Tag: chicken

Weekday Chicken Pot Pie

As I didn’t make a homemade crust, I guess this is a cheater chicken pot pie – or, I like Weekday Chicken Pot Pie better, since using a prepared pie crust makes it super easy!

While I didn’t make a homemade pie crust, I did use fresh veggies – carrots, celery, onion and potatoes to be exact. All chopped similar size. I also cooked 2 large chicken breasts, in my instant pot, and shredded them. To make this recipe even easier – you could use frozen veggies and rotisserie chicken!

In a pan, with some butter, I softened the onions – then added the remaining vegetables and seasonings, to cook a bit on the stove.

After cooking for 5-10 minutes, I added in some flour (which will help to thicken the filling as it cooks). I stirred the mixture well, allowing the flour to get well distributed in the pan. Finally, I added in chicken (along with the stock from when I cooked it and shredded it in the instant pot – you can see how I do this, on this post. I will never do shredded chicken any way but this way, ever again! It is so easy and I can start with frozen chicken!!) – and mixed through.

I added in the additional stock and the milk, and mixed well. I allowed the filling to cook until it was the thickness I like for my chicken pot pie.

While the filling was thickening, I prepared my casserole by adding one of the pie crusts to the bottom. I, ultimately, needed to cut a bit off of the other pie crust to ensure that the full casserole was covered.

Once the filling was the appropriate thickness, I removed it from the stove and spooned it into the casserole dish.

Finally, I topped the mixture with the remaining pie crust. I cut a few vents and crimped the edges to create a good seal.

The pot pie is baked for a little more than hour in a 400 degree oven. After 40 minutes, I did end up putting a little bit of melted butter on top – cooking for 10 more minutes, uncovered. Then, for the remaining time, I covered it with tin foil (to avoid too much browning of the crust).

After removing from the oven, I allowed it to sit for about 10 minutes and it was ready to go! Fairly quick, super easy, very delicious Weekday Chicken Pot Pie!

Weekday Chicken Pot Pie

1 box refrigerated pie crusts (for top and bottom) – or make your own pie crust
2 chicken breasts, shredded (reserve stock from cooking)
2 1/2 carrots, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 potatoes, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp butter
1/4 flour
1/2 cup milk (I used 1/4 cup skim and 1/4 cup heavy cream)
1/2 cup chicken stock (in addition to the stock from when you cooked chicken)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp Umami seasoning

  • Cook and shred chicken breasts, set aside
  • Chop vegetables to similar size
  • In large skillet, melt butter and add onions and cook 2-3 minutes
  • Add in remaining vegetables, along with seasonings and cook until they start to soften (probably 5-10 minutes)
  • Add in flour and mix well
  • Add chicken (with stock from cooking chicken) into pan
  • Add in additonal stock and stir well
  • Add in milk and allow filling to thicken, slightly
  • Once filling is desired thickness, add into a casserole dish, which has been lined with one of the pie crusts
  • Top with remaining pie crust
  • Vent top of crust and cook for 1 hour (you may want to top with foil after 40 minutes or so, so your crust doesn’t get too brown) @ 400 degrees.

by Michelle

Brunswick Stew

One of my favorite things growing up in South Georgia was Brunswick Stew. Despite that – until this week, I’d never made it. As I normally do when I develop a recipe that is inspired by something I’ve had before, I thought about all the things that I like about the dishes I’ve had. For Brunswick stew – I like corn, potatoes and lima beans. I like both shredded chicken and pork. And, I like a little bit of a ‘bite’ or acidity. These are some of the items I included (in addition to the meat, potatoes and onion).

This recipe started with cooking the meats. I did the chicken thighs in the instant pot. I used the same method as I mentioned, when I made Chicken Noodle Soup/Stew the other day. Both in cooking and in shredding the chicken. Again – I will never do it another way again, ever!

The pork was a whole other thing. I started by trying to cook the boston butt roast in the crock pot, but despite the fact that I cooked it on low for 8 hours – and then turned it up to high for another 2 hours, I simply could not get it up to 190 degrees, internally, which is needed to get it to shred. Ultimately, I moved it to the instant pot and finished it off there. For the most part, I shredded it the same as the chicken – using a hand held mixer.

I kind of made this dish in stages: I did the pork the day before, I did the chicken in the AM, I prepped the onions and potatoes in the afternoon (Then I went to see Downton Abbey!) and, finally, made the Brunswick stew in the evening. I mention that to say that you have the option to do all the prep work ahead of time – and then ‘throw it together’ for a pretty amazing (and relatively quick) dinner!

