good ol' comfort food...

don't have plans for dinner yet?! how about delicious chicken pot pie? yum, right?! 
i've tried chicken pot pie before, but never liked it. i didn't understand how/why people could eat it. towards the end of last year (2010) i found this recipe online and thought i'd try it. in my experience, homemade things taste wayyyy better than store bought. i looked at the ingredients and there wasn't anything i didn't like, so how could i not like chicken pot pie? i made it, tasted it, loved it, DEVOURED it!  it's sooooo good. so so so so good.
it makes 1 large pot pie, rather than individual pies. i have small ramekin's so i've made this recipe both ways. it tastes the same either way, but obviously if you use individual ramekin's you get more crust :)

Ingredients

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed

• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1/2 cup sliced celery
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
• 2/3 cup milk
•  
• 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
2. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

i changed the recipe a little bit. 

--instead of using 1 cup of peas, i used 1/2 peas, 1/2 corn. i love corn.

--i also baked the 'bottom' crust for about 10 minutes before i poured in the filling. that way it isn't soggy at all.

--since you have to cook the chicken in water then drain it off... i figured why not cook the chicken in the broth that you'll have to use, then just drain it and save the broth for later in the recipe. 

--the first time i made it, i didn't have celery seed on hand, and didn't want to miss out on any extra flavors, so i looked in the pantry and found poultry seasoning... sure that'll work for now. haha. it was delish. i still haven't tried it with the celery seed, i've just used poultry seasoning ever since. 

--some of the reviews for the recipe said it was too dry and there wasn't enough of the liquid filling. if you make extra filling that will be helpful... then when you're pouring it in, just pour it to the top, and jiggle the pan so the liquid goes to the bottom, then pour on some more.

so dang good.