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.   =)

Pork Chops, Cornbread & Greens Oh my!

So some of y'all may know that I am not a fan of bacon by any means! It's really more psychological than anything...I'll spare you the gory details, but, when I was 14 I got a real bad stomach virus and the last thing I'd eaten was a plate of bacon right before a soccer tournament and well...you know the story.  Anyway, every once in a while I find a dish involving bacon that I can tolerate.  This one seemed to be a winner I was in a hurry so I didn't make my cornbread from scratch, but I will be sharing that recipe with you soon.
I used a box of Jiffy. Now I'm more of a fan of Glory, but Big Country prefers Jiffy so I went with that.  The next day I used Glory brand to make some cornbread for fellowship after bible Study at church and here's the observation I made.  Glory brand is a bit heavier than Jiffy and a little more grainy so it really depends on whatever cranks your tractor.  I like em' both...depends on my mood.
The cornbread (not muffins) I made with Jiffy came out so airy and fluffy I was impressed with myself I must say! The secret to the fluff is to beat the stuffing out of it while you are mixing. I always beat it longer than box directions suggest, I use a hand mixer and normally have it on high for about 3 minutes. You'll have tiny air bubbles and very few, if any, lumps. Make sure you grease and flour the pan. I use Crisco butter flavor shortening to grease the pan and then I flour it...it works so much better than the no stick spray, in my opinion, when dealing with cakes and breads and such. But again whatever tickles your fancy in your kitchen is alright with me!
Now I didn't have time for fresh greens or even time to simmer frozen greens so I used a can of Glory brand mustard greens and they did the job. Big Country doesn't eat collards so that's the only reason I went with mustard. They aren't my homemade greens, still they are good and fantastic for a homemade taste in a pinch. Didn't really do anything special to those I just dumped the can into my pampered chef microwave steamer pot and I let the microwave handle business
Now onto the main dish...
I used 8 thin sliced boneless pork chops because that's what I pulled out of the freezer. You can use bigger ones if you like, but I do suggest boneless.

Here's what you'll need:
Boneless Pork Chops
Salt
Pepper
Paprika (optional)
Onion Powder
1 clove Garlic
1/2 an Onion (diced well)
Cornstarch or flour (1-2 TBSP)
Bacon (about 5 slices chopped)
Creole Seasoning (optional)
Hot Sauce (optional)
1 TBSP Butter
No stick Cooking spray (I use PAM butter flavor)

Season the pork chops well with salt, pepper, onion powder, paprika and Creole seasoning (I use Tony Cachere's). Spray the no stick cooking spray into your dutch oven or skillet (you can use any pot that will work for pan searing the meat if you don't have either one of those). Over med-high heat put the pork chops in the pot and let em' start cooking.  Turn them frequently so they don't stick, over cook or dry out one all the meat is cooked through turn the fire off and let the meat sit.

I got an action shot of the meat cooking, but then I got mush brain and didn't get another shot until the end :)

Chop your bacon and in a skillet start cooking your bacon. make sure you stir the bacon well to get the pieces separated. Once the bacon is cooked (not over cooked) there should bee a good amount og drippings, add chopped onions to the skillet and mix them in cooking for about a minute or until they start to brown a bit, add chopped garlic and cook for another minute.
Add a cup of cold water (yes cold) to the skillet and stir the ingredients, then add a tablespoon of cornstarch or flour to thicken the gravy. Bring it to a boil for about two minutes, stirring frequently then reduce to medium heat. Add salt and pepper to taste and a dash of hot sauce stir it for about another minute or two and then pour your gravy into the pot over the pork chops and return the pot to heat. If you need more gravy add an additional cup of cold water and an additional tablespoon on cornstarch or flour.  *If you'd like to thicken the gravy more add additional teaspoons of cornstarch or flour until you are satisfied & if you over thicken add a little more water*
Let the chops & gravy simmer over med-low heat for about 15 minutes remove from heat and serve. I served over white rice with greens & cornbread.

Hope y'all enjoy ;)

Don't forget to tweet, FB, share, email, tumble, stumble and all that if you like it! Drop me a line and let me know how yours comes out or if you're gonna try it!