When chatting with my Favorite Third Son Sam yesterday, the subject of Pot Pie came up. He'd bought a few of those Banquet Pot Pies ("Only 88 cents each!") I remember having those when I was a kid. I don't remember if it was the novelty of having my own little pie that made them so good to my young self, or mebbe the actual pie really did reflect the picture on the box 40 years ago. ... because they certainly don't reflect that picture now.
Anyway - I told him the 5 bucks he spent for 5 little pies of bad crust, thin gravy and the occasional piece of chicken would be better spent on creating his own pot pie that would feed him for quite a few days...if he was lucky and the neighbors somehow missed the wonderful smell wafting from his kitchen window and they didn't come drooooling to his door begging.
Hanging up, I was overcome with longing for my own pot pie and so headed to the store for what i needed.
SIDE NOTE: A Facebook Friend of Mine is currently walking down the path (in looser shoes!) of Eating Naked (http://yearofeatingnaked.blogspot.com/) That is to say, she is eating as close to the basics as she can - fresh food without a myriad of ingredients on the label. I've been a label reader for quite a few years and those who know me agree that I eat fairly "naked" anyway...but Susan's journey has inspired me to be even more on the lookout for nasty on the label AND perhaps even passing by those cans and bottles and boxes completely.
So there I was, at Wal Mart (yah, I know..but it's on the way home) picking up stuff for my own Quick Pot Pie.
1. Crust - hmmm, trying to steer clear of having to make a crust i decided to instead put cornbread on the top. JIFFY CORNBREAD has been around for decades - and soo inexpensive! 50 cents gets you a yum pan of cornbread! YAY ... OH NO, I read the label. Sadly, i put the box back on the shelf and picked up a small bag of yellow cornbread. May not be as easy as simply adding an egg and some milk, but durn it, follow the program!
2. Frozen Veggies - yep, decided to do this route. (I AM sick with a chest cold after all.) a huge bag of frozen veggies for 6 bucks. I chose the squash, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. bag.
3. Can of soup for broth - oh ugh. UGH UGH UGH. should never look at the ingredients of a can of campbell's soup. Hmm. I'll make my own somehow out of .. something.
4. Cooked Chicken - WHAT? The Deli guy was apologetic, but nope, no chickens. Ok. So I'll boil my own, usually I would anyway, but i was hoping to eat before midnight. But that solves my broth dilemma. I'll have a whole pot of broth after boiling chunks of chicken! Off to grab a tray of fresh chicken breasts...which are better anyway if I'm following the Naked Path.
5, Butter, Milk, and home.
Into the kitchen with little counter space.
Chunk up half the chicken and throw them into a pot of water. Boil!
Grab 5 white potatoes and 1 sweet potato and start peeling. Hey, SHEPHERD'S PIE sounds better than Pot pie - yum mashed taters on top! Chop up the white and put on to boil.
Get out my veggie steamer - get that going. Put the chopped sweet potato on the bottom, cover that with a load of frozen veggies.
Three pots on the stove, bubbling away. This better be good!
Whoa...it's all coming together at the same time. How did i manage this?
Chicken boiled to a nice texture, veggies steamed - TOSS TOGETHER!
Scott shows up and gets put to work - he makes a yum broth with 2 cups of the chicken broth, some milk, butter and cornstarch.
Toss that onto the veggies! Make the mashed with some butter and milk!
Dump the filling into my big casserole dish and then layer with the mashed potatoes - throw into the oven for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
DUMP THE POTATO WATER INTO THE CHICKEN BROTH! SAVE FOR ANOTHER DAY! WASH ALL THE PANS! THROW AWAY ALL THE PEELINGS! CLEAN UP THE FLOOR!
Buzzer goes off! The aroma is wonderful!
I dish up 2 big bowls of Shepherd's Pie.
Oh wow. Soooo good on a chilly day! Scott looks at me and says "YUM... I love it!"
We eat our Pie slowly...
Back to the Kitchen! Wash up the dishes! Put the kitchen to rights! Put the leftovers into little dishes for lunches!
Collapse on the couch.
Two hours from Start to Finish.
I was tired.
But wow, that bowl of Shepherd's Pie? Blew a frozen Pot Pie from the freezer case outta the kitchen!
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