chicken pie

it's been awhile since i've cooked something that hasn't already been posted and/or is worthy of documenting.  and although it got warm again (seriously, what's with the 9°F temperatures one day and 60°F temperatures the next?), i decided i wanted some chicken pie.  this is a recipe that's made its way through the family...i got the basic recipe from my mom, and i'm pretty sure she got it from someone from my dad's side of the family (cynthia).

total prep/cook time was about 2 hours (give or take), and the recipe makes what i will guess is about eight brian-sized servings.

ingredients:
- about 3-4 lbs chicken parts (i got split chicken breasts and some chicken livers)
- 2 cans cream of chicken soup
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup self-rising flour
- 1 cup milk
- 3/4 stick margarine
- celery (2 ribs)
- carrot (1 large)
- 1 small white potato
- 1 medium sweet potato
- green peas
- garlic
- seasonings

prepping the chicken:
put the chicken in a big pot and add enough water to cover.  add a stalk of celery, a couple cloves of garlic, and lemon pepper for seasoning.  simmer over mediumish heat for about 40 minutes.  remove the chicken, pull the meat off the bones, and put it in the bottom of a 9" x 13" pan.

prepping the vegetables:
peel/slice the carrots, slice a rib of celery, cube the white potato, and peel/cube the sweet potato.  spread the vegetables in the pan with the chicken.  sprinkle peas on top; i probably used a half-pound of them.

filling:
put about two cups of the chicken broth (from cooking the chicken) into a separate pot and mix in the soup.  bring the mixture almost to a boil and pour over the chicken.

crust:
mix the flour, milk, and melted margarine and pour over the top of the casserole dish.  i added black pepper to the flour (for taste) and paprika (for color).

bake at 425°F for 35 minutes (or until lightly browned).

results:
this recipe does not originally call for potato (or sweet potato).  i figured potato would work well, and i thought i'd try sweet potato just to see what would happen.  in this case, it adds a touch of sweetness that works well...especially in combination with the carrot.  overall, i am pleased.

i will say, though, that i had a lot of filling in my dish, and some of it bubbled over the top.  fortunately, i had the oven liner on the bottom, so i won't have to deal with cleaning it up later.  also, i decided that freezing the remaining chicken broth was worthwhile.

i have plenty of leftovers for awhile!