Mamas, there isn’t a better deal to be had than the $5 Costco rotisserie chicken, am I right? Each time we buy one we always have leftovers. This last time with leftovers, I wanted to shake things up and try a new/old traditional meal; chicken potpie. I proudly told my husband I was even going to make the crust from scratch!  The next morning I searched for the best recipe. Best recipe is actually code for the recipe where I already had all the ingredients! Who’s with me mamas? This one has five stars, but this one I don’t have to go to the grocery store. SOLD!  

As I read through the recipe, I came to the homemade crust portion. The author of the recipe gave ‘no judgment’ permission to use store bought crust. And after reading the steps, (which reminded me of high school chemistry class), I accepted her permission. I left on my afternoon work break for a quick trip to the grocery store. I was on the hunt for crust; lovely crust from the store that requires no scientific equations. I mean, do I even own a food processor? I think not.  And how cold is ice-cold water? And does that really matter? As you can tell, my decision to BUY the crust was a solid choice.

I was searching for the crust. They had non-refrigerated options, which just felt wrong.  So I went to the freezer section. Again unimpressed with my options.  But this phyllo dough was calling to me. It looked like the ‘freshest’ option in the freezer section. I don’t know what constitutes a fresh option in my mind, but just work with me here mamas. I didn’t really know what phyllo dough was, so I sent a text to hubby. “Think I can do puff?”  His response “Not traditional, but might work…” Well naturally, reading that text, I interpreted it as permission. YES!  Mission complete.

That evening as I embarked on my new recipe. I took the phyllo dough out. Well, let me clarify that statement, I actually forgot put the dough in the freezer when I got home. But, hey, it was frozen, so I just helped it thaw. No harm, no foul. (I have a feeling after reading my meal prep rituals; I may have fewer future dinner guests). I took the dough out of the package. Confession time.  I have never worked with, or even felt phyllo/puff pastry before. It felt like paper, like it wasn’t edible. Is this edible? How do they even get dough this thin? (I may have to check out YouTube) I had to take a leap of faith, and assume that I was not cooking paper!

Hubby came home just as I put my ‘creation’ in the oven.  When he expressed doubts at my choice of dough, I reminded him of his text ‘blessing’ my experiment.  After 20 years of marriage, I still don’t know how to interpret my husband’s warnings via text.  Apparently his “not traditional’ comment was supposed to dissuade me from the phyllo dough option. But it had the opposite affect. That was my green light!

How many times do I have this same interaction with God? When it’s something I don’t want to do, I need a lot of reassurance from God. But when it’s something I want, all of the sudden a ‘not traditional’ reply means a green light!  

In the end, the not tradition chicken potpie, was edible! It won’t win any appearance awards, but the recipe is a keeper, minus the phyllo dough. 

The final consequence of my unintended phyllo dough experiment; MORE leftovers. I several phyllo sheets remain, and apparently phyllo has a short shelf life. So this mama is cooking Greek tonight; a dish called Kreatopita.  Wish me luck!