Comfort Food

I am going on day 15 of being sick and Joe has had a week of bronchitis but I think he's mostly better now. I thought I was better at the beginning of the week and had my best day, ironically the day I saw my doctor, and then it went downhill from there. Anyway, this is a long way of saying we were both in the mood for some comfort food. The snow has finally hit us, it's very cold outside and neither of us feel 100%. Sounds like the perfect day for homemade chicken pot-pie. I got Joe involved in today's meal, too, by summonsing him to make the mashed potatoes to accompany the pot-pie. My recipe came from Pioneer Woman and it didn't disappoint...so good! This batch actually made two with my smaller pie plates so I have another in the freezer for another day.

Here's Pioneer Woman's recipe for the pie crust that goes on top of the pot pie. I made this yesterday and then froze per the instructions. I am not sure if I've ever actually made pie crust before but this was surprisingly easy. I will say that once I rolled it out and put it on top, it wasn't all that pretty (I need some practice here) but it tasted great.

Chicken Pot Pie
3 celery stalks
3 medium carrots
1 large yellow onion
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 cups cooked chicken
1/4 cup flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 chicken bouillon cube
1/4 cup white wine (optional)
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1 teaspoon kosher salt
black pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Finely dice the celery, carrots and onion.
3. Melt the button in a large pan and add the onion, carrots, celery and peas. Saute for a couple minutes.
4. Add the chicken and stir to combine. Sprinkle flour evenly over the vegetables and chicken and combine. Cook for a couple minutes.
5. Pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly. Stir in the bouillon cube and wine.
6. Pour in the cream and stir. Cook over low heat to thicken for about 4 minutes. Season with thyme, salt and pepper.
7. Pour the chicken into a deep pie pan or small casserole dish.
8. Roll out the crust so that it's 1 inch larger than the pan. Place the crust on top of the chicken mixture and cut small slits on top. Press the crust gently into the sides of the dish to seal.
9. Bake for 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.