the crust with foil to prevent over-browning.

6. Bake at 425 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Remove the foil in the last 15 minutes of baking to let the edges brown. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting (I did skimp on the ‘sitting still’ time).

We were all so hungry, I forgot to take a picture of a serving on a plate! We just dished up, prayed and ate. The crust is wonderfully flaky and the flavor is comforting. I'll definitely be adding this to the recipe list. For our family it's a 5 star recipe.

FREEZING INSTRUCTIONS: Cover the potpie with plastic wrap and then foil. Label the potpie and include baking instructions on the label.

BAKING THE FROZEN PIE: Cover the crust edges with foil and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 425 degrees F for 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F; bake 70-80 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown.

Scandinavian Meatballs

Until now, I've never known the ingredients for Scandinavian meatballs. I just found a recipe, adjusted it to suite what I had on hand, doubled it for tonights meal, and it's so good! Why didn't anyone share this with me? Of course, I probably could have asked . . .

Right now, the meatballs are in the oven covered with homemade gravy.

The meatballs with be served with leftover mashed potatoes - the kind of potatoes that have all the 'good stuff' added to them. By 'good stuff', I mean butter, sour cream, veggie cream cheese, sea salt & white pepper. The potatoes are prepared ahead of time (up to 1 day ahead of time) and then baked in the oven until heated through. They are a great time-saver.

Scandinavian Meatballs
Yield for Double Batch: Approx. 60 meatballs


4 lbs. ground hamburger
6 Tbl. dried onion soup mix (or 2 packets)
1 cup milk
1-1/2 cups bread crumbs
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the ingredients together. Using a cookie scoop, form the meatballs and place them about 1/2 inch apart on a brownie pan (A double batch will need two brownie pans, and I line the brownie pans with foil for easier clean-up). Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until done. Once done, either use the meatballs immediately, or prepare for storing. The meatballs can be easily frozen for later use and this would make a great OAMC recipe!

Mini-Cooking Session

**Sadly, my camera is having a fit. I didn't realize the pictures were all lined and grainy until the day was done and I was importing them into the post. So, no pictures of the days work for viewing. Technology is both wonderful and frustrating!

The day started quite early . . . I woke up at 5:30a and couldn't get back to sleep. Rather than lay there thinking about sleep, I got up and started the mini-cooking session. I had planned to make seven different entrees, but quickly realized that I wouldn't have the energy to complete those and chose to scale back to five. The five I chose to prepare were Breakfast McBiscuits x12, Chicken Enchiladas x1, Chicken Rice Soup x2, Italian Sausage Soup x2 and Taco Soup x2.

6a - You can't start a Saturday morning without a little bit of laundry, so that's where I began! One load folded, one transferred to the dryer and one started in the washer. Now, on to transferring the meat, biscuits & produce out of storage and into the kitchen.

7a - The majority of ingredients for Italian Sausage Soup are in the crock pot and cooking. The Italian sausage is browned and reserved with the Mexican tomatoes to be added later.

8a - Biscuits are baked, 1st batch of bacon ready (some McBiscuits are prepared and eaten for breakfast!), hamburger for Taco Soup browned and the chicken breasts are in the process of being poached. I took a few minutes to wash dishes that I will need later.

8:30a - Taco Soup is simmering on the stove, the rice cooker is started, and the 2nd batch of bacon is in the oven.

9a - Taco Soup is cooling, Chicken Rice Soup is simmering, and the chicken is poached and diced.

9:30a - Preparation for the enchilada sauce is underway; and the enchiladas are rolled and arranged in a 13x9 pan. Bacon is done & placed on paper towels to cool.

10a - Chicken Enchiladas in the fridge to cool. Bacon stored in frig for later.

10:45a - Italian Sausage Soup ingredients are mixed together and left to cool on the stovetop. Washed up the dishes by hand or in the dishwasher and cleaned up the kitchen.

