Delicious Reading: Magic Chicken Pie & The Midnight Baker

A little over 20 years ago, when I was in the play �Independence� by Lee Blessing at Southeast Missouri State University, I portrayed a character named Kess, who has a pretty dysfunctional relationship with her mother, Evelyn. However, there�s a scene where they have a nice moment reminiscing about how to cope with Evelyn�s carousing husband. Kess would say to her mom, �Let�s bake!� and they would make cakes, cookies and rolls into the wee hours of the morning.

The title of the blog �The Midnight Baker� conjured up these recollections of a flour-dusted mother and daughter trying to make something sweet out of a sour situation.

While Judy Hanneman, the author of �The Midnight Baker,� does have plenty of cookie and cake recipes for when you want to bake off the blues, she also provides 24 other categories of recipes, spanning from instant pot dinners to dog treats.

A retired mechanical engineer, Judy now has a second career as a professional photographer, food writer and cookbook author. She has written �The Classic Slow Cooker� and �The Cupboard to Table� cookbooks. She has always loved to cook, share her recipes and experiment in the kitchen. She believes cooks should save time but eat well, so she streamlined her recipes, and makes sure they use ingredients you can get anywhere.

I happened upon her blog while searching for a recipe for chicken pot pie. This is the perfect comfort food during cold weather. My family loved it, and the leftovers warmed up well for lunches the next day.

It seems appropriate a midnight baker would make a �magic� chicken pot pie. After all, the way the casserole makes its own crust is pretty neat!

Magic Chicken Pie

4 tbs butter

2 cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts, shredded

2 cups fresh or frozen vegetables (your choice)

1/4 cup onion, chopped

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 cups baking mix (like Bisquick)

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups rich chicken stock

2 chicken stock cubes

1 can (10.75 oz) cream of chicken soup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the butter in chunks and place in the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Place in oven to melt butter; remove when butter is melted.

In a large bowl, mix the milk and baking mix; set aside. Dissolve the stock cubes in the liquid chicken stock. Place the soup in a bowl and gradually mix in the stock mixture to keep the mixture smooth. Set aside.

Assemble casserole as follows and do not mix or stir ingredients: Distribute shredded chicken over melted butter evenly. Distribute veggies over the chicken evenly. Distribute the onion over the veggies evenly. Distribute the cheese over the onion evenly. Pour baking mix batter over the top evenly. Pour the soup/stock mixture over the top evenly. Place in preheated oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until top is beginning to brown. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

You can find this recipe online at:

https://bakeatmidnite.com/magic-chicken-pie/#