Food: Single Serving Chicken Pot Pies (in a muffin tin!!)

A few months ago, a friend of mine had a baby. I wanted to bring her family some food as she transitioned from being a mommy of 1 to a mommy of 2. So I googled and "pinterested" (yup, I just made that into a verb) recipes to make that would provide single servings. I wanted to give it a shot making all kinds of things that the mom could pull out one at a time and reheat as needed. It worked GREAT, and here is the link to my list if you are interested. One of things on that list were mini-chicken pot pies. Since then I have made these a few times, and they have become a family favorite.

But I was ready to do my own recipe for CPP. I began searching all kinds of recipes, old and new, looking for what seems to be working for people, and what was not working. I combined quite a bit of the recipes to make my own Single Serving Chicken Pot Pies. These little do-dads are great! You can freeze them individually or pack them into a large freezer container to pass on to someone who is sick, just had a baby, or just out of the kindness of your heart. I hope you give these a try!

Single Serving Chicken Pot Pies (much of this was captured on camera! Yay!)

Ingredients:

• 3 small potatoes, peeled and cubed 
• 1 1/4 cup shredded carrots 
• 1 cup green beans (pictures shows them french cut...how sweet my honey got those for me)
• 1 cup sweet peas 
• 1 large garlic clove, minced 
• 2 cups cooked chicken, cubed (normally I would do this on my own, but I had two cans of chicken, so that's what I used)
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 4 cups chicken broth, divided 
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 Tbsp *Chicken Roast Rub (my personal recipe...see below) 
• 1/3 cup butter, plus 2 Tbsp melted 
• 2 BOXES of pre-made pie crust (like Pillsbury, but I use the cheap brand just as much) 

Directions: 

Filling:

1. Pull out your pre-made pie crust from your freezer ('cause that's where you store it too, right?) and let it defrost while you are getting the filling prepared. (**What do you do if you forgot to defrost it and it's time to use the crust?! See below.) 
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 
3. In a large pan, dump in your potatoes, carrots, beans, peas, garlic, chicken, and 2 cups of chicken broth. It should be enough to cover your veggie/chicken mixture. Bring to a boil, cover, and let boil on med-high heat for 15 minutes. 
4. While the chicken mixture is boiling, prepare the next part. Combine the flour, salt, pepper, Chicken Roast Rub in a small bowl. Have the other two cups of the broth and the milk ready. 
5. Once it's been 15 minutes, drain the chicken mixture, BUT SAVE THE BROTH. I used a colander over a bowl to save the broth. 
6. Melt butter in the same large pan over medium heat. Stir in the onion powder. Slowly add the flour, milk, and both broths (the one you just poured into a bowl and the two cups). Gently whisk until it thickens. If necessary, add 1 Tbsp of flour at a time until it reaches the desired consistency. Remove from heat. ***(You can start with 2 cups at first and see if you need more...see below what to do if you have broth left over)
7. Mix together the chicken mixture and the thickened sauce. 

Veggies

Draining the broth

Just the right consistency. 

Crust: 

1. Get a paper towel, a pencil, scissors, and a cylinder container that will fit inside your muffin tin. Push the paper towel in one of the muffin tins and put the cylinder on top to hold the paper towel down. Take the pencil and trace the edge of the top of the muffin tin. Remove the container (and put it back where it belongs!!) and the paper towel. Cut out the circle you made. This will make measuring the dough so much easier. I don't know why I hadn't done this before, but I do know that trying to eyeball it has caused a lot of heartache in the past. NEVER AGAIN! 
2. Unroll one pie crust. Place the cut out circle near the edge. With a sharp knife, cut around the circle, leaving about 1/2 inch to make sure it goes over the edges of the muffin tin. SPRAY THE MUFFIN TIN, LIGHTLY, WITH COOKING SPRAY. Insert the cut out dough. 
3. You may have to take the scraps and arrange them around the dough to get another cut. When you place the cut out circle (paper towel) on the dough, press gently to press the seams together. Each pie crust will get you a little over 3 circles (for a large muffin pan....if you are using regular size, you may not need more than just the two pie crusts). 
4. Prepare the top pieces so they will be ready to go on after the filling. 

Measuring the paper towel. 

Cutting the paper towel. Yeah, I got this great idea AFTER I had already sprayed my pan. 

Cut the dough, adding an extra 1/2 inch. 

Assembly: 

1. Dough in a sprayed muffin tin. 
2. Add equal amounts of chicken mixture in each muffin tin until it just goes over the lip of the muffin. 
3. Put the last of the cut circles on top of each pot pie. 
4. Using a fork, gently press the top and bottom pie crust edges together. Then do a crisscross pattern on the top to let the steam out while cooking. 
5. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the tops are a golden brown. 
6. When they are done, brush the tops with melted butter and SERVE! 

See the dough? Looks good, huh? and See how much I fill each pie? 

Gently press the edges together. 

::sniff:: Beautiful! Simply Beautiful! 

Now...

*What is the Chicken Roast Rub? I have this mixture set aside to rub on chicken before putting it in my crockpot on Sundays (or whenever). I just mix it with a little butter and rub all over. I'm sure it's good on beef, too, but I use it for my chicken. 

Ingredients: 

2 Tablespoons EACH of the following (all dried): 

• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Oregano
• Marjoram 
• Sage

2 Tsp EACH of the following: 

• Kosher Salt
• Black Pepper 

Mix all and store in an air tight container. When using, place a small amount in a separate bowl and then add butter or olive oil before adding to your chicken. NEVER, ever, ever put your hands in the container with chicken juice on your hands. You will contaminate any spice you don't use. 

Super Duper Friends, right there! With their powers combined, you've got...Chicken Rub! 

And...

**Oh no! My muffin tin is HUGE and I thought one box of pre-made pie crust would be sufficient, but I was quickly finding out it wasn't. So I pulled out the other box from the freezer. That dough was frozen SOLID. And I needed now!! I googled and found this site. I tried the microwave method, and it WORKED! I wanted to pass this on just in case you get in a bind like I did. 

Finally...

***What do you do if you didn't use all your broth? I started with the 2 cups of broth, and found it was enough for me...so I had about 1 1/2 cups leftover. So... Freeze it!! Pour it in an ice cube tray specifically for broth, freeze, then remove and put in a zip lock bag to use for later. 

Yup. Going to use later for maybe some chicken bog or something. Yum! 

PS: If anyone has a HEALTHIER version of Chicken Pot Pie, PLEASE share the link. As much as my family likes this, I don't want to fix this too much. I would love a healthy option.