Advent Blogging Day Nine and Chicken Tater Tot Pie

Sometimes, you just want comfort food for dinner when it's cold and snowy and -8 degrees outside!

I thought about chicken pot pie, but Kevin doesn't like pie crust very much on savory foods. Now, if I made a cherry pie for dinner, he's eat the entire thing!

I decided to make a chicken pot pie casserole...but I had the inspiration to use tater tots as a crust. It turned out REALLY good!

First, I diced up all the veggies I could find in the fridge- 1/2 jalapeno, 1/2 onion, 2 peeled carrots, 2 stalks of celery, 1 small red bell pepper, 1 small yellow bell pepper, 15 sugar snap peas, 6 spears of asparagus, and 1/2 can of water chestnuts. Sorry, the photo editor is not cooperating today- I had some beautiful photos!

Then, I diced 2 cloves of garlic and put a pan on the stove over medium heat with 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 teaspoon of olive oil.

While the pan heated up, I chopped up a couple of poached boneless skinless chicken breasts. (I always keep a couple already cooked or grilled in the fridge for last minute salads, wraps or dinner)
I mixed one can of cream of chicken soup with 1/2 can of half and half and blended it together in a separate bowl.

When the pan was hot, I added the vegetables and sauteed them for about 5 minutes. I added 1/2 cup of frozen peas and stirred them in to the veggie mixture along with the chopped chicken breasts. Then, I added the cream of chicken soup/half and half mixture and cooked for a few minutes, until it was nice and thick. I removed it from the stove to cool a bit.

I sprayed a casserole dish with non-stick spray, then poured the mixture into the casserole dish.

I topped the chicken and veggie mixture with frozen tater tots.

Some of the pictures are cooperating but not all of them!

Then, I sprinkled about 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese on top and popped it into a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes. This is a small Le Creuset casserole dish- 10" x 7". (Thanks, Eleni!!) It gets a lot of use in our house with just the two of us!

It smelled fabulous while it was cooking...and tasted even better!

A little green salad with tomatoes and cucumbers and some homemade blue cheese dressing, and we had a down-home country dinner on a chilly winter night!

Oh, and of course, a glass of wine :)