Chicken Pot Pie....from scratch

I bought a whole raw chicken last week. Well they also had the Publix Mediterranean rotiserrie chickens on sale which we decided to try. YUM! Well after that meal, I was not in the mood to eat another roasted chicken. I talked to my mom who suggested I use the chicken to make broth, then shred the chicken up for a recipe. So I made chicken pot pie. Here is the recipe.



Chicken Pot Pie



Broth

1 whole raw chicken
3-4 carrots
3-4 stalks of celery
1 onion
3 whole cloves of garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Water



1. Place all ingredients into large pot. Use enough water to cover chicken. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Cover and cook for 45 min to 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through.
2. Remove chicken and shred.
3. Strain broth to remove veggies. At this point, I try to skim off some of the fat that will float to the top.

Crust

1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp butter
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup milk



1. Cut cold butter into small cubes
2. Put all ingredients into bowl and mix until forms into dough
3. Refrigerate dough

Pie filling

1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
2 cups milk
1 cup chicken broth
Canned/frozen/fresh veggies of your choice
Shredded cooked chicken

1. Melt butter over medium high heat
2. Add flour to butter and cook for 1 min
3. Add milk and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Mine was very runny and didn't thicken well, so at this point, I had to add some cornstarch. You could also possibly add a can of cream of chicken to make it more creamy
4. Add in veggies and cook through
5. Add in chicken and remove from heat

Putting it all together
Preheat oven to 400 F
1. Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out. I chose to only use a top crust and to make it into a lattice pattern.
2. Put pie filling into oven safe baking dish. I used individual sized bowls, but you could make one large one.
3. Cover pie filling with dough.
4. Bake at 400 F until dough is brown and filling is warmed through

This recipe was very time consuming, but it turned out very delicious. I would recommed anothe method to make the sauce creamy, because mine was more soupy.

Swedish Meatballs

A few weeks ago, we went to the new IKEA to check it out. While we were there we had to try the Swedish meatballs that everyone raves about. They were so tasty (and a steal at 4.99 per plate with a large serving!). So I decided to try to make them at home. They came out quite good. I will post the way I made it, but I would definitley advise making more gravy!

Swedish Meatballs

Meatballs
1 lb ground sirloin (you could use ground chuck...if you do, don't add the butter below)
1 egg
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Prehead oven to 350F
2. Combine above ingredients until well mixed
3. Make into any sized meatballs you prefer
4. Heat pan, add meatballs and brown on all sides
5. When meatballs have browned, remove from pan and transfer to oven safe baking sheet (reserve grease)
6. Bake meatballs to finish cooking (cooking time varies depending on size of meatballs)

Gravy
Pan drippings
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup beef broth
1/4 cup milk

1. If you used ground chuck skip this step. Melt butter in pan with grease.
2. Add flour and cook for 1 minute
3. Add broth and simmer for at least 1 min (to allow thickening)
4. Add milk to desired consistency
5. Add cooked meatballs to gravy and serve

As I said, I would make more gravy next time. I served mine over egg noodles, but they would be great with mashed potatoes or even rice.