Once I was home from seeing Downton Abbey (If you haven’t seen it, and you’re a fan of the show, you should!!), I started putting it all together. Starting with browning the onion and garlic in my dutch oven. The rest was pretty much dumping things in and letting it all come together in the pot – so not a lot of pictures.

Despite this being the first time that I’ve made Brunswick stew – it will definitely not be my last. I’m not even sure what has kept me from making it! The flavors that I pulled together in this one are EXACTLY all the things that I love about Brunswick stew!

** Note: you can add more chicken stock if it is too thick, but remember that Brunswick Stew should be thick.

Brunswick Stew

Total cook time: 20 min prep, 90 min cook

1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp garlic
5 cups chicken stock
1 large (28 oz) can diced tomatoes, with juice
2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2-3 chicken thighs, shredded
3 cups pulled pork
1/2 cup Sweet Baby Ray’s Regular BBQ sauce
3/4 cup Sweet Baby Ray’s Mustard BBQ sauce
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
12 oz package of frozen lima beans
12 oz package of frozen whole kernel corn
6 potatoes, diced
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
Avocado oil spray

  • In large dutch oven, brown onions and garlic in avocado oil
  • Add worchestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire Sauce, tomatoes and chicken stock to dutch oven and bring to a boil
  • Add in the vegetables, BBQ sauces, chicken, pork, salt and pepper – reduce heat to simmer.
  • Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, for best blending of flavors – you can actually eat it anytime after your vegetables are done – it just gets more depth of flavor the longer it simmers.

*** If needed to thicken, create a slurry with a small amount of cold water and cornstarch and add to pot, allowing it to thicken.

by Michelle

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

It is no secret that the girls and I love pasta! We, generally, eat it at least once a week and we like to try different combinations of flavors. But, one that we always love is alfredo sauce – with shrimp or chicken or alone, we love alfredo sauce!

This time it was chicken alfredo. You, truly, can’t get much simpler than alfredo sauce. Unless you’re getting fancy, there are only 4 ingredients in it – not counting seasonings – milk or cream (we like it with heavy cream – I know it isn’t the healthiest, but it’s what we like!), butter, garlic and parmesan cheese.

I started this recipe by cooking my chicken. I tossed it, lightly, in a mixture of flour and Umami seasoning. I added it to the pan, along with some garlic, and browned it (cooking it 3/4 of the way through) in a pan with some avocado oil and removed it from the pan.

While the chicken was cooking, I chopped up some fresh broccoli for the sauce. I steamed this in a steamer basked in my pasta pot.

Back to the sauce – after removing the chicken from the pan I turned down the heat to medium-low and melted the butter. Once the butter was melted, I lowered the heat to low and added in the cream and allowed it to heat through.

Once the cream was warmed through, I started adding in the cheese, 1/4 cup at a time and stirring constantly. I find that adding the cheese a little bit at a time helps with ensuring that all of the cheese melts – and you don’t have globs of cheese in your sauce.

Once all of the cheese had been incorporated and melted, I added the chicken back into the pan and stirred.

Then I added in the broccoli from the steamer basket.

And, finally, I added in the pasta. I mixed everything together and it was ready to go.

When serving it, we add a little more parmesan (have I mentioned that we love cheese?) and we’re ready to eat!

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo Pasta

1 box pasta (I used penne)
2-3 chicken breasts (cut into cubes)
2 tbsp garlic
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (don’t judge!)
1 1/2 cups grated parmesan
2 tbsp butter
2-3 cups broccoli
1-2 tbsp Umami seasoning
2-4 tbsp Flour
Avocado oil spray

  • In a gallon bag, toss chicken with umami seasoning and flour to lighty coat the chicken (adjust amounts depending on how much chicken you are cooking)
  • In hot pan, add avocado oil, garlic and chicken – cook until chicken is 3/4 way done. Remove from pan.
  • Add butter to pan and melt
  • Reduce heat and add cream to pan
  • Once cream is warmed through, add in cheese 1/2 cup at a time – until all cheese has been added and is melted.
  • Return chicken to pan and stir with sauce.
  • Add broccoli and pasta to sauce, mix well.
  • Top with more parmesan cheese, if desired, and enjoy!
by Michelle

Chicken Noodle Soup (stew??)

It is still 90+ degrees where I live, but I love soup – so, despite the heat tonight – it was a chicken noodle soup night. It started as soup – but, ended up pretty thick, so maybe it is more of a stew. Regardless – it was delicious!!

