Chicken Pot Pie

June is the rainy season in Florida. It rains everyday for at least a half hour. I love to make comfort food when it's gloomy and rainy outside. My kids love this meal. I love this meal. I could eat the whole pie by myself. It is a little work to make but you can taste the love in it.



















Chicken Pot Pie

adapted from Allrecipes.com

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup frozen green peas
*Or use 16oz bag of frozen carrots and peas. Much easier.

1/2 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
32 oz. carton chicken broth for boiling(reserve 1 3/4 cups chicken broth for sauce)
2/3 cup milk
2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)

In a pot, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add the carton of chicken broth to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain (reserving 1 3/4 cup chicken broth for filling) and set aside.

In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and combine with the chicken, carrots, peas, and celery mixture. Here you can add more chicken broth if you like depending how runny you want your filling.

Place the chicken filling in bottom crust. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe Notes:

*I like to slightly bake the bottom crust before filling the pie so it isn't soggy. Just bake for 5-6 minutes at 425 degrees.

Cheese Muffins

I wanted to try the Cheddar Bay biscuits I found on allrecipes which are supposed to be just like those addicting biscuits at Red Lobster but I didn't have any Bisquick so...I found these babies instead on the Pioneer Woman's website that were very similar. Everything I have made from her website has been delicious so I knew I couldn't miss. I still added the melted butter glaze from the Cheddar Bay biscuit recipe because that's how I roll but if you are trying to have less rolls on your belly you could leave it off. I'm nine months pregnant so WHY NOT have some butter, RIGHT?!















Cheese Muffins

by The Pioneer Woman

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups shredded colby-jack cheese

1 cup milk

1 egg

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter (I used salted)

Whisk together dry ingredients, then stir in cheese.
In a separate bowl, whisk egg, milk, and butter together. Pour milk mixture into dry ingredients and stir with a spoon to combine.
Bake in greased muffin tins at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Make sure they are cooked all the way and not doughy. Best when eaten warm!

Cheddar Bay Biscuit Butter

by Allrecipes.com

1/2 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon dried parsley

I combined this and brushed it over the warm rolls with a pastry brush. I only needed about 1/4 of the butter mixture the recipe made for my rolls.

Chocolate Eclair Cake

This is not a great picture but this measly corner piece was all that was left after us, the Clarks, and the missionaries (who made a surprise stop) devoured it. This was a Father's Day request from John who loves eclairs. My sister-in-law Kristy made this for us when she came out to visit. It is very light which makes it easy to eat a TON of it! You can make it simple with Cool Whip and Hershey's syrup (it's still great this way) or go the extra step and make homemade whipped cream and chocolate sauce to make it unbelievable!









Chocolate Eclair Cake
by Debbie Mortensen

1 c. water
1/2 c. butter
1 c. flour
4 large eggs
1 pkg cream cheese
1 large box vanilla instant pudding
3 c. milk
1 8 oz. container cool whip (just enough for a thin layer. I didn't use the whole container) or one batch of homemade whipped cream
chocolate syrup or homemade chocolate sauce

Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a 9"X13" glass baking pan.

Eclair Crust: In a medium saucepan, melt butter in water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in flour. Mix in one egg at a time, mixing completely before adding another egg. Spread mixture into pan, covering the bottom and sides evenly. *If the sides of your pan are too greased you won't be able to get the mixture to stay up the sides so make sure to just lightly grease.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown (Mine only took 25 minutes.) You may want to check it occasionally-you don't want to overcook the crust, it will ruin the cake! Remove from oven and let cool (don't touch or push bubbles down).

Filling: Whip cream cheese in a medium bowl. In separate bowl make vanilla pudding. Make sure pudding is thick before mixing in with cream cheese. Slowly add pudding to cream cheese, mixing until there are no lumps. Let cool in fridge.When the crust is completely cooled, pour filling in. Top with layer of cool whip however thick you want it and serve with chocolate syrup. *If you want to make this even better use homemade whipcream.

Chicken Avocado Enchiladas

Chicken Avocado Enchiladas

by Kaela Clawson

3 c. chopped, cooked chicken
2 1/2 c. salsa
2 heaping tsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 c. chopped red or green pepper
6 oz cream cheese, cubed and softened
1 c. sliced green onions, with tops or a medium purple onion
2/3 c. sliced ripe olives
2 ripe avocado, peeled, pit removed, and cubed
4 (12 inch in.) flour tortillas
Cheese
1 can of enchilada sauce for dipping
Optional
Sour cream
Extra Olive slices
Diced Tomatoes

Throw pepper and onion in with chicken last minute or two of cooking it. Combine chicken mixture, 1 cup of salsa, and cumin in saucepan. Simmer and stir 5 minutes. Add cream cheese and olives. Stir until cream cheese melts.

Divide avocado pieces evenly between tortillas. Put avocado pieces in a strip down the center of each tortilla.Top with a strip of a heaping 1/2 cup of chicken mixture.

Roll up tightly. Cut in half and place each half seam side down in greased 7 by 11 inch baking dish.
Spoon remaining 3/4 cup salsa over enchiladas. Cover tightly with foil.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until hot.

Top with a sprinkle of cheese and remain to oven uncovered for a couple minutes just until cheese is melted.
Serve with optional toppings, hot enchilada sauce for dipping, refried beans, and rice. Serves 6-8.

Limeade Pie

I have had company in town and been super busy. Not only that but everything I make has either not turned out or not sounded appealing. I boycotting cooking last week but now I am back. Kind of. I think I will be slowing down on the cooking as this baby gets closer.

John's mom made this all growing up. It's light with a tart kick. Easy and good but most of all it brings back memories for him.















Limeade Pie

by Sheri Denney

1 (6 ounce) can of frozen limeade concentrate

1 (14 ounce) can of Eagle Brand Condensed milk

8 ounce container of thawed Cool Whip

couple drops green food coloring (however green you want it)

9 inch premade graham cracker crust

Thaw out the limeade so that it is runny. Mix it thoroughly with the condensed milk. Stir in food coloring and fold in whipcream. Pour into the graham cracker crust and let set up in the refrigerator for at least an hour.