We love our neighbors AND the mailman

Chicken Pot Pie with a Cornbread Crust – sounded amazing. One of the best parts was the filling I could make ahead of time. I was a little shocked that the filling called for salt and pepper… and no other seasoning. Um… come on… no one wants bland chicken pot pie… I had a bag of frozen precooked chicken in the freezer – so that made the meal prep even easier. The day of the baking turned somewhat crazy…. Andy had to work late, I had to race to get the kids – race to get the topping done and on, we had Christmas cookies to run around the neighborhood…
Funny story about those cookies… The kids brought them around to the neighbors and at the last one – our neighbor doesn’t use their front door, and they have a huge gate in front of their side door. We ended up putting them in the fence where their mailbox is. I kept watching and those cookies never moved. Then they were there the next morning… then finally – gone. I started to wonder… did they get them? Or did the mailman? Well the next day our mailman thanked Andy for the delicious cookies. Ha ha!! We love our mailman so that’s wonderful, I just wonder if he was confused why we gave him a gift stuffed in our neighbors fence!
Oh yeah… casserole… we are still talking casserole… right… I baked the filling a while when we were running cookies all over, then put the topping on the hot filling. Oh man did it leak a bit – I shoved some tinfoil in quick to avoid the gross burning of drips. I was impressed when it came out – the corn bread was done, but even more impressed how thick it go and how much of the extra moisture it absorbed! Wow! A very good recipe, nice and hot to warm us up after our chasing around the neighborhood.

Cornbread Topped Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients
14 ounce package frozen mixed veggies
1/4 cup butter
1 cup chicken broth or 1 bouillon cube dissolved in 1 cup of water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons plain all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups cubed or shredded cooked chicken
For cornbread topping
1 cup plain yellow or white cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar can omit if you like
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 stick butter melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
15 ounce can of whole kernel corn drained

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
Make the filling
Place frozen veggies in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and cook until veggies are tender, about 5-10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Add chopped onions and sauté until just barely tender, about 2-3 minutes. Add chicken broth, salt, pepper, and flour and stir until well combined. Add milk and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture has thickened, about five minutes. Remove from heat and pour over the vegetables. Stir in chicken.
Spoon veggie mixture into the prepared dish and set aside.
Make Cornbread Topping
Place cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and stir to combine. Add milk, melted butter and eggs and stir until smooth. Stir in cheese and drained corn.
Spoon cornbread mixture on top of veggie mixture and spread to cover the filling. Bake until cornbread is lightly browned on top, about twenty minutes.