Make Ahead Chicken Pot Pie with Savory Crumble Topping

Prep Time: 80 minutes
Cook Time: 80 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Make Ahead Cook (book)

This recipe is very similar, but not exactly the same as the recipe I reviewed previously from the magazine. The topping is the same, but there are some differences in the filling. I'm not sure why. Probably to allow for making two casseroles instead of one that serves 6?

There are actually two Chicken Pot pie recipes in the book. Both have the exact same filling. This one has a crumble topping and is from the Oven Ready Casserole chapter. The other one has a pie crust topping and is found in the Freezer chapter.

I decided to experiment and do both with this one. I made one casserole for cooking later that day and 3 others for freezing. (Since I'm only making this for two people, I used disposable loaf pans instead of 8x8 pans and made 4 instead of 2 casseroles.) I used the instructions from both recipes on preparing the casserole. The crumble topping worked fine in both ways as I expected. I kept the topping in a separate baggie when frozen.

This is a delicious recipe and having 3 more in the freezer to make later was great. As I've found with all of the other freezer recipes, these casseroles take a very long time to reheat, even with my smaller portions, so you do need to make sure you give it enough time.

I made the same adjustments to this recipe as I did the original from the magazine. I used less butter in the sauce, milk instead of cream and used chicken breasts instead of thighs. It still was rich and delicious. I left the crumble topping alone.

Tuna Casserole

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Cool Time: 10 minutes


Grade: B+/A-

Make Again: Maybe

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (October 2011)  

This recipe was from a lightened up comfort foods article. The sauce replaces a lot of the whole milk with broth. I think that adds flavor and is a good idea. It also uses a tiny bit of parm in the topping with panko. I felt like there should be more cheese in the topping. I used less oil for the onions and white sauce, and that was fine, so next time I would add more cheese.

The amount of tuna in this was kind of small. I think I would use more next time. The panko makes a much better topping than regular bread crumbs (although fresh toasted would be great also, if you don't have panko.) I didn't have enough peas, so I threw in some chopped fresh spinach for added green and more veggies. I thought the spinach and peas might clash, but I barely tasted the spinach.

I'm not sure which tuna casserole is my favorite. I think that Cook's Country version probably tastes the best, but it is also pretty high calorie since it is made with heavy cream. It is a quick and easy recipe however, so that goes in it's favor. The other Mediterranean Tuna Casserole from EF is nice and a bit different. I don't make tuna casserole very often, and I'm not sure which one I would do again. Really, any of them are fine, I think.

Chicken and Brown Rice

Prep Time: 28 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Grade: B-

Make Again: No


Recipe Source: Everyday Food (September 2005)

This was almost really good, but I really didn't like the roasted red peppers in this. They got quite soggy.  Maybe using regular diced peppers would have been better.

I think this recipe as potential as a one pot meal, but I probably won't tweak it anymore, since there are too many good recipes to try! 

Best Beef Stew

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 2.5 hours

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (January 2010)

Between Cook's Illustrated, Cook's Country, the ATK tv show and all the cookbooks, I'm sure ATK has a LOT of stew recipes. They are all good, if you like beef stew. I really liked this one also. It was rich tasting and perfect comfort food for a very cold day.

It does take a while to make, of course, but I love dishes where you can get all the work done early and don't have to do much work after that. There is a tiny bit of work in the last 15 minutes, but it is pretty negligible, so I don't even count it in my time.

I did make a few substitutions. I used some frozen wine, and it was probably a Merlot, instead of Pinot Noir. I also used a tiny bit of anchovy paste instead of chopping anchovies (yuck!) I skipped the pearl onions. The biggest sub was to just put a few rinsed off pieces of bacon in the stew instead of the salt pork. I just didn't feel like trying to find it, and wanted to use the ingredients I had on hand. It worked fine, but I didn't use 4oz. I think it added a little taste in a good way.

This one got a thumbs up from the somewhat picky eater in my life, so I will definitely be making this one again.

Turkey Tetrazzini

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (November 1998)

This is, of course, a leftover recipe for after Thanksgiving. It isn't super quick, but it is fairly easy, and I really find it to be good comfort food that froze fine, so I will make this again next time I have turkey leftovers.

(I skipped the mushrooms, used less butter and lemon, as I often do.) Oh, and I also used Panko instead of fresh breadcrumbs. I used a technique from The Best Light Recipe and browned them in a little butter on the stove which works well.

Chicken Pot Pie (Lighter)

Prep Time: 60 minutes ???
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: The Best Light Recipe

You would probably be surprised if you tasted this, that it was considered light. It has a very rich taste to it, and the biscuits on top taste buttery. They are made with 4 T of butter and buttermilk and it is enough to make them still taste great.

I'm not sure about my prep time. I believe I got most of the prep work done for everything including the biscuit ingredients done in 35 minutes. However, the cooking of the chicken always takes a long time. I finally cut the breasts into smaller pieces. But the waiting, shredding and moving pieces around while I tried to get it all cooked probably took me more than half an hour. I believe that if the chicken cooked faster, the entire thing would have been put together quicker. I'd say 35 minutes, plut 10-15 cooking time, plus another 10 to shred the chicken, thicken the sauce, and assemple the dish.

