It took until the week of Thanksgiving, but it finally got cold. Quite cold in fact. This weekend, we got down into the 30’s. So what does that mean for the play gourmets? Time to play outside and enjoy the weather change! (ok, that is not any different than a weekend with warm weather.)

But now we have to bundle up.

And after playing outside and going from cold, to sweaty, to cold again…

We come in for some hot soup! And luckily we have Mom to teach us the finer points in consuming such a meal!

But now that the days are shorter, and the temperature has dropped and the football games start to mean more, what could be better than having some hot delicious comfort food that warms you and leaves you completely full and satisfied while finishing up your weekend in front of a football game?

So this weekend, in honor of the Earth’s axis titling away from the sun, we have decided to whip up a homemade chicken pot pie.

We don’t need a ton of things to make this happen. Just a chicken, some veggies, and flour and eggs.

We start by making some chicken stock. We boil and simmer some carrots, celery and onion with our chicken for a little while. Then, we separate the chicken from the bones and continue to boil the bones…

and chop up the separated chicken.

Now that the stock and chicken are prepared, it is time to get the filling ready. We start this with onion, celery and carrots.

This is then followed by adding flour, chicken stock, milk, sherry, thyme, chicken, peas, salt and pepper.

Now for the crust! Luckily, I had help for the crust, because there was a lot of kneading and rolling to be done.

And what I can not stress enough, is how important it is to have a sous chef that takes their job very seriously.

Next, we fill the pie.

We place a lattice top over the pie, and bake. Since the filling is already cooked, it is just a matter of waiting for that golden brown top to know you are ready to dive in and get a head start on putting on a couple extra lbs for the winter (for warmth).

Autumn in Austin