Now I Remember!

What is up with people who ask, “So, what did you do this weekend?” Why do I have to “do” something? Can’t I just slug around the house and call it good? I guess I’m not as annoyed with the question as much as I am with the fact that the question usually reminds me that I have no idea what I did on the weekend.

Angela just asked me this a few minutes ago on the phone. “Where were you yesterday?” Hmmm, that would have been Saturday. Just 24 hours ago. Right, I have no idea. How can my mind have blocked out whatever it was I did just 24 hours ago? Oh! I remember why my brain is suppressing that memory.

It’s because I spent many hours making 12 chicken pot pie recipes for my freezer dinner group. Actually, I only need 6 pot pies for the swap, but I like to make a few extra for myself.

This pot pie recipe is one of my family’s favorites. Everyone eats it, even Isaac. Sometimes I even get requests for seconds. I know! How crazy is that?

I was pretty efficient with my pot pie making yesterday. I spent several hours in with prep work. I cooked and chopped 27 cups of chicken, chopped 4 ½ cups of mushrooms and 4 ½ cups of onions. Oh, and I chopped 2 ¼ cups of parsley too. The fresh parsley really makes this recipe, in my opinion.

After all that prep, I was able to cook up the chicken pot pie, 3 recipes at a time and transfer them, with out spilling thank you very much, to zip lock bags.

Best part of the whole chicken pot pie experience was acquiring the pie crusts. For the swap, I include a double pie crust with each bag of chicken pot pie filling. The Pillsbury pie crusts are normally around $3.50 each so I was thrilled to find them at Winco for 95 cents each. Really, it pretty much made my weekend, now that I’m able to remember all of it.

Do you want slip into a mental coma after your weekend too? Here’s how to make chicken pot pie times twelve:

90 oz. frozen peas and carrots
4 ½ cups chopped onion
4 ½ cups chopped mushroom
2 ¼ cups butter or margarine
3 cups flour
4 ½ tsp salt
2 ¼ tsp sage
1 tsp pepper
18 cups water
6 ¾ cups of milk
9 TB chicken bouillon
27 cups cooked, chopped chicken
2 ¼ cups chopped pimiento
2 ¼ cups chopped parsley

Cook onions and mushrooms in butter until tender. Stir in flour, salt, sage and pepper. Add water, milk and bouillon all at once. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Add frozen veggies, chicken, pimiento and parsley. Heat through and transfer to 12 zip top freezer bags. On cooking day, thaw filling, place 1 pie crust in the bottom of a 9 inch pie pan. Place chicken mix in pie dish and top with 2nd crust. Bake in 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until GB and D. (That’s golden brown and delicious for those not infatuated with Alton Brown.)

You will need a super-duper, industrial sized pot to make this whole recipe. If you only have normal sized cookware, just divide this recipe by 9 and it should be enough for one deep dish or two 9 inch pot pies.

Check back tomorrow to read a fascinating post about Pimientos: What Are They and Why do We Need Them in Chicken Pot Pie?