Chicken Pot Pie

I got this recipe for allrecipes.com, but eventually made a few of my own changes after making it a few times. This recipe is great for several reasons: One, that it is a healthy version of most pot pies; Two, the chicken doesn't need to be pre-cooked; Three, it's really yummy! (otherwise I wouldn't be posting it, eh?)

Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 50 min
Ready in: 1 hr 10 min
Yield: 1 9inch pie

INGREDIENTS

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup sliced celery
3 small cubed potatoes
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, potatoes, and celery. Add water (with chicken bullion cube) to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain 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 set aside.
Place bottom crust in pie dish, brush with egg whites and bake for 5 minutes
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. Brush top with excess egg whites.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Better Than Apple Pie

A friend of mine brought this over one night when we had dinner together and pointed me to a recipe for Swedish Apple Pie from Allrecipes.com, but said she tweaked it. I also did a bit of tweaking and here is the final product! I call it "Better Than Apple Pie" because it doesn't use a traditional pie crust and the topping is better than apple crisp topping. It's almost more like a cookie! The original recipe calls for Granny Smith Apples, which I usually love in pies, but since my tree is bursting with apples right now, those are the ones that made it in. (I have no idea what kind they are) Just like apple pie, I love it with vanilla ice cream.


Makes 1 9-inch pie (6-8 servings)

20 minutes prep, 40 minutes bake time

Filling:
1 1/2 lbs 5 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored and sliced (about 5)
1/2 T sugar
some cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice, to taste

"Crust":
3/4 c white sugar
3/4 c brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 c flour (I've used whole wheat and white, both work great)
3/4 t cinnamon
3/4 t pumpkin pie spice
1/2 c butter (1 stick), melted
2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Toss apples with 1/2 T of sugar, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice to taste, and pour them into a pie plate. Thoroughly mix together sugars with the flour, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, butter, and egg. Spread this evenly over the top of the pie.
3. Bake in preheated oven until the apples have cooked and the topping is golden brown, about 40 minutes.