Chicken Pot Pie – & Flowers Vs Weeds :)
Today I have a guest post for you for Chicken Pot Pie from one of the head chef’s at UNA’s Culinary Department. But before I hand over the reins, I’m feeling chatty so I thought I’d spend a few minutes visiting with you if I may…. Y’all know how I am when I get chatty. Not much that can shut me up 🙂
I have some great friends and each one seems to have a specialty when it comes to the friendship department. Jyl is good as a sounding board. She lets me do my “brain dumps” and then she helps me put the pieces of the puzzle together until they make sense. Jason is good for talking things out to. When I get a thought in my head that I want to think more on and examine from all angles, Jason is always good for a few other perspectives.
Yesterday, I was working on a story that I’ve had in my head to write for well over a year now and I needed to go meet Jyl in nearby Scottsboro. So I asked Jason if he’d mind going along since I wouldn’t be back home til after dark and …oh yeah, did I mention Jason is a very good driver and used to staying up late at night? Well that’s one of his gifts, too.
We share a Southern heritage and a friendship that started back in high school when he was editor of the literary magazine and I was junior editor. He also fills the role of our “Adopted pitiful bachelor who needs to be fed” in the family. We always had a few of those hanging around my mother’s kitchen growing up and so I’d feel a little empty if my family didn’t have one, too. So you see, Jason is a handy feller.
So we get in the car and I immediately started in (The beauty of good friends is that you can skip the niceties and greetings and just begin your thought waves wherever they are at that given moment) “Okay, so George Washington. You know what he did, right? He was actually offered the throne of the United States, they offered to make him KING of the US and he turned it down because he felt it was in the best interest of the country…”
He didn’t miss a beat as he adjusted the driver’s seat of my car to accommodate his legs when he replied, “Oh yeah, I know that! And did you also know that he was the one who first introduced the idea of term limits and that they used to be voluntary until it was written into the constitution in 1947”
This is a pretty typical conversation between me and Jason.
From there we somehow took a detour and got into talking about our childhoods and attitudes and the kind of people we look up to, from there we went to our culture and how it has changed in our lifetime.
And that is where he told me the story.
It was in a book he had as a child, a collection of fairy tales and fables that his mother used to read to him. This one had stuck out to him, it had struck a note in his heart that still rang true today. He didn’t know it word for word but he knew the premise enough to tell me and for me to recreate the premise for you now.
There once was a king.
One day this King chose a man and assigned him the task of going out into the kingdom and picking the most beautiful flowers he could find to bring back to him. Another man was dispatched on the same day to pick the most noxious weeds he could find and bring them back.
And so each set about their assigned tasks and at the end of the day they returned, one with a wagon full of beautiful flowers and one with a wagon full of terribly noxious weeds.
The wise king called them before his throne and he asked the one who had brought the flowers “Tell me, did you find any weeds?” The man replied “No my king, I was too busy looking for flowers, I didn’t see any weeds at all.”
The king smiled and turned to the man who had gathered the large load of weeds, which were most assuredly resting amidst the beautiful flowers and asked “Tell me, did you find any flowers?” “No my king, I was too busy looking for noxious weeds. I didn’t see any flowers at all.”
Jason’s point was that more people used to look for flowers. We talked about this a while and he thinks Watergate was a turning point. Now I know full well what Watergate is but I prefer Jason not bring it up because it just makes me want that green goopy salad with marshmallows in it. I’m not sure if Watergate was the turning point but it definitely stands one of those times in which the record skipped, the party stopped, and the lights were turned on.
I guess it doesn’t really matter when or why it started, the end effect is the same. At some point a majority of media outlets (news, tv networks, filmmakers etc) stopped looking to Little House on the Prairie and started looking to the National Enquirer to set the standard for behavior – and once the pied piper started playing that flute all the rats just followed along behind and ran right off the cliff together. Note: My use of rats here is a pied piper reference, not calling people rats. People are hope and potential filled individuals, regardless.
At that point, they decided that the business of looking for flowers held little appeal in terms of ratings or shock value and instead began the search for noxious weeds.
And after our talk yesterday, I finally understand reality tv.
Today, as I’m writing on my second book (You can purchase my first book by clicking here) Chef Lewis from my Alma Mater has graciously agreed to share with you a simple recipe for Chicken Pot Pie. I asked him specifically to do a guest post on Chicken Pot Pie because I’ve received so many requests for one that I’ve lost count. Why haven’t I ever brought you a recipe for chicken pot pie? The same reason I won’t be bringing you a recipe for seafood. ~giggles~ Take it away, Chef!
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Hi there, I’m Chef Lewis from the University of North Alabama’s Culinary Department in Florence, Al. I was asked to do a guest post to share some of our recipes for the holidays, and I was more than happy to do so. We’re very happy to have Christy as one of our departments alumni’s, and we’re happy that we can share some of our ideas with all of you. This recipe was done by myself and my team Kenny and Devon.
The ingredients you’ll need for the pot pie are chicken breasts, cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, corn, peas and carrots, butter, white pepper, diced yellow onion, and buttermilk biscuits.
I will give easy instructions for making a smaller quantity below as well.
Begin by boiling the chicken breasts in 4 cups of water with ½ of your diced onion until they are fork-tender (this will be around 20 minutes).
Remove the chicken from the water, keeping the water for later. Strain the onion out of the water with a colander or strainer, and let it cool.
