Chicken Pot Pie and Apothic Red

This is one of my favorite cheat meals. The ingredients are simple. It's my cheat meal because I used canned cream of chicken soup. If I weren't already balancing work, homeschool, and life in general, I'd take the time to make gravy for this dish. It's much better that way. As it is, we cut corners where we can. My family still loves this dish...even when I cheat.

This only takes me about 15 minutes to prepare. While the chicken is boiling I'm mixing the rest of the ingredients up. By using frozen chicken tenders,  I don't even have to cut the chicken into pieces. I just toss them in after they are done. It's also an easy way to pack a bunch of veggies into one meal.

Chicken Pot Pie Ingredients:

Chicken, cooked (I boiled 10 chicken tenders)

1 26oz can Cream of Chicken Soup

4 cups frozen mixed veggies
I season mine with garlic and Mrs. Dash (Certain people in my house are cutting back on sodium.)

Mix ingredients in a large bowl.

Crust: You can use a standard pie crust. Sometimes I cheat and buy frozen. Lately I've been making biscuits and baking them on top.

Biscuit Crust:

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon white sugar

1/3 cup butter

1 cup milk

Mix the dry ingredients then cut in the butter until it looks like cornmeal.Slowly add in milk.

Roll dough out to 1inch thickness and cut into rounds. The kids like to use the leftover dough to make "baby biscuits". Waste not, want not.

Bake at 350deg until golden and bubbly.

Tonight I served it with Basmati rice and salad. 

The wine you see, Apothic Red, is my absolute favorite so far. My friend, Errin, turned me on to it at a recent book club meeting. The bottle says its a blend of Zinfandel, Syrah, and Merlot with hints of vanilla and mocha. It's in the $10 price range that I tend to shop for. The flavor is intense but shockingly smooth.

Apparently this bottle is very popular. My local grocery store was completely sold out. I couldn't find it anywhere else. My dear friend gave me this bottle as a gift. I am really enjoying it tonight.

I know it goes against the adage of "red wine with red meat. White wine with white meat." I read somewhere to forget the "rules" when you are learning about wine. Pick what you like. I like red wine better than white. Anyway, I think I put enough garlic in the casserole to complement the red. It was very delicious.