summertime.

Hello again!

I'm so sorry I haven't been blogging as regularly as I should.

Summer has arrived (thank goodness!) and we've been busy spending time on our balcony, playing softball, and seeing our family and friends.

This past weekend I had the chance to see Randy Travis in concert. My Mama and I headed over to the Emerald Queen Casino near Tacoma, and celebrated her birthday with a girls' night.

It was a blast and Randy's still got it!

This week is full of adventures.

One of my best friends in the whole world is flying all the way to Portland from New York for a visit. Maya and I met freshman year of college when we both joined the swim team.

Here is a tribute to our friendship.

From it's very beginning...

...until now...almost 6 years after we met!
We will definitely need to take some new pictures while Maya is here...we look approximately 15 in all of these.

Oh college, I miss you!
I can't wait to show her (and share with all of you!) everything the Pacific Northwest has to offer.

Maya and I have been shooting emails back and forth with ideas for her trip and so far it looks like we will be doing a bit of hiking, heading out to the St. Paul rodeo, and eating and drinking our way through all of Portland's amazing restaurants and breweries.

If anyone has any Portland must do's leave me a comment!

With all the craziness the past couple of weeks I've had less time to share with you what I've been doing in the kitchen. The past week it seemed like we had friends over every night for dinner and there's just something a little odd about pulling out the camera and taking pictures of your guest's dinner before they're allowed to eat it.

But I promise I'll try to make it up to you with some great recipes this week!

Last night Jeremy and I had Chicken Pot Pie.

Not your typical chicken pot pie, but a delicious version I discovered on Joy the Baker.

This one was made in a long casserole dish and had homemade chive biscuits on top.

I've never had pot pie quite like this one and it turned out to be worth the time/effort...

Jeremy said it was Top 5 meals I've ever made material!

Chicken Pot Pie with Chive Biscuits
Inspired by Joy the Baker

What you'll need:

Biscuits--

2 1/2 C all-purpose flour

1 T baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp granulated sugar

1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

1/4 cup (2 ounces) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes

4 ounces (half of a brick) cream cheese, cold

3/4 cup buttermilk, cold

Filling--

4 T unsalted butter

1/2 C all-purpose flour

2 C low-sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 C whole milk

4 ounces (half of a brick) cream cheese

salt and pepper to taste

the juice from 1 lemon

1/8 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

3 C shredded chicken meat (from a rotisserie chicken)

2 T butter

1 small onion, diced

1 small garlic clove, minced

1 1/2 cup thinly diced carrots

1 1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed

What you'll need to do:

Biscuits first.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, black pepper, and chopped chives.

Add butter and cream cheese to the dry ingredients.  Use your fingers to combine butter, cheese, and flour. You want to keep mixing it together with your fingers until you have small pieces (pebble size or smaller).

Make a small well in the center of the dough and add the buttermilk.  

Using a fork, combine the wet and dry ingredients.

Dump the shaggy biscuit dough onto a lightly floured work surface.  Knead together until dough forms a disk about 1 1/2 inches thick.

Use a round, 1 1/2-inch biscuit cutter to cut biscuits (or use a 1/4 C measuring cup like I did). 

Place biscuits on a small cookie sheet and place in the fridge until ready to bake.

Now for the filling. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Dice onion, garlic, carrots, and thaw the frozen peas.  Set aside.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk in the flour.  (Mixture will be very thick.)  Heat for 1 minute.  Turn flame to low and add the chicken stock.  Whisk until no flour bits remain.  Whisk in the milk and add the cream cheese.  Heat over medium low heat, stirring often, until cream cheese has melted.  

Add chicken, lemon, and nutmeg.  Stir.  Add salt and pepper to taste.   Remove mixture from heat and set aside.

In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt butter.  Add onions and saute until translucent, about 3 minutes.  Add minced garlic and saute for one minute more.  Add carrots and peas.  Cook for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add vegetable mixture to the creamy chicken mixture.  Stir to combine.

Spoon filling into a 9×13-inch pan.  Remove the biscuits from the fridge and place them on top of the filling.  Brush the tops of the biscuits with heavy cream, buttermilk, or egg wash.

Bake for 20-23 minutes, or until biscuits are puffed and golden, and the sides of the pot pie are bubbling.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.

Enjoy!