2 for 1 - Chicken Pot Pie / Chicken & Dumplins

First of all, this meal started out as a pot pie. The "baby boy" came in - he does not like pot pie. When he walked in from school and smelled the chickens boiling, he said, "Oh boy, we're having dumplings!" We weren't,but I know that in a pinch, a pie crust can result in a dumpling!

Keep in mind that I generally cook at least 8-10 servings, but this can easily be halved.

Pot Pie:

2 or 3 small chickens

2 onions

several stalks celery

2 large potatoes

2 cups mixed vegetables

2 tbsp butter

3 tbsp flour

1 cup milk

3-5 cups chicken stock (more if needed for the right consistency)

Pie Crust (I make my own, but the refrigerated ones work OK too)

Salt and Pepper

In a stock pot, cover chickens with water - add salt to taste (I use a couple of tablespoons for a large pot). Add onions and celery and bring to a boil. Simmer until chicken falls off the bone. Set aside to cool.

In the meantime, peel and dice potatoes. Boil in salted water until they can barely be pierced with a fork. Drain.

Make pie crust, or roll out refrigerated crust. Line the bottom of a casserole with crust. Let crust overlap the sides of the casserole dish.

Take chickens from cooled stock. Pull chicken from bones. Strain fat from top of stock.

Make a roux of 2 tbsp butter and 3 -4 tbsp of flour. Cook until lightly browned, whisking constantly. Add milk. Continue to whisk constantly while adding chicken broth until sauce is a medium consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In casserole dish, layer chicken, vegetables, and potatoes, repeat. Cover with white sauce. Top with pie crust.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes at 350. Remove foil and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Now for the "second thought" dumplings. Roll the remaining crust out thin and cut in to small pieces. Be sure to leave plenty of flour on dumplings so that it will thicken the stock. Bring remaining stock to a boil. Add dumplings one at a time. Boil for 5 minutes, or until tender. Add some of the pulled chicken. There you go - 2 dishes so everyone is happy!!

If I had this to do over, I would make more pie crust so that there would be more than 2 servings, and use my crust recipe with oil instead of butter because it would make a sturdier dumpling.

I cook too much/Chicken and Pasta

First of all, I wish I had taken a picture last night because dinner was fantastic. Too bad the girl child didn't get home in time with the camera. What did I cook? Simple - chicken breast strips seasoned with garlic, salt, thyme, basil and sauteed in olive oil. Sprinkled w/a little mozzarella. Served over bucatini rigati and marinara. Easy and perfect.
Anyway, as I was cooking and thinking about this blog, the thought occurred to me that I may just cook way to much. As in, maybe I am spoiling this whole crew. Growing up, almost everything we ate was from a box, the freezer, or something someone else cooked. My mom will cook, but she does not enjoy it. On the other hand, HIS mom never cooked anything from a box - he had never eaten hamburger helper or even a boxed cake. What a rude awakening for him. The funny thing is for a long time, there was a balance - I really cooked once or twice a week, did takeout some, and easy boxed or frozen some. Somehow over the period of the past 17 years, there has been a shift. As I look at this blog I realize that I cook probably 5 days a week and depend on quick and easy or takeout the other 2 days.
Is that a bad thing? I don't really think so. I love the whole process of making a meal, but I know not everybody does things this way. I just don't want my boys to grow up and tell their wives the same thing I heard at first - well Mom always made that homemade, or Mama always cooked it like this! As for now, I think I will try to keep a good record on this blog so the instructions will be there if they ever want to know how Mama did it!