Recipe: Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Weeknight meals, if not already prepped and frozen, need to be easy.  Easy to assemble and easy to get to the table.  Delicious helps too!

This recipe is all those things and more.  Versatile, easy to assemble, hands off once in the oven, one-dish kid friendly dinner -- yep, winner winner chicken pot pie dinner :-)

Easy Chicken Pot Pie
     serves: 4-6
     time: ~45mins total

Ingredients
- 1 box (2 crusts) pre-made refrigerated pie crusts
- 1 can of cream of chicken condensed soup
- chicken
   * 1 large can of chicken breast, drained
   * leftover chicken from a previous meal
   * raw chicken, cut into 1/2inch pieces and cooked
- frozen mixed vegetables

Directions
0. Preheat your oven to 400* and place your pie crusts on the counter to come to room temperature.
1. If using raw chicken, cook the chicken through in a skillet and season as desired (see Notes).
2. Place one pie crust in the bottom of a 9" pie plate.
3. In a medium bowl, stir to combine the condensed soup, chicken and vegetables. 
4. Dump the filling mixture into the pie plate.  Unroll the second pie crusts and place it on top, sealing the edges together.  Use a knife to cut a couple of slits in the top crust to allow any steam to escape.
5. Bake at 400* for 35-45minutes until desired shade of golden brown. 
6. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Notes

• I didn't include measurements for the chicken or frozen mixed vegetables in this recipe because you can make it as meaty or veggie-full as you want.  This is a fantastic recipe for using up any meat that might have been left on a rotisserie chicken or those scrappy looking chunks of chicken that you get when you clean up any boneless, skinless chicken breasts from the supermarket.
• The filling and chicken can be seasoned however you desire.  I usually stick to "traditional" chicken flavors -- poultry seasoning, rosemary, herbs de Provence, montreal chicken, etc but have definitely made this before with curry powder.  
• For easier removal from the oven, and clean up if there is any spill-over, place your pie plate on a cookie sheet.
• Do NOT add any additional liquid to the filling mixture.  It will loosen up on its own while cooking, adding liquid will result in a soupy mess instead of a thicker filling.
• This recipe expands nicely to feed a crowd.  Feel free to up the filling amounts, dump everything in a large casserole dish and top with a pie crust either whole or as lattice strips.

Recipe: Black Bean Taquitos

This recipe is a family favorite and freezes well which makes it a mom favorite too.  If you partake in Taco Tuesdays, think about having Taquito Tuesdays next time; your family will thank you! :-)

Much like my recipe for Lentil Empanadas, I always make a double batch of these and since this is a handheld main dish I generally serve it with apple slices, cucumber slices or some other hand-held side dish so that I don't have to worry about utensils.

Black Bean Taquitos [Double Batch]
     Serves: 4 - 6 people/10-11 taquitos per batch
     Time: ~45 mins total (prep and cook)

Ingredients [these amounts are for a DOUBLE BATCH]
- 1 lb dry black beans, soaked overnight and cooked (see Notes)
- 1 16oz jar of salsa (buy the large 24oz jar and use the remainder for serving)
- 1 bunch of cilantro
- 4 Tbs chili powder
- 2 tsp fresh minced garlic
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1-3 tsp salt (see Notes)
- 2 packets of 'soft taco' size flour tortillas (approx. 8" diameter)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400* and spray a large baking tray with cooking spray.
2. Working in batches, use a food processor to chop/puree your ingredients together.  Scoop into a mixing bowl to ensure a uniform mixture.  Add salt at the very end, tasting to determine your preferred amount.
     - I like to puree about half the beans with the salsa to make a smooth paste and leave the other half in a rough chop to add texture to the mixture.
3. Once the filling is a uniform mixture, scoop it into a gallon sized zip-top plastic bag.  Squeeze out the air and use scissors to snip off one of the bottom corners to create a piping bag.
4. Pipe a line of filling across the top edge of the tortilla then roll up tightly.
5. Place the taquito, seam side down, on your baking tray.  A double batch makes between 20-22 taquitos depending on how generous you are with the filling.
6. Spray the tops of the taquitos with cooking spray and bake for 12-15minutes until lightly golden brown and crispy.  Feel free to sprinkle shredded cheese on top during the last minute of cooking.
7. Serve with condiments of your choice: sour cream, guacamole, shredded cheese, and salsa are excellent choices.

Notes

• I use dry black beans and cook them in my Instant Pot.  I find it more economical, for cost and pantry space, than buying canned.
• To cook your beans in a 6 qt Instant Pot, cover them with water and allow to soak overnight or at least 8hrs.  Drain off the soaking water, cover with fresh water by at least 1 inch, add some salt and a splash of vegetable oil.  Lock the cover in place and seal the steam nozzle.  Press [Manual], adjust to low pressure, set the timer for 8 minutes.  Once the cook time is done turn the Instant Pot off and allow to sit for 15minutes then release any remaining pressure.  Drain the beans and store for use.  Yields about 6 cups of cooked beans.
• If using canned beans, 1 15oz can is approximately 1.5 cups of beans.  You'll need 4 cans for a full double batch or two cans for a half batch.

• The amount of salt to add is variable based on your own tastes preferences.  If you are using canned beans which already have salt as a preservative you'll want to use less.  If using dry beans you'll want to use more.  Start small and then add as you taste. 
• You can also scoop the filling onto the tortilla with a spoon instead of using the piping bag approach.
• To freeze the second batch: simply place on a baking tray (or allow to cool and keep on the one you cooked on) and flash freeze flat.  Once frozen, place in a labeled gallon size freezer storage bag.

Recipe: Pretzel M&M Candy Bites

Today I've got a quick, super easy, deliciously addictive "cookie" recipe for you.  These are great for the holiday candy bowl but are quite good year-round.  :-)

I've seen similar recipes to this that use a Hershey's kiss for the chocolate component but that seems like a lot of unwrapping work.  I've always made these with candy melt discs and they turn out perfectly, just the right balance of salty and sweet, creamy and crunchy.

Pretzel M&M Candy Bites

Ingredients
- candy melts
- plain M&Ms
- waffle weave pretzel squares

Directions
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment and preheat the oven to 350*.
2. Place pretzel squares in a single layer on the parchment and top each pretzel with a single candy melt.
3. Bake in the oven for 3 minutes, just long enough to soften the candy melt.
4. Remove baking sheet from oven and quickly press a single M&M into the top of each candy melt.  Pressing down slightly will ensure the candy melt fills in the holes of the pretzel as well.
5. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.

Notes

• feel free to make these using any color or flavor candy melt as well as any color variety of M&Ms.  At Christmas time, I use the red/green M&M mix but for Easter I like to use the pastel variety.  All choices taste great.
• check the serving size and number of servings on the back of your bag of candy melts and pretzels to see how much you'll need of each.  As reference, one 2lb bag of candy melts matched perfectly with one family size (16oz) bag of pretzel squares.  Combined they made three half-sheet pans worth of 'cookies'.
• I usually buy candy melts at the craft store (think JoAnn's or Michael's -- don't forget your coupons!).