I try to always live by the rule of KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. Anytime in my life the more complicated I make something the more of a mess I make.

That applies to everything in my life, but especially in the kitchen. I’ve been trying to for years to make a hipper, cooler version of the old Chicken Pot Pie we’ve had one hundred times in our lives.

I’ve tried the healthy route, the organic route, the rustic route, the single pie in a souffle bowl route, the fancy route…all big kitchen FAILS. So I decided to go KISS on this one. I googled the classic recipe for Chicken Pot Pie. I baked it old school style. And it turned out to be like chicken crack for my family!

Seriously. I normally don’t even really like Chicken Pot Pie and I found myself sneaking extra forkfuls as I was cleaning up after dinner saying ‘yummmm’ to myself like I was eating a Paula Dean chocolate cake.

Here’s the recipe I used.

1 deep dish refrigerated pie crust (2 crusts in the pack)

3 -4 boiled and chopped thin chicken breasts

1 cup frozen mixed veggies (corn, peas and green beans)

1/2 cup milk (I actually used half and half ..we NEVER have milk around here)

1 can of cream of chicken soup

salt and pepper

I boiled and chopped the chicken while the girl was napping in the afternoon so all I had to do was throw this all in the shell and in the oven about a half hour before dinner.

Mix the chicken, soup, milk and salt and pepper in a bowl….then ..I bet you can’t guess what’s next? Throw in the shell.

Put the second shell on top of the whole thing..poke a few holes and viola! You are done and have plenty of time to play Hanging with Friends while the kids are playing Wii before dinner.

Bake at 425 for about 30 minutes.

**Make sure you bake it on a cookie sheet to prevent any bubbly leakage.

And now that my cookie sheet has been photographed I am painfully aware that I need a new one.

This recipe is so easy and such a no brainer that I shouldn’t even post it. But I am…as a public service announcement to all.

Pepperoni, cheese and a crescent roll. Bake at 375 for ten minutes..simple, no?

Yes..if you use shredded cheese. Not if you use a chopped in half stick of string cheese. The cheese didn’t have time to melt before the rolls got brown.

You live and you learn. And you eat un-melted cheese for lunch.

Just for full disclosure…this is turkey pepperoni and light string cheese. Not the healthiest lunch…but the girl is chomping the bleep out of it so I’ll definitely make again with a less processed filling.

I”m sure I’ve posted a Banana Bread recipe before, but there is no way it was easier and more delicious than this one. Seriously…I whipped it up at 7:30 this morning and it literally was done and we were eating it for breakfast by 8:15!

You Need:

3 ripe or overripe bananas
1 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/4 c. melted butter

Just mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, eggs-butter and banana in another bowl and then combine all ingredients. Spray a mini-loaf pan with spray oil, pour in the batter and bake at 325 for 30 minutes.

No mixer needed, just mash the bananas with a fork. You can add one cup of chopped nuts if you like.

Easy peasy lemony squeeezy!!!!

It’s winter break this week so things go moving slowly around here today. Instead of cooking breakfast for the kids, the boy and I made brunch.

We used our new silicon cups again….(these things are paying for themselves quickly)….to make some cute Ham and Cheddar Popovers. Super easy and according to the hubs and the boy ..super delicious. (Hubs did suggest we put an egg in next time to make it more breakfasty. He has a good idea once a while.)

Ingredients:

1 package cresent rolls

Sliced ham

Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

We rolled out the cresent rolls, layered on ham, and sprinkled with cheese.

I trimmed off the wide end of the cresent rolls a little bit before rolling  them up and putting them in the silicon cups.

Baked for 10 minutes at 425  degrees.

The girl tossed her green spoon at the boy (by accident I hope) just before I snapped the above picture

The boy had a blast with the cheese…in fact he made me refill the cheese bowl..as you can see below..and he ate it along with his popovers as a side dish.

So these were a big  hit and I will definitely make again, but next time I’ll make half without ham because the boy picked all his out and fed to the dogs anyway.