Chicken Pot Pie

Okay, so this isn't the best picture, I completely forgot to take a pic before I "staged" it, lol. But in all honesty, this is the BEST chicken potpie I have ever had. My girlfriend Lisa and I were lucky enough to go to the Taste Of Home Cooking School that was in town back in September. It was SUCH a blast, they had a ton of vendors there before hand, that you could check out, taste samples, wine, etc. Then for about two hours you watched a rep from TOH cook. When you came in, they gave you a reusable grocery bag full of goodies, including a TOH special edition Fall magazine, a Light and Delicious magazine, and a Casserole cookbook. This is where this recipe comes from. It is AMAZING! The only changes I made to it, was to make my own white sauce, as I don't use canned soups.

Vegetable Chicken Potpie

1 unbaked deep-dish pastry shell (9 inches) (I didn't use this, I just had a topping)
3/4 C. each chopped carrot, celery and onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbl canola oil
1/2 pound boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes ( I actually had cubed cooked chicken in the freezer already)
1 C. chicken broth
3/4 C. peeled potatoes
3/4 C. frozen peas
2 Tbl. minced fresh parsley ( I always have fresh parsley on hand, it's super cheap, and I have a lot of recipes that call for it)
2 Tbl. butter
2 Tbl all purpose flour
1 C. milk
1/2 C. condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1/4 tsp. hot pepper sauce

TOPPING:
2 C. all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 C. buttermilk
1/3 C. unsweetened applesauce
2 Tbl. butter, melted

Line unpricked pastry shell with a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. Bake at 425 for 8 minutes. Remove foil; bake 5 minutes longer.

In a large skillet, saute vegetables and garlic in oil for 5 minutes or until crisp tender. Add chicken; cook until lightly browned. Add broth; bring to a boil. Add the potatoes, peas and parsley. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes.

In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour; gradually stir in milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat; stir in soup until smooth. Add hot pepper sauce. Stir into vegetable mixture. Transfer to pastry shell.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Combine buttermilk, applesauce and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Drop by spoonfuls over the filling (I spread it out so it covered the entire pan). Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

I also added shredded cheese before adding the topping.