Easy & DELICIOUS Chicken Pot Pie

Busy Moms (and Dads) need easy in the kitchen, quick on the table and happy kids who actually eat their dinner!!! This recipe is sure to please not only for your tastebuds, but also your budget, clean-up and nutritional goals!!!

Preheat the oven to a medium heat, around 325 degrees F.

2 frozen, unbaked, deep dish pie crusts
A few boneless, skinless whole or halved chicken breasts
Some frozen mixed vegetables. Probably a half to a full pound
1 or 2 cans of condensed cream of chicken soup

It's all from my head, so there are no exact measurements. It's a very forgiving recipe, so no need for exact amounts.

2 frozen, unbaked, deep dish pie crusts. (I like the Oronoque Orchards brand, because it tastes so fresh and homemade. Some of the other pie crust brands available around here have a pronounced chemical taste to them.) There may be two, three or even four crusts in the package; use as many as needed to completely line the bottom and sides of your baking dish, and then another one or two to completely cover the top of the pie after the ingredients are poured into the dish.

A few boneless, skinless whole or halved chicken breasts. (Can be 2 or 3 or 4 of them.)

1 or 2 cans of condensed cream of chicken soup. (or cream of mushroom, or cream of chicken mushroom; I usually use the Campbell's brand.)

Some frozen mixed vegetables. Probably a half to a full pound. Usually it's a mix of small diced carrots, with peas, corn kernels, & cut green beans.

Preheat the oven to a medium heat, around 325 degrees F.

You'll need a deep casserole dish to bake the pot pie in. I usually use a big glass pyrex bowl. The baking dish just has to be big enough to hold all the ingredients, so get out a few different sized oven-proof casseroles and wait til the ingredients are all prepared and you'll be able to choose the right sized baking dish. Obviously four whole chicken breasts mixed with two pounds of veggies and two cans of soup will need a larger baking dish than if I'm only using three half breasts and a half pound of veggies, with one can of soup, etc.

Put the frozen pie crusts on the kitchen counter to slowly thaw a bit while you prepare the chicken and vegetables and sauce.

Cook the breasts in a small covered sauce pan in just enough water to cover the breasts. Toss a few slices of onion and a bit of salt or a bouillion cube in with the chicken and simmer it all until the chicken is cooked through. After about twenty minutes or so, just slice into the thickest piece and see if it's cooked inside.

Remove the cooked chicken to a cutting board to cool. Add the frozen veggies to the saucepan and cook them over medium heat for a few minutes in the same water that the chicken cooked in.

While the veggies are simmering, cut up the chicken in bite sized pieces and put them in a big bowl.

Remove the veggies from the pot and add them to the chicken in the bowl.

Pour all the saucepan's hot water into another container (a measuring cup or a drinking glass or something) and then pour the contents of the soup can(s) into the saucepan. Add enough of the cooking water to the soup in the saucepan to make a nice creamy sauce. Stir with a whisk for a minute or so, until it's nice and smooth. No need for a flame; the sauce will be warmed enough from the hot water to blend nicely. (The proportion is about one can of soup to about a half can of water.)

Pour the sauce into the bowl of chicken and veggies and stir gently. There should be enough sauce to coat everything thoroughly plus a bit more to make the whole thing juicy and yummy. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to your liking.

As soon as the pie crust is thawed enough to be somewhat flexible (about 10 minutes), drape it into the baking dish to cover the bottom and sides all the way up to the top of the dish. If it won't reach the top, use an additional pie crust. Just cut and paste pieces to line the entire dish. You can also squeeze and stretch the dough to cover more area. A wet fingertip will seal the cut edges together. Don't worry about being neat. Nothing will be visible because the chicken/veggies/sauce will hide all of the crust.

Pour the chicken/veggie/sauce mixture into the pie, cover it with your remaining partially-thawed crust. Pinch the top crust down tight to the edges of the dish. The better the seal all around, the less chance for the pie to bubble over onto your oven floor. Poke a few nickle-sized holes in the top crust, so the steam can escape.

Put the whole thing in the oven until it's nice and brown; could be a half hour or 20 minutes or 45 minutes. Doesn't matter. All the ingredients are already cooked and safe to eat. Just need to get the crust baked through and colored up nicely. Serve with a BIG serving spoon.

And that's it. My kids have always wolfed it down and loved it with just those ingredients. Chicken, veggies, & soupy sauce, baked in a pie crust. If you want, you can add just about anything before you put the top crust on: chopped pecans, dried cranberries, chopped celery, chopped roasted chestnuts; you can also vary the flavorings with paprika, or tumeric or cumin or any herbs: fresh chopped parsley, thyme, marjoram, etc. My family loves it any way I make it; plain, fancy, thick or thin. I've served it as dinner to company; I've served it to kids for brunch; I've made it at midnight for 2am munchies. It's quick and easy; and only one pot and one bowl to wash.

Hope you like it.