Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

My husband, Aaron, and I welcomed the first weekend of fall this past Sunday with lots of wine, football and bacon! And boy, was it glorious. Aaron is a farmer of wine grapes and this so happens to be harvest season. It’s a season we look forward to all year long, but at the same time, count the days until it’s over…it means 12-15 hour work days for him and lonely nights for Dexter and I. There is even a nickname commonly associated with us fellow women…harvest widow. (Boy, does that sound dramatic!!…but at times it is truly fitting.) It’s a tough yet exciting time for all!

This past Sunday was a special day for the two of us. Sundays are the only days he has a few hours off and this Sunday happened to be the first Sunday in awhile we didn’t have a packed schedule. YAY for us!! It’s in those moments that I appreciate wifehood. I believe that one duty of mine is to refuel my husband. Us wives have a whole LOT of duties, as do husbands. It’s a tough job to be in a marriage. When your husband is experiencing stress, long days at work, or just plain having a bad day…bring him back! REFUEL him!

I took my wife duties very seriously this past weekend and whipped up some of his favorite comfort meals…and they just so happened to be incredibly fitting for the first weekend of fall. Total bonus for all!

Pictured above is a homemade chicken pot pie (Yes, pie! I told you I love pie…) and oven baked bacon with my favorite honey/mustard sauce…yum! I’m drooling just thinking about this meal…My mother found this recipe in a magazine years ago and has altered it perfectly. It’s a favorite in our family! Here are the recipes:

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

5 applewood smoked bacon slices

1½ cups chopped onion

¾ of a 12 oz bag of baby carrots, chopped

¾ of an 8 oz bag of french green beans, chopped

6 oz bag of frozen pies

2 handfuls of chopped mushrooms, cooked down and drained

4 teaspoons of marjoram

1½ cups of low-sodium chicken broth

1½ cups of sour cream

3 cups of coarsely shredded chicken

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (half of 17.5 oz package, thawed)

In separate skillets start cooking bacon, mushrooms and chicken. You will have some time while these three things are cooking to chop your onion, carrots and french green beans. Prepare those so you can be ready to go! Cook bacon until it’s crispy and easy to break into pieces to add to pie filling. Once crispy remove from pan to cool so it can be broken up easily. LEAVE the pan filled with the bacon grease…this is a very important step you won’t want to miss! Cook mushrooms on a low heat until tender. Once the mushrooms are cooked down take them off the heat to cool and then drain as much moisture as you can. We don’t want to add more water to the filling if we don’t have to. Cook the chicken and once ready remove from heat and start shredding.

Once all your veggies are chopped and the bacon has been removed from the pan pour your veggies into the bacon grease. Stir for 1 minute. Add broth and marjoram and bring to a boil over medium-high heat until veggies are almost tender and some liquid has reduced – about 8 minutes. Stir in sour cream, shredded chicken and crumbled bacon. Bring to a simmer and season with pepper. I like to wait until the sauce has started to thicken a bit before I pour into my dish. Pour into a 9-in square baking dish or into 4 separate 2-cup soufflé dishes if you so please. Cover the dish with your thawed puff pastry and poke multiple holes in the top. Stick it in the oven at 350° for about 25 minutes or until the crust is a golden brown. ENJOY!

Oven Baked Bacon with a Honey/Mustard Sauce

10 slices of bacon

2 tablespoons of honey

1¼ tablespoons of hot mustard

½ tablespoon of red pepper flakes

Place your bacon on a cooking rack that sits over a cookie sheet, stick it in the oven at 350° for about 45 minutes to an hour. (We like our bacon nice and crispy so this timing works for us. Watch your bacon and pull it out whenever you so please.) While your bacon is sizzling, grab the mixtures for the honey/mustard sauce. I was inspired by the TV Food Network Star Giada with this sauce. She made a similar one on a show I watched years back and have altered it to my liking ever since. Add all the ingredients into a small bowl and mix well. Once the bacon is just about ready to be taken out pour about ¾ of the sauce over the bacon. Let the bacon cook a little longer – about 8 minutes. Take the bacon out and pour the remainder of the sauce on top. You will die at how crispy and sticky your bacon is…the sauce adds the perfect amount of caramelization to each bite!! YUM…if you lived in our house I have to make extra sauce to DIP the bacon in even after it’s been drenched…I told you we had lots of bacon this past Sunday!

xoxo, madison naomi