Chicken Pot Pie Casserole

By now you know of my great love of Pinterest and all the wonderful recipes I find there.  One, in particular, caught my attention this weekend, probably due to the cooler weather, the cloudy skies and the general feel of Fall in the air. 

Wanna know which one so captured my attention it is all I have been able to think about since Saturday?  It is this one.  http://theshadyporch.blogspot.com/2011/11/chicken-dumpling-casserole.html  It looks and sounds scrumptious.  Plus, the blog is a fun read too.  Check it out.  In the blog, she referenced this recipe, http://www.deepsouthdish.com/2009/02/chicken-and-dumpling-bake.html, which is another yummy sounding recipe, plus a well written blog. 

After reading both, I was inspired to try my hand at making this casserole.  But, here is the problem.  My darling husband is not a fan of chicken and dumplings.  So, making a chicken and dumpling casserole probably isn't the best idea. 

What is a Southern girl who is longing for some chicken and dumplings to do?  Put a twist on the recipe and turn it into a Chicken Pot Pie casserole.  Of course!!

This is what I did. 

Found the perfect oval casserole dish in my cabinet, turned on the oven and melted 2 Tbsp of butter in the dish.  Cut poached chicken into bite size pieces and dumped them into the dish. 

Then, I opened a couple of small cans of peas and corn to plop on top of the chicken (this was to turn the casserole into a pot pie vs dumplings) and then I noticed something.  Oops, I thought it was whole kernel corn, but it was cream style corn.  Whatever.  I dumped them both on top of the chicken.  It looked like this.

Then I added seasoning to the dish.  Pepper, dried onion flakes, garlic powder, dried parsley, sage.  Smelled wonderful.  Close your eyes and breathe deeply.  Can you smell it? 

Then, I got creative and did something a little different with my "dumplings" because I remembered all the comments from the other two blogs.  Lots of complaints about the final result being rather soupy and it taking way too long to cook due to the liquidness (is that a word) of the dish. 

Because of that, I decided to make my dumplings a bit more dumpling like - or rather, biscuit like. Using what I had on hand (I'm trying to clear out my pantry and freezer) I pulled out my box of Pioneer Baking mix and measured out 1.5 cups of mix, then stirred in 3/4 cup of milk. 

I liked the consistency.  Not too stiff, but not too runny either.  I scooped out spoonsful and plopped over the veggies and spices.  Like this:

My theory is, this will bake into biscuits/dumplings rather than disintegrate into sauce like it would if I used a 1-1 ratio as the other two recipes did.  Crossing my fingers this is what happens. 

Now, to make the sauce to go into the pot pie.  After all, it can't be dry.  That would be awful.  So, using the same bowl I made the biscuits/dumplings I poured the broth from poaching my chicken (I used 2 bouillon cubes and some dried onion flakes to season the chicken when I poached it so this broth is pretty tasty) into the bowl and mixed it together to thicken it.  It wasn't quite thick enough or quite flavorful as I wanted.  The other recipes called for condensed cream of chicken soup.  I didn't want to use that, so instead I mixed a half cup of Pioneer mix with a third cup of milk.  Sprinkled in pepper, garlic powder, basil and parsley and mixed it together.  Then, I poured that into the broth and mixed it together.  It looked and smelled delicious. 

Poured that over everything in the dish.  Like this,

Doesn't that look good for being unbaked?? 

Then, I popped it into the oven and am now anxiously waiting to see how it turns out as I type this post.  It smells good.  Just went into the kitchen to take a peek.  It looks good too.  It's browning nicely on top and the biscuit/dumplings are setting up nicely.  Whew!  It's very bubbly also.  It has been 30 minutes since I put it into the oven.  I think a few more minutes will help the broth to cook down and thicken to the right consistency.  Soon, I will pull it out and let it begin to cool a little before dinner.

The debate now is, do I make additional biscuits to go with it?  We LOVE biscuits and pot pie never has enough.  Maybe I will make some copy cat Red Lobster biscuits to go with it... 

Oh, this is what it looks like when it is done. 

And this is it on the plate.  BTW, it was tasty!!

Full Recipe:

Susan's Chicken Pot Pie Casserole

2 Tbsp butter or margarine
3 cups cubed chicken*

8.5 oz can green peas 

8.5 oz can whole kernel corn (or cream style, if that's what you have or prefer)

Dried onion flakes to taste (I used 1 Tbps)

Pepper to taste (I used 1/2 tsp)

Dried parsley, garlic powder and sage, to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp each)

1.5 cup Pioneer Baking Mix (Bisquick or any other baking mix would work)

3/4 cup milk (I used 2%)

About 1 cup broth

1/2 cup baking mix

1/3 cup milk

Pepper, garlic powder, parsley, basil to taste (No idea how much I used of each, but not a lot)

Preheat oven to 350.  Place butter in casserole dish and melt in the preheating oven.  Carefully remove from the oven and start assembling the casserole.  Be careful, the dish is HOT!!

Put cubed chicken in first. Top with peas and corn.  Seasonings next.  Do not mix these layers together!

Next mix the 1.5 cup of baking mix with the milk.  Drop the biscuit/dumplings by spoonsful on top of the veggies and seasonings.  

Pour the cup of broth into the bowl you used to make the biscuits.  Stir to thicken the broth. 

In a cup mix the remaining baking mix and milk.  Add in the final seasonings and mix.  Stir into the broth.  Then, gently pour into the casserole dish.  Do not mix!!!! 

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes until the bubbly and the biscuits are browned on top and done. 

*I used 3 large boneless skinless breasts poached in water with 2 bouillon cubes and dried onion flakes added to the water to flavor the chicken and subsequent broth.   

Enjoy!