Quick & Easy Chicken Shepards Pie

So I got a wild hair up my butt the other day to make something new. I had to cook up the fresh veggies because I didn't want them to go to waste. I put everything left I needed to use on the counter and said what the hell can I do with this? The conclusion, something chicken pot pie ish, and shepards pie it became because I have a pretty standard pot pie recipie allready. ( I'll share it someday)

 Mind you, this is called "cheater" cooking. I used mashed potatoe flakes, ( my mother would say that's ungodly) I used Cream of Chicken soup, I boiled up frozen veggies and chicken breasts to move things along...I don't want to wait forever for dinner, I have other things to think about and do. So here it is and I must say it was AMAZEBALLS.

I eyeball everything I cook and I never usually measure what I use so if you are looking for specifics, you won't find it here. However I will do better next time and I will try to keep a record.

First thing I did was grease a pan with a little bit of butter on a paper towel, then I covered it in spinich leaves, making sure it coated every inch and came up the sides, remember spinch shrinks so it may look like you have used too much, but you haven't. Think of it like a crust, like it would be for a pie, get a bunch 'up in 'der.

Then added chopped mushrooms and set the whole thing aside. 

  Next I boiled baby carrots, celery, ( I was out of onion but If I had it i would have added some) then I added some frozen veggies, some peas and some mixed veggie mix. I had a small handful of frozen hashbrowns, the diced potatoe kind and I added those in the mix as well. I boiled them all in water with garlic, salt and pepper.  I then scooped out the veggies and boiled 2 large chicken breasts cut in peices, not too long, you don't want it rubbery but should be long enough that you wont get chicken Aids.

(If I had been paying attention I would have boiled them all at once but I didnt want to over boil the veggies since I had to leave the stove to deal with my kiddo I didnt get to put the chicken in right away. Im sure all at the same time would be efficient)

 When that was all done and cooked I drained the water ( I left a small amount of water in the pot, a TINY bit) and added the whole can of (family size) Cream of Chicken. I then added a some more garlic, salt and pepper added the cooked veggies back in and stirred it all up. I let that sit on low low heat while instant mashed potatoes were made. I started pre-heating the oven on broil. I used Milk and Butter, not water in the potatoes btw.

Then I poured the contents over the spinich and mushroom bed. I topped it with the mashed potatoes. Next I brushed the potatoes with a basting brush using a little scrambled egg.
Lastly, I put it in the oven to broil and cooked it for about 10 mins. it's all cooked but just needed long enough to stiffen and brown the potatoes on the top. When you see it bubling a little and the potatoes have golden peaks, you're done.

This was VERY Good and filling, it really didn't take long at all to make, the quick cooking cheating method by cooking everything rapidly and then putting it in the oven last really cuts down on the time. I would say, start to finish you're looking at a 45 min, homecooked meal from scratch.

It's a legit meal. The mushroom, OMG it was what MADE this meal for me. I only put mushrooms on half because my husband is not a fungi, but his loss. The mushroom added some awesome flavor.


That's it. Enjoy.