bananas and pot pie

If you read my last post about weird food combos, don't worry - this isn't another one.  I did not put bananas in my pot pie.  We had some carrots and celery to use, so I texted my cousin Chelsey to find out where she found her pot pie recipe I had heard so much about - not surprisingly, she got it where I find a lot of the things I make.  Allrecipes.com.  It was something excellent for a cold day - and yesterday was cold. I followed the online recipe very closely, with just a few changes that Chels recommended and had a great pot pie. 

I've never made a pot pie before - and I'm a big fan of the Marie Callendar kind.  This was better, though.  :)

Chicken Pot Pie

1 1/2 c. cubed chicken (cooked)

1 c. sliced carrots

1 c. frozen green peas

1/2 c. sliced celery

1/3 c. butter

1/3 c. chopped onion

1/3 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

1 tsp. Lawry's seasoning salt

4 cups chicken broth  (separated)

2/3 cup milk

2 unbaked pie crusts (purchased or homemade)

I will say here that I used two small baking dishes rather than one deep dish pie pan so we would each have our own.  So, I just needed one pie crust, my baking time was shorter, and we each had our own to eat.  What is below should work for a regular sized pie. 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 

In a saucepan, carrots, peas, and celery. Add 2 c. chicken broth to cover and boil for 10 minutes. Add chicken cubes and boil for 10 more minutes.  Remove from heat, drain (keeping the broth) and set aside.

In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, Lawry's seasoning, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.

In the meantime, take one of the pie crusts and brush with egg whites and bake for 5 minutes.  Remove from the oven and place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. 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 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

My notes: 

• Because we used smaller baking dishes, my baking time was about 20-25 minutes. 
• This made more of the sauce for the pot pie than the original recipe, which we liked.
• Because I used smaller dishes, I had leftover chicken mixture and sauce, so put them together and stuck them in the fridge - it'll be good plain later or maybe with some potatoes or bread. 
• I used this recipe for a homemade crust and it was terrific - but maybe a little more work than we need for something like this...

Because we also had bananas that needed to be used, I made a banana bread recipe I found on Allrecipes.com.  Shocking.  I've made it a few times now and I really really like it.  Because I follow the recipe exactly, except for the amounts of chocolate chips, I'm not going to repost the whole thing, but you can find it here.  What I've found works best (for me) with the chocolate chips, etc... is:

• 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips
• 1 c. quartered maraschino cherries (it is a banana split bread, after all) - mom recommended this and it's yummy if you like cherries
• I didn't add the nuts - I think I will sometime when I'm not using cherries.  Having all three might be too much.
• I make two smaller loafs instead of one large loaf, so my baking time was 35-40 minutes, I think. 

And there you have it.  Enjoy!