Next you’ll brown the other half of your diced onions in the butter until they’re soft (around 8 minutes).
Then you take the cans of mushroom soup, chicken soup, the browned onion, and the white pepper and combine all of that in a big bowl.
Then you add about 1/2 (2 cups) of the chicken broth (the leftover water you boiled the chicken in) to thin out the soup mixture.
After that you open up the can of peas and carrots and the corn, and drain the liquid out of them, then pour that into the soup mix as well.
By now the chicken breasts should have cooled down enough that you can cut them up into bit-sized pieces.
The chicken goes into the soup mix as well. Just stir it all together and make sure it’s evenly mixed up.
All of the soup mix then goes into a deep greased 13×9 inch pan.
For the topping, you take the biscuits out of the can and flatten them out (you can use either a rolling pin or your hands).
Then stick the biscuits on the top of the chicken soup mix, till they’re covered.
Then you just stick it in the oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for around 20 minutes, and the top should be golden brown.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 3 or 4 large chicken breasts
- 2 cans of Cream of Mushroom soup
- 1 can of Cream of Chicken soup
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 1 can of Peas and Carrots
- 1 can whole kernel corn
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ½ teaspoon white pepper can use black
- 1- 8 count Buttermilk Biscuits canned
Instructions
- Begin by boiling the chicken breasts in 4 cups of water with ½ of your diced onion until they are fork-tender (this will be around 20 minutes).
- Remove the chicken from the water, keeping the water for later. Strain the onion out of the water with a colander or strainer, and let it cool.
- Next you’ll brown the other half of your diced onions in the butter until they’re soft (around 8 minutes).
- Then you take the cans of mushroom soup, chicken soup, the browned onion, and the white pepper and combine all of that in a big bowl. Then you add about 1/2 (2 cups) of the chicken broth (the leftover water you boiled the chicken in) to thin out the soup mixture.
- After that you open up the can of peas and carrots and the corn, and drain the liquid out of them, then pour that into the soup mix as well.
- By now the chicken breasts should have cooled down enough that you can cut them up into bit-sized pieces. The chicken goes into the soup mix as well. Just stir it all together and make sure it’s evenly mixed up.
- All of the soup mix then goes into a deep greased 13x9 inch pan.
- For the topping, you take the biscuits out of the can and flatten them out (you can use either a rolling pin or your hands). Then stick the biscuits on the top of the chicken soup mix, till they’re covered.
- Bake at 300 for 20 minutes, or until biscuits are browned.
To make less, use 1-2 chicken breasts and take away one can of cream of mushroom soup. Cook it in a 9x13 pan as directed.
Recipe from Chef Lewis and the University of North Alabama Culinary Department
Nutrition
Today’s quote will likely make most of y’all giggle!
“Any mother could perform the jobs of several air traffic controllers with ease.”
~Lisa Alther
Submitted by Louise. Click here to add your quote to the collection.
I love a pot pie. When we were little we ate the individual frozen pot pies and I still eat them when I get a chance. I don’t make this often, but reading this post, makes me want to fix one soon.
Christy, since you don’t like pot pies, I guess you didn’t try Paula Deen’s at her restaurant. It was probably the most delicious pot pie I have ever eaten. yum!
About your story, I like the story and you are right, it is very symbolic of TV and life today. I was watching Little House one night this week and my daughter, who is 23, came in and asked me how old I was. She thought I was too young to be watching that old show. lol
I use veg-all sometimes but usually I keep a freezer bag going in the freezer and each time I have left over vegs. I add to the bag then when full or if not add a can to make the chicken pot pie.
I have used this recipe for years using the veg-all too. My family thinks I’m a fabulous cook and have no idea how easy this really is!!
I love chicken pot pie, but since I live by myself, it is hard to eat a whole one. Guess I could share it with friends or family though.
@Jean – I am just wonderin’….perhaps the way it is made with the recipie using canned biscuits — just maybe you could cut/slice it into individual portions and freeze them and that way you could have yourself some homemade chicken pot pie when you craved it!! It looks delish!!!
Dee, you’re brilliant!
This is the way I make my pot pie, but I prefer a pie crust on mine and I have fallen in love with your Mix-in-the-Pan recipe, so I whip up a bit of that and lay it on top. Boy Howdy! Good eat’s y’all! In, fact…this is what we’re having tonight for supper! Can hardly wait! I’m still in shock that you don’t like pot pie, Christy! But, I reckon I’ll get over it!
I cannot believe you used canned vegetables. All the advice given these days says not to eat canned stuff and here you are using things in cans. But you take the time to make biscuits from scratch instead of using premade biscuits in cans. I would rather use frozen vegetables instead of canned ones. The idea of using the water used to cook the chicken to thin the soup is a good idea. That saves the nutriants that would have gone down the drain.
I’m just a shocking person that way 🙂 The biscuits aren’t from scratch, either. I do appreciate Chef Lewis’s kindness in taking the time out of his day and schedule to share his recipe with us though, as I’m sure you do as well. Chef specifically designed this recipe for convenience, keeping in mind that many families may not have a lot of freezer space as you and I are blessed to have. I always encourage others to make any and all Southern recipes their own to suit their tastes and there family and I appreciate you being here 🙂
Gratefully,
Christy
This looks so yummy and It’s easy to fix to boot! Can’t wait to try this! Hopefully, I won’t eat it all when I do! ;D
Thanks for the wonderful recipe Chef Lewis! 😀