Chicken Pot Pie Fail: Week 4 and 5

Well, I had one success and one interesting one. Good news first.

For Week 4 I made vanilla pudding from scratch. Um, delish. I wish I had a picture but we ate it too fast. And I was surprised with how easy it was. Love it. Make it for dinner guests but pretend you slaved all day making it. I won't tell, promise.

Without further ado, the recipe...

4 cups milk
1 1/3 cups sugar
dash of salt
4 egg yolks

4 gently rounded Tablespoons cornstarch
½ cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla (I like to use clear vanilla.)

Combine milk, sugar and salt in large saucepan. Heat until gentle boiling.
While milk is heating ( stir milk occasionally) use separate bowl and combine
egg yolks. Beat slightly and add cornstarch and water.

When milk is boiling, add egg mixture quickly all at once, stirring well.
Turn off heat and immediately add vanilla. Gently stir after adding vanilla.

Serve it hot or cold. I prefer cold but it was gone before it had a chance to cool off. We topped it off with fresh strawberries. Yum.

Rating: 5 stars for taste and ease.

Week 5: 

I had a grand idea to make Chicken potpie. It theory it was perfect: the recipe was chock-full of veggies (for me) but had the hearty taste Jacob likes. But I had some..... issues.

Mainly, it took forever. We didn't eat until after 8 p.m. As a busy working woman, I am STARVING by 8 p.m. (I've already worked for 10 hours. I need FOOD!) Too much prep time. (make the crust, chill for an hour, make insides, bake for 20 min, etc.)

Second, it was a bit soupy. (After reading reviews online after I made it, I learned I wasn't alone!) So I upgraded to a bigger casserole dish. Which made my crust too small for the pie and it looked like this....

a crust island. Not cool.

Consensus:
Jacob rated it a 4.5 for taste.
I'd rate it a 3 ish. I guess I'm not such a potpie fan. But for how much work it took, I'd rate it a 2. It would definitely be a weekend sort of dish, not when I am so hungry I might start chewing on my arm.

Want to give it a shot? Recipe found in Food Network Magazine.