Today was a snow day.  This is a big deal because here in East Texas, we don’t get much snow like some of our friends do all winter. It’s extra special to us! It also made me want to cook all day long.  I had the family home all day, so I made sure to keep something hot on the stove at all times.

First, I made a big pot of hot, aromatic chili, and served it with corn chips, sour cream, and a sprinkling of shredded Mexican cheeses.  It was great! What’s not to love about chili?

Then I went outside, only to see slushy sleet on the ground.  No snow yet.

Then I went back inside to boil some chicken breasts and have another coffee.  While I was working in the kitchen, one of the boys said, “Mom, it’s turning to snow!”  Sure enough, out the kitchen window I could see big, white flakes accompanying the pellets of sleet on their way down.  It was unusual to see the mix!

Soon, there was no more sleet, and everything drifting down was white and fluffy, and slower as it fell than the sleet had been.  Gorgeous.   I’ll share a few pictures, and then I’ll get to the recipe.  Oh, boy, is it a good one! 🙂

I took about a hundred pictures today, but I will spare you that.  I’ll post some of them on my “favorite photos” tab which you can see at the top of this page.    Right now, I’ll get to the good part: the recipe!
I was trying to decide upon what kind of soup I wanted to make today, and I saw a recipe for chicken pot pie as I was browsing around my favorite food blogs.  I decided I could try to make a chicken pot pie soup!

MamaSteph’s Creamy Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Ingredients:

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, boiled and diced  (reserve the cooking broth)

3 large carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4″  thick medallions

2 stalks of celery, diced

1 medium onion, chopped

1-2 TBS olive or canola oil

1  1/2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup plain flour

frozen or canned and drained green peas (I used one can of Lesueur peas that I had on hand)

frozen or canned and drained yellow corn (I used two cans)

2 or 3 large potatoes, boiled and chopped into about 1″ chunks  (or about 10 small red potatoes, which is what I had. You could also use canned if you had to.)

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp seasoned salt

Method:

In a large stockpot or dutch oven, saute the onion, celery, and carrot in the olive oil over low-medium heat.  You want to soften the carrots here without browning the onions, so don’t let it get too hot. (tip for busy cooks: use frozen mixed veggies and this step can be skipped. You’ll just add the frozen vegetables to the broth to cook as it simmers.)

When veggies are softened, add thyme and seasoned salt. Stir in well.  Then add four or five cups of chicken broth.  Add diced chicken, corn, peas, cooked potatoes, and 1/2 cup of the heavy cream.

In a small bowl, make a slurry with the remaining 1 cup cream (chilled)  and 1/ 2 cup of plain flour.  Whisk together until smooth. When soup is very hot, stir this slurry in the broth to thicken.  Stir until broth is smooth.

Allow the soup to simmer over low heat; cream soups are easy to scorch, so stir often.   Taste broth and adjust seasonings to your preference.

Next, to make it REALLY pot pie-like,  I made a batch of pie crust dough.  I then used a pastry cutter to cut out rounds of it, then baked them until lightly browned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made the pastry crust from a basic recipe like this: basic pie pastry, but I used cold butter instead of shortening in my recipe.

Roll it nice and thin, and then cut out your preferred shape. You could just use a drinking glass as a cutter if you don’t have anything else to use.  Easy!

Also, as a time-saving device you could buy a pre-made crust and cut it into whatever shape you like.  Bake, then place in the bowl of soup and serve!

Ultimately, this recipe can be as “homemade” as you want to make it! If you have lots of time, cut up your own vegetables, make your own pastry, and so on.   I love doing that, because to me, cooking is a way of expressing myself and creating something; it’s art.  However, on certain days when you want something good on the table in a hurry, it’s nice to have on hand frozen or canned vegetables, premade crust, and so forth. The most important thing is feeding your family, and yourself, something good.  🙂