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Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

I love chicken pot pie. It was one of my favorite meals growing up (they were always the store bought kind). As an adult I would sometimes buy the pre-made ones at the grocery store.

My favorite pre-made brand is Mrs. Budd’s white meat chicken pie. Back in the day as a young married couple paying close to $8.00 for a chicken pie that fed us one meal with no leftovers was a bit of a luxury. I searched around and found a recipe for chicken pot pie from Ina Garten. I find it to be easy to make and delicious. I usually make the dough and cook the chicken in the oven a day or two beforehand. Then on the day I am ready to make the chicken pie all I have to do is put together the filling and roll out the dough.

I modify the recipe to suit our tastes and what ingredients we have on hand.

Taste as you go along as sometimes it starts to get too salty if you aren’t careful.

Ingredients:

(I only included what I use. Ina’s original recipe has more ingredients)

3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on(I use boneless breast, whatever I have on hand or that is on sale. I often only use two chicken breasts depending on how many servings I want to make)
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
5 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade (I use canned/boxed, and use canned broth if I don’t have any stock)
2 chicken bouillon cubes(I like to use Better Than Bouillon)
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 cups medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes( I use frozen if I don’t have fresh)
1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas (2 cups) (I use less as my husband hates peas)
Sometimes I dice up potatoes if I have some that need to be used up.
Chicken pie filling cooking in my Dutch oven

For the pastry:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
Flaked sea salt

You can read the directions on how to cook and assemble it here – Ina Garten Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

In this recipe Ina makes individual pot pies which is nice but not necessary. I take a large oven safe bowl or baking dish, put in the filling and then lay the pastry over the top in a sheet.

I made this for the first time for my dad and he kept commenting on how good it was and now he keeps saying that he wants me to make it again so I guess it was a hit.

Sirloin Tips from Sirloint tip roast

This is either really smart of me or I’m dumb and just figuring out what other people already know.

I love sirloin tips. I usually buy a sirloin tip steak and cut it up into pieces and make sirloin tips from that. A few weeks back my grocery store had sirloin tip roasts on sale. I have no idea what a sirloin tip roast is but thought I could make sirloin tips from it.

“round tip roast = tip roast = sirloin tip roast = tip sirloin roast Notes: This roast is just a cut away from the sirloin, so it’s tender enough to be oven roasted or cut up into kabobs. If the roast is trimmed of some fat and muscle, it’s called a trimmed tip roast = ball tip roast. Substitutes: tri-tip roast OR rump roast”

After much Googling..I determined that a lot of other people had the same question and that some said yes and some said no to making sirloin tips from sirloin roast.

My husband even looked it up and he wasn’t sure either. What I do now is that a Sirloin tip roast cost almost less than half per pound that sirloin steak or sirloin tips.

We cut the roast into tip sized pieces. We got two meals worth of meat and froze one.

I used our Dutch oven on the stove top and first browned the meat on all sides in olive oil. I took the meat out and sauteed mushrooms and some onion. Once that was cooked down I added back in the meat and about 3/4 of a can of beef broth and some teriyaki sauce. I simmered on medium low for about 1/2 an hour (until the meat was tender).

I removed some of the liquid and cooked the rest down until it was the consistency I preferred(which is probably drier than most people like). Once it was cooked down to my liking I added the liquid back in cooked for another minute or two and served over rice pilaf.

It was delicious. Sirloin Roasts are supposedly tasty also cooked as roasts, but don’t be afraid to cut one up for sirloin tips if you find one on sale. Was it officially sirloin tips? I’m still not 100% sure on that but it tasted just as good and the price was right so I don’t really care.

FF: Chef Boyardee Cheese Pizza Kit

When I was younger (and much much poorer) I would go to the supermarket near where I lived outside of Boston and buy a Chef Boyardee Cheese Pizza Kit.

I think they cost $2.50 or $2.00 back then(maybe even a little less) BUT this particular supermarket had a policy about shelf prices and register prices. I don’t remember exactly what it was but I think if an item you purchased rang up more than the shelf price you got that item for free.

I would go in to buy a pizza kit every week or so and I ALWAYS ended up getting it for free. They never fixed the shelf price or the price in the register. When you are so broke that you are scouring the car seats for gas money change getting a $2.00 pizza kit for free is like winning the lottery.

What I find funny too is that my husband remembers eating these as a kid. I don’t think there were any pizza places near where he grew up. He says it was the only version of pizza he knew. We still see them at some grocery stores but have no desire to try one again. I remember that they had shakey cheese(like the kind that comes in a jar) for the cheese.

My Glitzy Christmas Wreath

I made this wreath a couple of years ago and add to it every year when Christmas flowers and picks go on clearance. I think my husband might think it’s a little ummmm……ugly.(I asked him the other night if he thought it was ugly and he said no, apparently I have brought him over to the dark-side of glitter and hot pink pine cones).

On a recent trip to our local Michaels Craft store to get a couple of sheets of vellum paper for handmade Christmas cards, I noticed that Christmas picks were on sale for 70% off. I picked up a few to add to my wreath.

I think I have finally reached the end of useable space on my wreath.

Actually I think I may have gone a little too far( is that possible with glitter?)

I love it(and I love that I bought everything for it on sale/clearance), but realize the look is not for everyone .

Flashback Friday – Alligator King from Sesame Street

One of my favorites when I was a kid.

Alligator King from Sesame Street