Adorable Muffin Tin Pot Pies

Chicken pot chicken pot chicken pot pie!

One of our favorite chicken leftover uses, this is a scrumptious way to indulge in something warming, nutritious and delicious! We use leftover chicken from roasting a whole hen, which for the five of us, roasting a $10.00 five pound hen gets us four different uses at least. If my math is right, that's 50 cents a person, a serving, a lot cheaper than nugget mystery meat!

Also, you can load pot pie filling with lots of yummy veggies to increase the vitamins and give your kiddos a balanced and fabulous meal.

In the beginning, every good meal starts with a cutting board.

Time start to finish, roughly 50 minutes

Ingredients for the Filling:

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 large sweet onion, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped

2 ribs of celery, chopped

1 cup fresh chopped broccoli

1 cup cooked chicken, shredded of chopped into small pieces

1 1/2 cups homemade chicken stock

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoon water

1 cup Italian breadcrumbs

For the Pastry:

1 cup white all purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 cup vegetable shortening

2/3 cup cold water

Melt the butter in a large cast iron skillet or frying pan and add the chopped onion, cooking them on their own for five minutes to caramelize it a bit and sweeten it up. Add the chopped carrots and celery and while they make your mouth water, start your pastry dough. 

Put the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and cut in the vegetable shortening with a pastry cutter or two forks. Add in the cold water and mix and knead it together until it forms a soft ball, not sticky but also not falling apart. 

Put your dough in the refrigerator while you continue your filling. Add your stock, salt, pepper, broccoli and chicken to the pan and stir them together. Allow the filling to simmer for five minutes, then add your cornstarch and water mixture to thicken the mix, stirring as you drizzle it in. After it thickens, turn off the pan. 

Turn your oven on to 375 degrees and get your dough out of the fridge. Grease 12 large muffin tins with some vegetable oil. Pull off small balls of dough, about the size of a golf ball, and flatten them out in your hands, then press them into the muffin tins. Fill to the top with filling. There may be extra dough and filling, and that's fine! Save it for another day or eat the filling on its own!

After all tins have pastry and filling, sprinkle the tops with Italian breadcrumbs and bake for 30 minutes, checking often after 20 minutes to make sure the breadcrumbs are not burning. When they brown, they are usually done!