Anyway, this is a good one and I will probably compare to the original (non-light version) this summer. But I will make this again, for sure.

P.S. I forgot to take a picture, so the above is leftovers (which is why the peas looks dingy!) The leftovers are still really good, the biscuit is just not as crispy on top.

Fried Rice

Total Time: 20 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (March 2001)

This is the best way to use up some extra rice. I prefer the Thai curried chicken fried rice
version, because it is a little more flavorful and substantial for a full meal, but this is easy and quick.

Curried Brown Rice with Tomatoes and Peas

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (May 2004)

This is a new favorite (although I had tried it before and liked it.) I have been making brown rice and bean variations of this recipe a lot lately, because it is so easy and really healthy too. I love the nuttiness of brown rice, but don't like it plain really, and this recipe ends up quite flavorful.

I modified just a bit to make it a little easier to make. Basically, I bring everyting but the rice to a boil in a dutch oven then add the rice (and some chickpeas - my own addition), cover and cook in the oven. It still works out well, although probably not as perfectly as pouring boiling liquids into a baking dish and covering with foil. Some grains of rice on the pan do get a a little overcooked, but not a lot and I prefer the ease of this method.

Chicken Pot Pie

Prep Time: 50 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (May 1996)

Recipe Source: Cover & Bake

CI has newer versions of Pot Pie, but I do like this one. I decided midway through to use a 2nd pan to speed things up. If I had done this earlier the recipe would have taken closer to 40 minutes most likely. One pan, would have taken me an hour - mostly because my chicken took a while to cook through.

I lightened it up just a bit, by using a little less butter. The biscuits are very rich, and I actually think I could have gotten away with decreasing butter to 4 T. I only used 2T ot butter for the sauce instead of called for 4T. This was perfect, in my opinion.

Shepherd's Pie

Prep Time: 40 minutes (35+5)
Simmer Time: 20-25 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Recipe Source: Cover & Bake

This was good, but I don't know that I liked it better than the Cook's Country Version which is similar but uses beer instead of wine. I used ground beef instead of lamb, and it works fine, IMO.

Hearty Beef Stew

Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 6-7 hours

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Country (October 2005)

A lot of people would groan knowing that this recipe (a slow cooker recipe) takes 40 minutes to prep. But it is necessary to prebrown the beef and the onions to get the best flavor, and I think it is well worth the time. For me, the beauty of the slow cooker is the long cook time and time to get a lot of things done before serving dinner. If you want to make something, (like biscuits) you have the time. Plus, it is nice to have the smell of dinner all afternoon to whet your appetite.

This is a very tasty stew. I made a half recipe, remembering that they create huge recipes for very large slow cookers. It got 4 good size servings out of this, and I am freezing the leftovers. I was skeptical that the vegetables would end up as flavorful as I like, since they are cooked separately on top in a foil packet. But when stirred in with the beef, the tasty sauce flavors them enough, in additional to their own seasonings.

Skillet Tuna Casserole

Total Time: 30 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Maybe

Recipe Source: Cook's Country (February 2005)

Recipe Source: Best 30-Minute Recipes

This was very tasty, but I am reluctant to use this recipe a lot just because it uses a lot of heavy cream (why it was so tasty, of course!) It was good and very easy. I replaced the mushrooms with some roasted red peppers, and that is a great sub. But I will use regular peppers instead of roasted, because the charred bits were unappetizing.

Shepherd's Pie

Prep Time: 60 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Cool Time: 10 minutes
(Prep time included 15 minutes of waiting)

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Country (Februrary 2006)

This was very good and true comfort food. I have made another CI version of Shepherd's pie from Cover & Bake, that might be better, but it has been a few years. This one was very tasty and used beer instead of wine. I will probably try the other one again this winter so I can compare. It was fairly easy, and allowed me plenty of time to clean up while preparing the basics before popping in the oven.

The one thing I had trouble with was using the 12" skillet to cook the meat - things were falling out, so I switched to my Dutch oven. And I wasn't even using a full 2# of meat (1.6 lb instead). I did add one carrot and some extra peas, but they didn't take up too much room. Also, I had trouble fitting everything into my casserole dish. If I used large enough equipement from the start, including my larger cutting board, I would probably shave 5 minutes off the prep time on this.

Cold Sesame Noodles

Total Time: 18 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (May 2003)

This is a great quick recipe. I make it with Udon noodles, but regular pasta works. The CI recipe is probably better, but this is so quick and easy that I do like it for a quick meal.

Indian-Style Vegetable Curry

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (May 2007)

This recipe does require a bit of prep (onions, potatoes, serrano, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, toasted spices, and more) but it is very good. I used less oil (1.5 T instead of 4T) and had trouble with the potatoes sticking. I probably should have used more. It is a completely lean dish otherwise, so it wouldn't hurt to use a little bit more.