Who doesn't love a pot pie?

A few months ago a girl that I work with fostered one of my rescue's dogs and unfortunately for both of us, the adorable dog known as Bob's Big Boy decided to eat her house! Literally! He ate through a door, he ate a comforter, he ate and clawed his way through some carpet and then for dessert he ate a pillow.

What does all of that have to do with pot pie? Well she took all the destruction without getting mad at the dog and without getting mad at me, so I offered to make her anything she wanted. At first it was a loaf of pumpkin bread for her brother, which she devoured that day in her office. Then it was a pumpkin cake roll with cream cheese frosting inside. And this last one, the one she has been asking for since day 1...Chicken Pot Pie.

I've never made a chicken pot pie, I only just started making pie crust, but really how hard could it be? It wasn't hard at all and it was so freakin delicious I want another one right now!

I used my mom's crust (the one posted on this blog as my admission of defeat) for the bottom crust and then I used this insane Cream Cheese Crust for the top. It was perfect! The bottom crust was delicious and flaky and the top crust was rich and puffy.

Here are the recipes:
CREAM CHEESE CRUST
1 stick of butter cut into cubes
8oz of cream cheese
1 1/2 c. flour
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp ice water

Put the flour, butter and dollops of cream cheese in a food processor. Pulse until it looks like parmesan cheese. Then add the egg and 1 Tbsp of water, pulse and if it doesn't come together as a ball, add a little more water.

Make a round flat dough disk, wrap in plastic and chill while you make the filling.

Pot Pie Filling
(I took a cheat here)
1 rotisserie chicken - remove skin, take off meat and chop or shred (I prefer costco any day of the week - I think grocery stores let their chickens sit too long and they get mealy)
1 onion chopped
2-3 stalks of celery chopped
1 cup of chopped carrots (I use baby carrots)
1 c. frozen peas
Some sliced mushrooms - not too many, maybe a 1/2 c.

Cook the onion, celery and carrots in 1 tbsp butter and 2 tsp olive oil until tender. Then add the peas and mushrooms - cook until the mushrooms are brown and soft then add in the chicken and leave on low heat)

Make the gravy in a separate sauce pan
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
cook those together until the butter and flour make a paste
then add
2/3 c. warmed milk
1 3/4 c. chicken stock
Salt/Pepper and celery seeds (you really need the celery seeds they add a lot of flavor)
Stir and cook until thick then pour over the chicken mixture

Roll out the bottom pie crust and place in a deep dish pie plate (or individual pie plates)
Fill with mixture and top with cream cheese crust which will be pretty thick when you roll it out, maybe close to a 1/4 inch - but it makes it heavenly if you like a good amount of crust.

Bake at 425 for 30-35 minutes - you might need to throw tinfoil over the top of the crust if it gets too brown

It was so good and worth the effort.