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

As Annie mentioned, I cook chicken specifically to make a chicken pot pie. I don't care for it made from leftover chicken. I top it with a thyme pastry, puff pastry or homemade biscuits. Chicken Pot Pie Pie can be topped with herbed crust , Puff pastry, or topped with biscuits. Dough 1 1/2ý cups all purpose flour 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh thyme 1/2 teaspoon salt 4 Tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1 inch pieces 1/4 cup cold solid vegetable shortening cut into bits 1/4 cup ice water Chicken filling 4 Large chicken breasts 5 Cups chicken broth 2 Teaspoons black peppercorns 2 bay leaves 4 springs fresh thyme 3 Large garlic cloves 2 Small carrots cut into 3/4 inch cubes 1 Small leek cut into 1/2 inch thick pieces (about 2 cups) 1 Large sweet potato 1 or 2 stalks of celery 2 or three large baking potatoes cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces 1 Cup frozen peas Sauce 4 Tablespoons butter 5 Tablespoons all purpose flour 1 Cup heavy cream 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh thyme salt and pepper Use any combination of vegetables. I have added fresh green beans cut into 1/2 inch pieces. Cook the chicken in a soup pot with the broth, peppercorns, bay leaves, thyme and garlic. Bring to a boil over high head. Reduce the heat to low and simmer very gently until the chicken is cooked. Remove the chicken from the pot and let cool. Remove meat from bones. Strain broth to remove peppercorns and herbs. Bring strained broth to a boil and add leeks, celery and carrot. Cook a couple of minutes and then add sweet potatoes and regular potatoes. Remove vegetables from broth to a bowl with the chicken and set aside. Make sauce, by melting butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add flour and then cooking stirring frequently with a whisk, until the mixture develops a nutty smell, about 2 minutes. Slowly add half the broth to the roux, whisking constantly until the sauce thickens. Add the rest of the broth along with the cream and chopped thyme. Increase the heat to moderate and allow the sauce to simmer, stirring occasionally, until it is well steeped with the flavour of thyme. Remove the pan from the head. Add the vegetables and chicken to the sauce. Add frozen peas. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon filling into the pan. Cover with pastry, trucking in edge to seal to side of pan. Reroll the dough trimmings and cut out several leaf shapes to decorate. Make small incisions in the crust to allow steam to escape. Bake in a 375 degree oven until crust in golden brown, for about 50 minutes. Here is a link that might be useful: Chicken Pot Pie with Crust Options

I'm always saying thank you here. If you weren't all so helpful I wouldn't have to be doing that. Please be more considerate. The pot pie is a pretty bland meal. It does need some jazzing up. The cranberry sauce is the best idea. I didn't have any on hand so I used some peach chutney. It was okay but the cranberry would be better and a more welcome color. Deanna. I don't know why I never thought of brownies. They were perfect. What a good thought. I must add,,,leftovers have never been an issue with this crowd. Jim, the kids do like getting off campus to eat. I think it is the calm and the set table as much as the food. For us it is such a joy to have a table full of bright, happy, young people chatting and eating with such gusto. thanks again.....Tache

Baking powder biscuits? If so, it'll lose its lift overnight. The reaction will discharge. If it's double acting, the oven part will still work, but usually the chemical part is the real bubble maker. It'll also get heavy from sitting around wet. I wonder if that's the reason for the compression of Pop'n Fresh? If you squeeze the dough hard enough that bubbles can't form, it delays the reaction? I don't know... I'd bake it ahead, just enough to really set the biscuits, then heat it on the following day to golden. Pot pies don't generally mind being rewarmed. My mother used to make shepherd's pie with biscuit crust. She didn't cut the biscuits. She just covered the top with the dough and pinched down the sides to seal the dish. If that sounds good, do the mise en place for the biscuits (if you grate butter, do it into a container for the fridge--it doesn't matter if it clumps up a bit--but make it well bigger than the volume of shavings so you don't encourage the clumping), but leave everything unmixed. If you did it that way, it would be dead easy to just make the pie ahead, and cover tightly, with plastic wrap if your dish doesn't have a cover. Then make the biscuit dough right before you put it in the oven and just slap it on top.