11:45a - Re-heated one pot of Italian Sausage Soup for Dinner! Everyone cleaned their bowls so they could have a Peanut Butter Cup Pie treat.

1p - Everything cleaned and put away, soups (save for the Italian Sausage Soup - which still needs to cool) are double bagged & put in the freezer. Time for a break - Chai Tea and check laundry.

2:30p - Italian Sausage Soup double bagged and into the freezer. I'm now ready to fry eggs and assemble Breakfast McBiscuits.

3:30p - The Mini-Cooking Session is done! The kitchen is back to it's normal state & ready for my oldest ds to prepare his Redwall Feast (He's already got a good start on it. Somewhere during all the above activities, he found time to prepare the October Ale and bake both the Hare's Haversack Crumble and Loamhedge Legacy Nutbread. He takes after me - make sure the sweets are prepared first!)

Once a Month Cooking

On Wednesday, I finally had time to look through the 'Freezer Cooking Manual' - something I'd been meaning to do since I picked up the book this summer our our local homeschool conference - and am planning to attempt a mini-cooking day on Saturday. I registered as a member of the http://www.30daygourmet.com/ website, too. This gives me access to tested recipes and tips from those who have done it. While I don't think I'll be doing a major cooking day that would cover our whole month, I can definitely see getting 10-15 meals out of a cooking session.

The website also touted an interesting software program that keeps recipes, tracks and mulitiplies ingredients, and creates a variety of reports to make your cooking day easier. A free 30 day trial is available, so I'm testing it out. So far, I'm impressed. I am using a few recipes that were pre-entered, but also entered some of my family favorites for this Saturday. The program creates an ingredient list for shopping and my next favorite feature is the inventory list. The inventory list shows how many entrees have been prepared and can be kept on or near your deep freeze for easy check-off when entrees are taken out for use. Have I mentioned that I LOVE lists? Maybe that's why I like cookbooks and recipes; they're full of lists.

Tomorrow, I'm going to make use of the ingredient list. Fridays are my meeting, errand & shopping day. My dd and I will head to town to fill the cart, the coolers & probably the back of the van!

This is one of the family favorite recipes that I entered into the software (and yes, it does freeze and reheat quite well) . . .

TACO SOUP (from Suzie’s friend, Michelle M.)
Servings: Approximately 12

2 lb. Hamburger
1 small chopped onion
4 oz. can Chopped Green Chilis
1 Pkg. (1.25oz.) Taco Seasoning (I make my own Taco Seasoning Mix)
1 pkg (1oz.) Ranch mix
2 cans (15oz.) Chili Recipe Stewed Tomatoes (I can my own Mexican Stewed Tomatoes)
2 cans (15oz.) Bush’s Hot Chili Beans (I generally use the store brand)
1 ½ -2 cups Water
8oz. Mexican Blend Cheeses
1 Bag Fritos (Ranch or Chili Cheese Flavored are good, but I like plain Fritos)
8oz Sour Cream (we use more sour cream!)

Brown hamburger & chopped onion, drain grease. Add chopped green chilies, beans, tomatoes, taco & ranch seasonings, and water. Simmer 30-45 minutes for best results or let it simmer in the crock pot for 4-6 hours. Serve soup over the Fritos. Then, top with cheese and sour cream.

If I'm ambitious, I try to serve the Taco Soup with my favorite corn bread recipe - adapted from the Company Corn Bread recipe in the cookbook 'Help! My Family's Hungry'.

COMPANY CORN BREAD
Yield: 1 1/2 dozen (more if you only fill the muffin cups 2/3 full)

1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cups biscuit baking mix
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted but not hot

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Either spray the muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray or use muffin cup papers. In a large bowl, stir together the cornmeal, biscuit mix, sugar, baking powder, and nutmeg. Add milk, eggs, and melted butter. Stir or whisk until smooth. A few lumps of biscuit mix may remain. Pour into prepared muffin pan. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown.