Chicken Pot Pie

    It has been quite chilly here in Waterloo the last few days--in the 60's!  This makes it perfect weather for chicken pot pie!  I haven't always been a fan of dessert pies (I had an unpleasant evening after a pie eating contest when I was a kid...), but I have always been a fan of pot pies.  My family would get those single-serving frozen pot pies from the supermarket occasionally, and I would be in heaven that night.  The crust of those pies were my favorite parts as they are like a prize for eating all of the delicious filling.  (In fact, the crust of most pies is my favorite part which is perfect because Greg doesn't care for the crust on pies, but I do like the filling for this pie--don't get me wrong.)  Anyway, here is my recipe for chicken pot pie.  I hope you do get to enjoy this pie when the weather has cooled down sufficiently in your area!

I recognize that my photography skills aren't fantastic, but at least you have a realistic picture of food, right?

This recipe is adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.

Ingredients:

*Filling:

1 medium onion, diced

3 large carrots, peeled and sliced

2 small potatoes, cut into thin slices 

frozen peas and corn (about a 1/2 cup of each)

2 Tbsp butter or olive oil

1/3 cup flour

1 1/2 cup chicken broth

1 cup half and half or milk

2 1/2 cups shredded chicken (For the chicken, you can bake the chicken and then shred/chop it, buy a rotisserie chicken, or boil it in water and seasoning like I did--I was making chicken broth anyway!)

I don't measure seasonings, but I used chili powder, garlic powder, parsley, salt, and pepper. 

*If you want to put your own twist on this, the original recipe adds diced red sweet pepper, leeks (instead of onions), celery, and mushrooms to the filling.

Crust:

(Makes enough to cover the top, but you could always double the recipe to add crust to the bottom as well)

1 1/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter

4-5 Tbsp cold water

Combine butter, potatoes, carrots, and onions into a large saucepan over medium heat until vegetables are tender.  Stir in flour and seasonings.  Add in half and half and chicken broth, and allow it to thicken.  Once the filling has become bubbly, add in chicken, corn, and peas.  Cook for a few minutes, and then pour the mixture into a casserole dish.  

The guts will look like this.  Yum!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, placing a cookie sheet on the bottom shelf (so the pot pie doesn't spill onto your oven by accident!), and cover the filling with a lid to keep it hot.  As the oven is preheating, prepare the crust of the pie.  Combine the salt and flour into a small bowl.  Add the butter into the bowl and mix until the dough resembles peas.  (At this point, you can mix the dough as much as you want, but after you add the water, you want to mix it as little as possible to make the crust flaky!)  Add water in 1 Tbsp at a time, sprinkling it over a part of the mixture.  Kind of push the moist dough together and flip it so as to gather more dough.  Shape dough into a ball, and roll out onto a lightly floured surface.  Roll out dough into a rectangle a bit larger than your casserole dish.  Using a sharp knife, cut slits into the pastry to allow steam to escape.  Or if desired, use a small cookie cutter to cut shapes from pasty. Place crust on top of pie, and shape edges if you'd like. Cook for 30-35 minutes or until crust is golden brown, rotating pie half way through.  The book recommends waiting for 20 minutes to serve, but I probably waited 3 minutes to serve. 

The crust is edible wrapping paper.  

And there you have it; homemade chicken pot pie that is super yummy and really easy to make.

Gratitude

        I've been a bit stir crazy because I don't have a job, or money, or actual friends here.  Because of these problems, I've been grouchy, idle, and feeling sorry for myself.  (I've been working on getting a job part, but that always feels like a super slow process.)  But of course I've realized that I just need to change my attitude and be more grateful for everything I do have, put myself to work, and allow myself time for things.
      Today, I want to focus on gratitude--specifically things I am grateful for.

1. I am grateful that Heavenly Father knows and cares about me, and recognizes things I would like, even though I didn't actually ask for them in a prayer.  Two instances occurred today: the first was I got some more tubberware for free.  (I've wanted extra tubberware because I have planned on making and freezing spaghetti sauce, chicken broth, and other foods.)  The second instance is that I was able to borrow an air pump from a friend to bring my therapy ball back to life.

 2. I am grateful that I was invited to have dinner with some friends today.  I was so happy to spend time with other people (like I said before--cabin fever), and I didn't have to cook dinner.

 3. Last night, Greg and I received some delicious desserts from our neighbors--they didn't stay over and talk with us or anything, but I can't tell you how thoughtful it was to get them.  I also like that we have international neighbors for the cultural aspect.  I'm excited to exchange recipes. C:

 4.  I am so happy that we do not have a heat wave any longer!!  As someone said the other day to me, "People always comment on how cold it gets in Canada, but they fail to mention that it gets really hot up here, too!" Last week the weather was awful: 90 degrees plus humidity.  Remember, I don't have real A/C to keep the whole house cool!  Our bedroom is on the top floor, so we had a difficult time going to bed at a decent hour because it was still really stuffy outside at night.  (Greg found sleeping upstairs so repulsive that he ended up sleeping on the couch under the cool A/C window unit breeze for a few nights.)

Anyway, hopefully these small things will help me to remember that life is good.  Now back to job hunting.

Oh Canada!

    Anyway, so this blog post will just be an update on our travels and new adventure in Canada.  It took us four days of driving, but we stayed in South Bend for a couple of days with some really amazing friends because we couldn't move in to our place until 1 July.  Crossing the border was kind of a pain because of all the traffic (A lot of Canadians went to the States to enjoy their long holiday weekend.  Oh the irony.  It's Canada day, but I'd rather go to the states to celebrate!), but we arrived in Waterloo just as the fireworks were finishing up.  Thus far, we've liked the area.  Waterloo is so green, beautiful, and humid!  I didn't realize how humid it would be--the weather is not like living in D.C. again where it was hot and humid, but it is still stuffy outside.  We ended up buying a nice A/C window unit because our house doesn't keep very cool.  Since we've been here we've had nice rainy weather on several occasions, but it still gets to be about 85 degrees Fahrenheit (thank heavens!).  

I really wanted to share what our new place is like.  Sometimes, I think it's like a beautiful hotel that I have to clean up myself, and then sometimes I remember that we are going to be living here for a while, and that it's ours for now! I love our new house; it's spacious and comfortable.  However, I am having a difficult time decorating and utilizing all of the new space (except the kitchen cupboards have been filled out nicely!), so the following pictures won't do justice to new home.  I'll probably take pictures of this place again before we move out so that I can remember how nice it was staying here. 

This is the foyer.  Ahead is our living room and to the left is our basement.

Kitchen!  I love the counter space. C:

I love that I have windows over the kitchen sink!  (The bear on the left says "Suzy's room".  I got that when I was baby, and now I put it in the kitchen as a half joke, but really the kitchen is MINE!)

I laughed that they made this weird island of mini-drawers in the kitchen.  The only thing I do not really like.

Our living room is small, but at least I have a place for my rocking chair!

   

Our cute little patio.  

Basement!  I thought it would be great to turn this into a library/study area, but it is also Greg's 'man cave.'

Greg 'studying' Star Craft 2--it was a Saturday!

Our laundry room!  This part of the basement is strangely unfinished, but that's okay; I still love it.

Our bedroom.   

Creeper view from our bedroom....the blinds are not very co-operative. 

Upstairs bathroom sans yucky cabinet like Provo apt. C:

Second bedroom.  Yes, we have still have unpacked boxes.

     Honestly, I hope you liked the little walk through of our house sans decorations and beautiful furniture.  Our house looks nice and it is pretty much perfect.  My favorite part is that I get to share it with Greg.  While I was taking all of these pictures Greg came up to me and said, "Are you thinking about how this will be the first home we'll get to raise our kids in while you are taking all of these pictures?"  My heart melted inside with these sweet, sweet words.  My husband is an adorable, smart, handsome man. 

   (And no-- we are not expecting...)