Chicken Vegetable Cobbler

Yet another frequent flyer on my menu. This is wonderful in the winter for a one dish meal as it's hearty, warm and flavourful. This one's also an original of mine. I have several variations, but this is how I prepared it tonight:

2c cut up cooked chicken
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can condensed cream of celery soup
1/2 can evaporated fat-free milk
3 c frozen mixed vegetables
1 batch drop biscuit dough (recipe below)

I cooked two 2-quart baking dishes of this tonight. I'll freeze one for another day.

First I place the chicken, cream soups, and milk in the baking dish and stir to get the soup thinned out and fairly distributed. Then I add the mixed vegetables and stir again. It seems like a dry mixture, but the water from the frozen vegetables will moisten the mixture more as it cooks. For the biscuits:

1/2 c shortening
2 cups flour (I use 1 cup whole wheat, 1 cup all purpose)
1 T sugar (I use Splenda and nobody knows!)
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 c milk

Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients using a pastry blender until it resembles fine crumbs. Stir in the milk. It will be a sticky mixture. Using a tablespoon, spread one table spoon of biscuit dough at a time onto the top of the vegetable-chicken mixture. I thin these out as I've found if they're very thick used this way, they don't cook all the way through. These will not completely cover the mixture -- you'll have spaces between each biscuit.

When my husband makes this recipe, he reduces the milk to 3/4 cup and rolls out the biscuit dough to about 1/4" thickness and then places it directly over the mixture. We know I'm a lazy cook so I don't make that particular extra effort.

I bake this at 350 for 35-45 minutes until the biscuits are cooked all the way through and no longer doughy on the undersides. Allow the pan to cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

If you halve this recipe, your choice of cream soup will be fine. You don't need two different ones for a good flavour. You'll have extra biscuit dough, so just drop the leftovers by spoonful onto a baking sheet and allow them to bake next to the cobbler. They'll be done in about 20 minutes when they're a nice golden brown on the outside.

Prep time is 20 minutes. Not bad for an entire meal in one dish!