Chicken pot pie

One of my favorite gifts of all time (if not THE favorite) is a cookbook my mom gave me for Christmas maybe 6-7 years ago. It's not just any cookbook though...it's a family recipe cookbook, written in each of my family members' own handwriting, with their favorite recipes in it. It still sort of gets me choked up to see my Grandma Mary's handwriting in there since she passed away.  If the house were to start on fire, and I had one thing to grab...it would be this cookbook (as long as Justin had my cat), it's my prized possession.

This recipe came from the pages of that book, in the penmanship of my dad's sister, my Aunt Nicki Kratoska! I've made this on a regular rotation for quite a few years, and it's been one of my dad's favorites that I've made for him, he requests it when he comes to visit. So when I went back to Carroll a couple of weekends ago to help him recoop from his full knee replacement surgery since Mama K worked all weekend, of course I packed the ingredients for this comfort food to make for his recovery.

This is super, duper simple and has waaaaay more flavor than you would imagine having so few ingredients. If you're a pot pie lover, you seriously don't ever need to buy the premade ones again...these taste infinitely better and are much better for you. Make a bunch of these in pie tins and freeze them to pull out whenever...you'll thank me later!

Here's what you need:

Package of pie crust (2 crusts included)

2 large chicken breasts, baked and diced (I season mine with Lawry's, garlic powder, and black pepper)

1 can cream of chicken soup (low sodium and the 99% fat free kind for me)

1 large can mixed veggies (whatever you prefer)

Mix together the chicken, soup, and veggies and set your filling aside....

Roll your dough out into two sections, one for the bottom (a little bigger than the other), and one for the top of your pot pie.  Be sure to grease your pie dish so the crust doesn't stick. I estimate the size I will need and then place it in my baking dish, but I use my fingers to smooth the dough out to the exact size needed. Fill the pie crust with the filling you set aside, and then top with the other pie crust.  Roll the edges of the two pie crusts together so they are attached.

Throw in the oven and bake according to pie crust directions. Everything inside is already cooked so it just needs to warm, but the pie crust needs to be golden brown and not doughy.  Dig in!! This was Big Dan's personal pot pie so he ate right out of the pie plate, and I believe he got 3 meals out of it. This has a home cooked comfort food taste to it so I know you will love it as much as we do...enjoy!