I am going to use the pre-baked puff pastry idea myself in the future. Here is a to-die-for recipe for chicken potpie from Ina Garten. When I made it, I just used a "red box" pie crust (I'm so NOT a baker). I baked the filling as a whole double-crusted pie. Even though I used a deep dish pie plate, I had filling leftover. I froze that. Can't remember if I've used it yet or not - I'll have to go look lol! Ingredients: 3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on 3 tablespoons olive oil Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 5 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade 2 chicken bouillon cubes 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter 2 cups yellow onions, chopped (2 onions) 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 cup heavy cream 2 cups medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes 1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas (2 cups) 1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves For the pastry: 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup vegetable shortening 1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced 1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash Flaked sea salt and cracked black pepper Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones and discard the skin. Cut the chicken into large dice. You will have 4 to 6 cups of cubed chicken. In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and heavy cream. Add the cubed chicken, carrots, peas, onions and parsley. Mix well. For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour. Pulse 10 times, or until the fat is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water; process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together. Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Divide the filling equally among 4 ovenproof bowls. Divide the dough into quarters and roll each piece into an 8-inch circle. Brush the outside edges of each bowl with the egg wash, then place the dough on top. Trim the circle to 1/2-inch larger than the top of the bowl. Crimp the dough to fold over the side, pressing it to make it stick. Brush the dough with egg wash and make 3 slits in the top. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot. seagrass

cawfeegirl: Yes, Cawfeegirl, you can have your cake and eat it too! You'll need either a miniDVI-to-HDMI adapter ($6.94), or a DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter ($8.55), both available from monoprice.com, depending on which model Mac you have (older iMacs have miniDVI ports; new MacMinis have both; newest iMacs have DisplayPort only). With the proper adapter, you can connect a MacMini to any HDMI-capable display or TV. I actually misspoke in my earlier post--the preference would be to have a TV with two HDMI inputs and use one for your MacMini, and one for your CATV set-top box. Although a VGA input would also work (with the appropriate adapter), HDMI is capable of addressing higher resolutions than VGA, and is therefore preferred. When connected via HDMI, Macs typically automatically scale their display output to your TV's native aspect ratio and resolution (everything will look "right" without any hassle). dcwesley: Congrats! Many PC manufacturers are now making compact, all-in-one computers these days, some, even with touchscreens (which Apple does not yet offer). Many all-in-one, Windows-based PCs also offer significant savings over their pricier Apple counterparts.

I found this one today. OVERNIGHT APPLE BUTTER mixture of apple varieties, rather than just one type, will produce apple butter with rich, complex flavor in this slow cooker recipe. Good choices include Esopus Spitzenburg, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Northern Spy, Rome, Stayman, Winesap, and York. Enjoy the apple butter over toast or English muffins, or serve it with pork chops or chicken. Yield 4 cups (serving size: 1/4 cup) Ingredients 1 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup honey 1/4 cup apple cider 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 1/8 teaspoon ground mace 10 medium apples, peeled, cored, and cut into large chunks (about 2 1/2 pounds) Preparation Combine all ingredients in a 5-quart electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 10 hours or until apples are very tender. Place a large fine-mesh sieve over a bowl; spoon one-third of apple mixture into sieve. Press mixture through sieve using the back of a spoon or ladle. Discard pulp. Repeat procedure with remaining apple mixture. Return apple mixture to slow cooker. Cook, uncovered, on high 1 1/2 hours or until mixture is thick, stirring occasionally. Spoon into a bowl; cover and chill up to a week. Stovetop variation: Combine all ingredients in a Dutch oven. Cover and cook over medium-low heat 1 hour or until apples are very tender, stirring occasionally. Strain through a sieve as recipe instructs in Step 2. Return mixture to pan. Cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat 15 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently.

Classic Chicken Piccata recipe: white wine, capers, lemon, butter. https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/chicken-piccata-2 My whole family loves this recipe for different chicken and dumplings that was posted some time back by Pkramer in a thread on the topic.. It's just as good with plain dumplings, for another variation. Chicken and Dumplings Cuisine at Home, August 2004 For the Chicken: 1 ½ # boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into pieces ½ cup AP flour 2 T. veg oil 2 t. salt ½ t. cayenne pepper ¼ t. black pepper 1 leek, sliced into moons 1 rib celery 1 carrot, diced 1 sweet potato peeled and chunked. 2 parsnips, peeled and diced 2 bay leaves ¼ c. dry white wine 1 qt. Chicken stock 2 t. lemon juice 1 t. each chopped sage and rosemary. Preheat oven to 375, rack in center Cut chicken and dredge in flour, peppers and salt Brown the chicken in large oven proof pot with 1 T. oil over medium heat. Brown in batches, adding oil if needed. Remove from pan when brown. Sweat the veg. and bay leaves in oil until soft, 5 min. Deglaze the pan with wine, simmer until almost gone. Stir in remaining flour to coat vegetables. Gradually add stock, cover pot and transfer to oven, cook for 20 minutes.(no chicken yet) (Start dumping dough now) After 20 min, stir in chicken, lemon juice and herbs. Drop dumplings into stew and braise 20 minutes until dumplings are cooked, toothpick is clean. For the Dumplings: 1 ½ c AP flour 3 T. Parm Cheese, grated 2 ½ t. baking powder 2 t. sugar 1 t. salt ½ t. ground pepper 2/3 c. whole milk 3 T. unsalted butter Blend dry ingredients in a mixing bowl Heat milk and butter until melted, blend into dry ingredients. Shape into small balls, or use small ice cream/cookie scooper