Make It Like Mom: Chicken Pot Pie

I just finished making Mom’s Chicken Pot Pie that my wife and I will be eating for the rest of the week for dinner. By the way, my wife makes me a lunch every single day to take to work, and I normally cook dinner. It’s an awesome trade off for me because I find cooking gratifying and lunch preparation tedious. She’s awesome!

Last time we visited, I told you why guys should get Pinterest. I still believe that, but there are four sources for recipes that will always beat Pinterest:

1. Your mom.
2. Your grandmother(s)
3. Church Cookbooks
4. My mom.

My mom goes the extra mile when it comes to the culinary arts, and my grandmothers are and were talented as well. Oh yeah, Mom has a blog too. Your mom and grandmother just need to be asked, and I am sure they would love to pass along their secrets to you. If you can’t locate any church cookbooks, check out a local used book sale. Most of mine are from Baptist churches in north Georgia I got from my family, but I found some good ones in Macon, Georgia as well and they only cost me about $1.00 a piece.

Since my mom really outdoes herself every time she gets behind an oven or stove, one of the sections of this blog will focus on making food like mom does. Stop eating out. Stop making bad food. Take the extra time to teach and remind yourself that you can make your own food. You’ll be pleasantly surprised and I think you will also get a great feeling of accomplishment when you’re done. By the way, I assume that you are like me in the sense that you have no idea how to cook things on your own and therefore follow recipes word for word, so I apologize in advance if I’m too descriptive. Did I mention my mom has a blog as well?

Mom’s Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

Refrigerated deep dish pie crusts (like the one pictured below, found  right by the break & bake cookies)
1 lb of chicken breasts (I like the thinly sliced chicken breast from Publix)
3 cans  cream of potato soup
1/2 cup milk
2 cans of Veg-All, drained and rinsed
1/4tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Remove your deep dish pie crusts from the box and put them on the counter. This will soften them up by the time you need to use them.
2. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
3. Put the chicken in a pot and fill the pot with water until it sits just above the chicken. Add some salt.
4. Turn the stovetop to high and wait for the water to boil. I cover the chicken during this time, but you don’t have to. It just helps with the boil.
5. Once the water starts boiling, uncover the chicken and reduce the heat to medium. Let the chicken cook for about 25 minutes, or until it is cooked. Stir occasionally, ensuring the chicken is entirely covered by the water.
6. Once your chicken is cooked, shred it with a fork or use a food processor to chop it up.
7. Then, mix the chicken with the soup, milk, veg-all (did you drain and rinse it?), pepper and salt.
8. Once you’ve mixed it well, roll out the first pie crust onto your pie dish.
9. Dump the mixture onto the pie crust.
10. Unroll the second pie crust and put it on top of the other one, tucking the edges under the bottom pie crust. My mom uses the word “crimp“, but that makes me think of bad 80s hair, so I say “tuck”.
11. Poke some holes in the top with a fork, and place it in the oven.
12. I cooked it for 45 minutes, but you can cook it for an hour.
13. If it starts looking brown on the edges, tear a piece of foil and wrap it around the edge of the pie.

This Chicken Pot Pie is wonderful on the second, third or even the fourth day. To reheat, do not microwave. Pre-heat your oven to 350 again and bake for about 15 minutes.

Make it like mom and you won’t regret it. Do it yourself and you’ll feel even better. Oh, and by the way, if you are a guy and you think girls should cook all of your meals, click here, and welcome to 2013.