Getting It Right One Way Or Another!

My friend who is training for her first Half has her first 10K this weekend. At the end, they get tacos! I told Aaron who responded by saying, "I love when you guys do stuff and I get food at the end!" He's not kidding, the Crew likes the hospitality grub!

Speaking of food, there I was in the kitchen yesterday planning to make the chicken pot pie recipe I found, but you may recall I had to resort to Plan B because I didn't thaw any chicken. Duh. Well, Plan B became Plan B 2.0 because I went to make dinner only to discover I had no wraps in the fridge. Nice! So, instead of the planned burger wraps, Plan B 2.0 became Burger Bowl:

Where's my head? I don't know ... makes me worry a little about tomorrow's long run. Eleven miles is long enough to start to wander especially when I'm always running looking sideways for money or other treasure ...

What I did get right today was -- finally -- the pot pie recipe! PC#2 in particular has always wanted to try pot pie, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Don't get me wrong: YUM. But, I just can't justify both the fat and the sodium that comprise pot pies especially when that's the main course. AND it's not even a holiday. (Ha!)

ENTER: Skinny Down-Home Chicken Pot Pie. Recipe here; my adaption below. Here we go!

Okay, I've never worked with phyllo dough nor do I plan to any
time soon again. Clearly, I didn't thaw-and-use correctly. So,
I ended up winging it in pieces when mine didn't unroll into
the sheets it was supposed to. I considered for a short minute
fretting about it, then I decided it wasn't worth the energy!
In pieces, in sheets, it just had to end up tasting the same!
(In the end, I ate around it and really, really didn't need it.)

I got 2 1/2 Cups of chicken broth simmering then left on the
burner to keep warm while ...

... I prepped the ingredients: 3 diced chicken breasts; 2 cups
of frozen mixed veggies; about 2 cups of diced red potato; a
fourth of an onion finely chopped, and 3 minced garlic cloves.

Into a big pot went 3 tablespoons of oil and a quarter cup of
flour over medium heat. Stir it up for a couple of minutes and
don't freak when it all sticks together. It'll sort itself out later.

Into the pot went all ingredients except for the chicken. I stirred
them around for about 3 minutes before adding the chicken, a
bay leaf, a bunch of shakes of black pepper and about a teaspoon
of salt. Stir it all up for the recommended 5-7 minutes getting
everything good and coated. Next, pour in the warming broth,
bring to a boil then let simmer until it thickens. Mine seemed
way too soupy for me, so I added another 2 tablespoons of
flour, and it totally worked. For once, winging it in the kitchen
totally worked for me!

Pour the mixture into a baking dish (I used a 9x13") and top
with the phyllo dough. I sprayed mine with oil before baking
to help it crisp up. Bake at 350 degrees.

The pot pie bakes for 30 minutes; in the last 5, I put in kale
pieces I'd washed, dried, misted with oil and salted. They
stayed in for the last 5 baking minutes plus the 10 minutes
the pot pie sits outside of the oven. They turned out perfect.

All the while, the pooch was ready to
taste test. She was disappointed in her
lack of opportunity to participate.

Here's the outcome ... and it was really, really good! It'll be a
great middle-of-winter meal for sure!! I'll take this version of
pot pie any day over the real deal ... if I'm going to eat pie
crust, I'm not eating it with vegetables!!

The young Pit Crewers liked the dish, but Aaron raved! He was all, "We are having this again!" I just looked at him, and then he said, "I am so learning to make this, and we are having it again!" That made me grin. It's an easy dish, but the prep takes some time. So, I'll totally make it again with him because cooking something like this with a pal is way more fun!

With dinner behind us, it's soon time to hit the hay for an early run! While I've been finding some good alternatives in the kitchen again, I'm going with tried-and-true for the route tomorrow! This one incorporates a good deal of the first route I used to train for a Half, and that's probably good because it requires very little thinking and remembering where I'm supposed to go ...! I'll see you after!