Nacho Average Southern Chicken Pot Pie

Okay so I have to start by pointing out that this Pot Pie recipe has absolutely nothing to do with Nachos LOL...I'm just a goof and I love corny jokes and since the veggies I used weren't the "traditional" pot pie veggies, I decided to run with the title.  Hey I laughed :-)














Chicken Pot Pie with a nice creamy roux is a staple in most southern homes...now let me be the first (okay maybe I'm the third or fifth) to tell you that there is absolutely more than one way to make these recipes.  Admittedly, there are some recipes you run across that you really to need to stick to it closely but there's room to play with in most of my recipes...that way you can learn to make creations a la...YOU :-).  When I started making this, I had the oven preheating, I was making my sauce, the chicken was diced and prepped and then I went in the freezer to pull out my mixed veggies and - DUN, DUN, DUNNNNN - I didn't have any! Well I certainly wasn't gonna high tail it to the store with everything I had going on.  I know you're sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to read what I did next...okay you're probably not so I'll just tell you.  I improvised!  Yep, that's right I'm the improv queen.  Anyway, I had some frozen broccoli and some leftover corn from yesterday's dinner so I rolled with that and it was a success!

What you'll need:

• 1lb (give or take) boneless, skinless chicken breast or pieces
• 3 medium sized potatoes 
• 1 bag (or can) mixed veggies *you can really use any veggies you want the mixed bag is easy, but hey...get creative*
• 1.5 cups half & half (whole milk will be okay if you're in a pinch, but trust me the 1/2&1/2 is so much better)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cajun Seasoning (I like Tony's)
• Paprika
• 1 stick of butter (or 8TBS)
• 7 TBS all purpose flour
• 2 cups chicken stock or broth
• Dash of salt
• Homemade pie crust or 2 deep dish crust from the store freezer (I like the Marie Calendars Deep Dish crust) and a box of the Pillsbury refrigerated crust

Prep: 
Preheat oven to 425 degrees (make sure you preheat way ahead of time...once the ingredients are in the pie crusts it's gotta go in quickly since it's mostly pre-cooked)

Dice the chicken into medium pieces & season well (salt, pepper, onion powder, paprika)
Dice potatoes into small pieces
Pull frozen pie crusts out of the freezer and let them thaw out to room temperature
Place the potatoes in a microwaveable bowl, toss some salt & pepper on them and put them in the microwave for about 2 minutes or until tender
In another microwavable bowl (or the same one if you like to clean and cook like I do) toss the veggies in (if they are frozen add a little water to help them steam) the bowl and put em the microwave on high for about 3.5 minutes. Drain the veggies and mix em in with the potatoes and set aside.
In a dutch oven (or whatever other kinda pot you got) melt your stick of butter over med-high flame. Once it's melted start tossing your flour in a tablespoon at a time - stir between each TBS - Once it's all stirred in together and the are few to no lumps start slowly pouring the chicken broth/stock and mixing it all together and turn the flame up to high.  Continue mixing your roux and add your seasoning (salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder & some Creole seasonings) bring it to a boil and them quickly remove from heat.
Add in the half & half, stir well. Then add the potatoes & veggies to the creamy mixture...return to low heat.
In a skillet spray some non-stick cooking spray (I use butter flavored PAM) and let it heat up a little.  cook the chicken just until it's slightly cooked on the outside. It should go from pink to white. Don't worry about cooking it all the way through...just enough to change the outside.  Then add your chicken to the roux and stir everything together well.
Spoon mixture (I like to use a ladle) into each deep dish crust...it's okay if the meat overflows a little. Then get the refrigerated crusts and cover the tops of the pies.  Tuck excess crust into the deep dish and flute the edges with either your fingers or a fork.  Cut 3 or 4 vent lines in the top of the crust. Place in the oven for about 40-45 minutes.
Pull them out of the oven and let em cool for 15 minutes and then...Enjoy :-)

• *Tip: After about 15-20 minutes in the oven pull the pies out and protect the crust edges with foil to keep them from over browning*
• *Tip:  Dust your hands with flour when unrolling the top crust*
• *Tip: Brush the crusts with egg whites for a more golden brown crust* 

Okay now y'all know the drill...I wanna hear your thoughts.  Let me know if you try it and if you do/did anything to make it your own.   =)