Classic Chicken Pot Pie

This is a favorite pot pie recipe at our house. In fact, since Dan first found this recipe and made it for me, I can't hardly stand the frozen-heat-in-your-oven varieties. This tastes sooo much better! And you get more for your buck too. Now, there are lots of great things you can do with this recipe to spice it up and change it up, which makes it sooo fun! I love chicken, so that's all we've ever done. But . . . . oh, I'll include my "other ideas" at the end after you've seen the recipe!

Classic Chicken Pot pie recipe
Makes: 4-6 servings

(Unfortunately, I don't know where Dan found this recipe. He found it after a vigil world wide web search and we don't have the original site anymore . . . at least that I can find . . . sorry about that!)

Ingredients:
2 (15oz) cans mixed vegetables, drained
1 (10oz) can cooked chicken, drained
1 (10-3/4oz) can cream of chicken soup
¼ tsp. thyme or sage
2 (9-in) frozen ready-to-bake pie crusts, thawed



Directions:
Preheat oven to 350oF. In medium bowl, combine vegetable, chicken, soup and seasoning; mix well.
Fit one pie crust into 9-inch pie pan; pour vegetable mixture into pie crust. Top with remaining crust, crimp edges to seal and prick top with fork. Bake for 30 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and filling is hot.
Allow pie to cool slightly before cutting into wedges.

Now possible variations:

• You can always use homemade crust. Certainly an option and definitely cheaper. You can also use the crusts that can be bought in the refrigerator section {instead of frozen}. It'll still be yummy. Promise.
• You could use beef chunks and cream of mushroom soup instead of chicken. Or cream of celery. Or you could use hamburger. Or make an entirely veggie pie. Oh, and I guess you could use your own chicken instead of canned. You could fry it first, or boil it, or bake it. Ooh, all sorts of endless possibilities!
• I've successfully used both frozen and canned veggies. This last time we made it, I used frozen mixed veggies that included green and Lima beans. I don't usually like frozen green beans, and I'm honestly not a fan of Lima beans. But it was good in the pie! Next time I want to try adding some fresh broccoli to the mix. I used to hate broccoli . . . but I'm learning to like it.
• Both spices are fabulous in this! Either one works great; and over the top I sprinkled some Italian Seasoning. Oh, it was so delish!

That's it for possibilities right now. I wouldn't want to give you all the ideas. You must use your own creative genius to discover the others. {Wait, are there others?}

I'll share one last photo of this delicious pie! I just couldn't resist playing around a bit: