Make-Ahead Meal: Chicken Pot Pie

I am trying to cook meals ahead on Sunday for the rest of the week.  Today, I made a recipe for chicken pot-pie that turned out quite well!



8 Trader Joe's chicken tenderloins thawed and diced
1 lb. mixed frozen vegetables
1 can cream of celery healthy request soup
1 can cream of chicken and mushroom soup
3/4 cup 2% milk
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. Penzey's Mural of Flavor seasoning
1 tsp. Penzey's Fines Herbes seasoning
2 1/4 cups Bisquick
2/3 cup 2% milk

Preheat oven to 450.

In a large frying pan over medium heat, cook chicken with salt, pepper and seasoning.  Once chicken is cooked, add in frozen vegetables, soup, and 3/4 cup milk.  Stir together and leave on heat until bubbling.

Transfer to large casserole dish.  Mix together Bisquick and 2% milk, then place on top of chicken mixture.  Cook for 15 minutes or until Bisquick is cooked through and brown on top.

Serves 6

Calories per serving: 377
Fat: 10
Carbs: 46
Protein: 21

A Week with the Crock Pot

Have I mentioned before how much I love my crock pot?  Because it's a lot.  Even if I have, it is worth repeating.  I currently have a 3-quart stainless steel with just two settings (low and high).  I'd love to get another, larger one - like the Hamilton Beech Programmable or the Crock Pot Cook and Carry - so that I can cook larger roasts and things like ribs.

Anyway, I found the blog A Year of Slow Cooking and was inspired to try cooking a week's worth of dinners in the crock pot.  Note: all the recipes on A Year of Slow Cooking are gluten free or include modifications to make them gluten free.

Monday - Super Easy Cranberry Roast served over mashed potatoes
Tuesday - dinner out
Wednesday - Chicken Makhani with rice
Thursday - leftover chicken
Friday - Asian Shredded Beef as tacos with slaw from Korean Beef Soft Tacos

Monday's dinner was another edition of Adventures with Beef: Chuck Roast.  I found some modifications to the sauce in the comments of the recipe that I followed: dump cranberries from can into a bowl, add 1/4 cup orange juice, 2 T. lime juice, 2 T. soy sauce, and 1/2 t. ginger.  I thought this helped the sauce not be too sweet, but in the future, I would probably add some garlic and a bit more OJ.  Maybe even some grated orange zest?  I think it could use a bit of tweaking because it was kind of sweet and one-dimensional for me.

On to Wednesday. I love the chicken makhani that comes from a food cart near where I work. I am pretty sure it's hand made by the old Indian woman who runs the cart.  The recipe linked here was quite good! I substituted chicken breast for chicken thighs because that's what I had in the freezer and omitted the cayenne because Andy is not a huge fan of spicy food.  I also used Greek yogurt at the end.  Surprisingly, even he liked this!  It turned out really well and I will definitely make it again.  Almost as good as the Indian cart.  :)

Tonight we are having leftovers since I had to be out of the house extra early.  I will keep you posted on Friday's dinner.