I started out with chicken, which I cooked in my instant pot (from frozen). PERFECTION! I decided to use both chicken breasts and thighs. I cooked them on the poultry setting, for 30 minutes, with 1 cup of chicken stock.

The truly brilliant thing about this chicken is how I shredded it. I’m not saying that I am brilliant (I saw this somewhere else), I’m saying that it worked brilliantly! Literally, less than a minute and 2 chicken breasts and 3 chicken thighs – perfectly shredded. How was is shredded, you ask?? With a hand mixer, in the instant pot!

From now, to the end of time, when I need shredded chicken – it will be cooked in the instant pot and shredded with a hand mixer!

I set the chicken aside and got busy getting my veggies (carrots, celery and onion) ready to go in my dutch oven. I just sliced and chopped the veggies to similar size and it was ready to go!

I added a small amount of oil in my dutch oven and cooked the veggies a little bit before I added the chicken broth. Only for maybe 5 minutes or so – just to seal in a little bit of flavor in the veggies!

Then I added my broth – brought the pot up to boil and cooked the vegetables for about 10 minutes. Next, I added in the shredded chicken, with any broth that was in the instant pot and brought it back up to a boil.

The final step was to add the noodles and allow them to cook through. For the pasta I used, that was about 8 minutes.

The only thing left was to enjoy this delicious soup!!

Chicken Noodle Soup approx time to make recipe, including prep: 1.5 hours

Shredded Chicken (see instructions below)
5-6 carrots, chopped
4-5 stalks of celery, chopped
1/2 onion, diced
8 cups of chicken broth
1 lb of pasta
1 tbsp garlic
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt to taste

Shredded chicken
1 cup of chicken broth
2 frozen chicken breasts
3 frozen chicken thighs
Instant pot
** Add all items to instant pot and cook on poultry setting for 30 minutes. Quick release once instant pot finishes and shred with hand mixer

  • Chop vegetables
  • Add oil and vegetables to large pot or dutch oven – cook for about 5 minutes.
  • Add broth to pot, along with the seasonings, bring to boil and cook for 10 minutes.
  • Add shredded chicken to pot and bring back up to a boil
  • Add pasta and cook until pasta is done
by Michelle

Pasta with Chicken, Tomato and Lemon Sauce

Let’s face it – Mondays are hard! And hard days need easy dinners. Between needing something easy and the fact that I didn’t make pasta this past weekend, pasta seemed like the best option (can you tell that I missed my pasta this weekend?? I did – I admit it, I did!).

As 99% of my pasta recipes do, this one started with onions and garlic. It also included chicken, cherry tomatoes, lemon juice! All good things things in my book!

Ignore that there are 2 lemons here – I ended up only using one.

I started by prepping my ingredients – dicing the onion, cubing the chicken and halving the tomatoes.

Then I cooked the onion and garlic, in a hot pan, with a small amount of oil – until the onions were translucent.

I added the cubed chicken and spices and cooked the chicken through.

The final step of making the ‘sauce’ for the pasta was to add the chicken stock, cream, lemon juice, tomatoes and basil. While I was cleaning up my prep mess (when I can – I prefer to clean as I go – it’s so much nicer to sit down to dinner without having a mess hanging over you!), I let the sauce thicken.

Then I just added the pasta and topped with a little bit of parmesan cheese and stirred well.

To serve, everyone just added as much additional parmesan cheese as they liked.

Despite the heavy cream – this sauce was refreshingly light! A perfect pasta for a Monday night – and will make some mighty fine leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Pasta with Chicken, Tomato and Lemon Sauce

2 chicken breasts, cubed
1 box bowtie pasta
2 -3 cups halved cherry tomatoes (adjust give your tastes)
1/2 white, diced
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp garlic
1 tsp garlic salt
2 tsp umami seasoning
Juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
Parmesan cheese (optional)

  • Dice onion, halve cherry tomatoes and cube chicken breasts
  • Cook pasta to al dente, set aside
  • In hot pan, add olive oil, onion and garlic – cook until onions are translucent
  • Add in chicken, salt, garlic salt and umami seasoning – cook chicken until done
  • Add in lemon juice, chicken stock and heavy cream – bring to a boil
  • Reduce heat, add tomatoes and basil – cook for 15 minutes
  • Add in pasta, stir and cook allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes.
  • Top with parmesan cheese and serve
by Michelle