the delicious kindness of friends

When Jason and I first brought Aidan home from the hospital, our church organized a group of women to cook us several dinners, brought every other day so that we would not have to worry about making dinner every night when parenthood was still such a fresh task for us.

I had to admit, I was a little skeptical about the kind of food we would get. I mean, we've ALL been to a potluck where there's always that one casserole-looking dish that no one touches, except for maybe the cook herself. No one knows what it is. No one dares to figure it out, and instead they go for the baked ziti or a dessert or something. Surely we would receive a mystery dish somewhere in there.

Thankfully, we were wrong. EVERY dish was delish. Even the food that was clearly store-prepared was chosen with superior taste. Even better, every dish came with dessert. SCORE.

One dish, however, stood out way above the rest. We received it, devoured it, and I immediately begged the cook for the recipe, and she happily obliged. I know it wasn't her original recipe, but I don't care: it is HER recipe. And because I want to share the joy, here it is, the delight of my taste buds.

Kathy Fox's Addictive Chicken Pot Pie
Serves 4-6 (or one really hungry postpartum woman and her husband)

Filling:
2 lbs chicken, cooked until just done & cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup frozen peas and carrots
1 can cream of chicken soup (don't use fat-free kind)
1 cup chicken broth
Cooking spray

Topping:
1-1/2 cups buttermilk
1-1/2 cups self-rising flour (don't use all-purpose flour = epic fail)
1-1/2 cups melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For filling: Combine cream of chicken soup and chicken broth in bowl, set aside briefly. Layer cooked cubed chicken and peas/carrots in a 13x9 dish sprayed lightly with cooking spray; pour soup/broth mixture over this. Voila.

For topping: Mix buttermilk and self-rising flour together until smooth with no lumps. Stir in melted butter until smooth. (Note: it is so important not to add the butter until the buttermilk and flour have been mixed fully together - otherwise, the mixture becomes too thick to pour. Not sure why, but just trust me on this.) Pour over top of filling evenly; use spatula to smooth out and spread to edges.

Pop into oven and cook at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until top is nicely golden brown.

Enjoy!