Mini Pot Pies

I decided to follow the trend of baking everything in cupcake tins.. and these came out AMAZING! They are perfectly moist.

* Adapted from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-pot-pie-ix/

Ingredients (Makes 12 regular muffin sized pot pies):
-12-cup muffin tin
-1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cubed.
-2 nine inch Frozen Premade pie crusts (I recommend Trader Joes brand)
-1 cup frozen  peas
-1 cup chopped carrots
-1 cup chopped celery
-2 cups (or enough to cover the mixture) chicken broth.  You can also just use water.
-A pinch of assorted spices (onion powder, garlic powder or garlic salt, pepper, celery salt, etc.)
For Gravy Mixture:
-1/3 cup butter
-1/3 cup chopped onion
-1/3 cup all purpose flour
-Dash of salt
-Dash of black pepper
-Pinch of celery seed and other assorted spices (onion powder, garlic powder or garlic salt, pepper, etc.)
-1 10.75 oz can cream of chicken soup
-2/3 cup milk
-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
-Thaw pie crusts based on directions on the back of the box
-If you have not already, chop 1 lb chicken breasts, and 1 cup carrots, 1 cup celery, and  1 cup onion.
-In a saucepan over medium heat, combine chopped chicken, carrots, celery, and onion.
-Add enough chicken broth to cover the mixture
-Add pinch of assorted spices listed above
-Boil mixture on medium for at least 15 minutes, periodically checking to see if chicken and vegetables are ready.
-Remove saucepan from heat and set aside.

To make gravy mixture:
-Cook chopped onions in butter in a saucepan over medium heat until onions are translucent.
-Stir in flour, salt, pepper, celery seed, and other assorted spices of your choice
-Slowly stir in condensed cream of chicken soup and milk
-Stir in 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
-Simmer over medium-low heat until thick
-Remove from heat and set aside 

-Press pie crusts into bottom and up sides of each muffin tin.
-Use slotted spoon (or regular spoon) to scoop chicken and vegetable mixture into the bottom of each cup.  I also like to include the chicken broth, it makes the pot pies nice and moist. **Remember to leave room for the gravy mixture.
-Spoon gravy mixture over the chicken mixture.  Do this for the remainder of the tins.
-Cover top of tins with remainder of the cups.  Use fork to seal the crusts over the mixture.
-Make several small slits on the top of each pot pie to allow steam to escape
-Brush melted butter or mixed egg over the pot pies for a shiny appearance.
 *** Optional: If you have more of the gravy mixture, you can put it on top of the pot pies with some extra shredded cheddar cheese.. this makes it even more decadent.

-Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes (I always check periodically after 25 minutes just to be safe), until pastry is golden brown, or until gravy mixture is bubbling.
-Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Pretzel Fried Chicken (Honey mustard pretzel chicken)

I have perfected honey mustard pretzel chicken.

Uhhh.. yummmm!

 

This is super easy to make.. and the ingredients will last you forever!

Ingredients:

-5 pieces Fryer chicken (I just used chicken tenders and it came out just as good.  You can see that I have 5 pieces above.
-A mallet or something to flatten the chicken (I used a mug)
-Plastic wrap or something to put the chicken between while flattening
-1/2 lb pretzel meal (just ground pretzels, I like to crush them to a meal-like consistency but also leave some bigger pieces. I used multigrain pretzels, I think they taste the best with this dish).
-Salt
-Pepper
-Vegetable oil (only if frying, if baking, exclude this ingredient)
Equal Parts (to coat/ hold pretzels to chicken and for dipping sauce):
-Yellow Mustard (I used Frenches)
-Coarse whole grain mustard
-Dijon Mustard
-Honey
-Mayonnaise

Directions:

-If baking, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
-If frying (like I did..oooh I'm bad!), pour vegetable oil into a skillet
-Combine equal parts (I used 2 tbsp of each to coat chicken and for sauce) preferably in a shallow bowl.  Yellow mustard , coarse grain mustard, dijon mustard, honey, and mayonnaise.  Taste and add to your own preference (Like a TRUE chef ;P)
- Add dash of salt and pepper to mixture.
-Place chicken tenders between plastic wrap or anything else to keep them protected.
-Use mallet or flattening devise to pound chicken breasts until they are 1/2 inch thick.
-Create assembly like with chicken breasts, honey mustard mixture, and crushed pretzel meal.
-Use fork or tongs to dip chicken tenders in pretzel meal
-Then dip chicken tenders in honey mustard mixture
-Then dip tenders in pretzel meal.
-If baking: Place tenders on greased baking sheet for 15 minutes, turning halfway to brown both sides.
-If frying: heat the skillet with vegetable oil.  Place bread crumb in pan. If it browns within 1 minute, the skillet is ready for the chicken.
-Fry chicken for 5 minutes, then turn over to fry for another 5 minutes.
-Serve with extra honey mustard dipping sauce.