What a peaceful few days it has been. Each day, our house begins to feel more like a home. Less hand-me-down. We got a new mattress last week and sleep so much better these last few days.
Our three dogs sleep in bed with us and we curl around one another. Murphy sleeps at the top of the bed, Milo at the bottom, and Elsa comes and goes throughout the night. And when the alarm hits 6:30 we are all up for coffee and oatmeal and to start the day.
I spend most days alone since I work from home and Nolan does not. This means make dinner for everyone, too. Most nights I roast a chicken or vegetables and maybe some hummus to snack on before he comes home at 9. Other days, I want nothing but junk food: fries and a salad that is more ranch dressing and chicken tenders than lettuce and tomato.
But one afternoon I had the whole day with nothing to do. No work, no cleaning, no posts, so I experimented with some lentils I've had since we moved in and the rest of the chicken that was sitting in the fridge and made this dish: Chicken and Lentil Mini Pot Pies. So easy, so satisfying, and the most work is boiling the lentils, if you're using some leftovers like I did.
Chicken and Lentil Mini Pot Pies!
So easy, so delicious, and the crust is a perfect compliment to this recipe. I used Ina Garten's pie crust recipe, but did not add sugar.
Ingredients:
- 1 pie crust (see author's note above)
- 1 large chicken breast, shredded
- 1 cup green lentils, prepared by box directions
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 gloves garlic, finely diced
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Egg wash (one egg + 1 tablespoon water, whisked)
Directions:
- Grease a large muffin tin (or a regular-sized muffin tin, but the baking time will be reduced by about 5 minutes!)
- In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients except the egg wash
- On a floured board, cut your dough in quarters and roll out about a 1/4 inch thickness
- Cut out a round that is large enough to press down into the muffin tin (I just used a 6-inch plate and it worked perfectly!)
- Mold each round into the muffin tin
- Scoop your mixture into each cup
- With the remaining dough, cut out a round to fit on top
- Place each top on your cups and brush a bit of egg wash on the perimeter of the top rounds
- Press top and cup together and brush more egg wash for each to have a nice golden brown
- Poke a couple holes on top to vent
- Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown
- Allow to cool before unturning from pan
- Enjoy! Can keep for up to 2 days!
