Easy, weeknight dinners for people who "can't cook." Episode two: Quick chicken pot pie

So you can't cook? Are you sure? What if I told you that you could make chicken pot pie without knowing much about cooking at all? Just imagine being able to make some chicken pot pie tonight with your own hands without having to buy a Marie Calendar's at the grocery store instead. Sound good? Let's give it a try!

Keep in mind this is "quick" chicken pot pie, so it's not going to be the perfect, made from scratch version Grandma used to make, but it will remind you of it and take only a fraction of the time and effort. This is for people who feel intimidated by cooking or even for a more experienced cook who just needs something easy and simple to feed the family tonight.

Before we start with the actual food, get a 9x13 baking dish greased on the inside with oil or butter and keep that ready. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. You'll need some chicken meat, a can of cream of chicken soup, a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, shredded cheese and a can of biscuits.

Step 1: The chicken

Obviously the chicken is the most important element of this or it wouldn't be in the name, but it need not be anything fancy. You use already cooked chicken, like those bags of pre-cooked chicken chunks at Costco, or pull apart some leftover chicken you might have from a Rotisserie bird you bought, or if you want to extend yourself a little more, you can cut up some raw chicken and cook it in the skillet until the chunks are no longer pink in the middle. Any cut of chicken will do. You can use breast meat, thighs, light, dark, whatever you like best or have around. Just wind up with 2 cups of it.

Dump your two cups of chosen chicken into the casserole dish. If you cooked the chicken, this was literally the hardest part.

Step 2: A can and a bag

Open the bag of mixed veggies (you know, the kind with peas, carrots, corn and green beans) and dump them in the pan with the chicken. Got that can of cream of chicken soup handy, too? Open it and dump that in there too. Now STIR all that together. No, it doesn't look great at this point, I know. Just spread this mixture so it completely covers the bottom of the dish.

Step 3: Say cheese!

This part is kind of optional, but if you're like me, everything is better with cheese. Get a bag of shredded cheddar (or whatever flavor you like would be fine, probably) and sprinkle as much as you want over the spread out mixture. It's okay if you use the whole bag.

Step 4: Biscuits

Open the can of biscuits. Yeah, that pop always scares me too! Okay, so you can either just lay all the raw biscuits on the chicken stuff as they are, or you can flatten them out with your hands a little so they cover more of the surface. Or you could even tear them in pieces and lay the pieces all patchwork-like over it. Just get your biscuits on top!

Step 5: Bake

You are now done with the prep and all you have to do is put it in the oven which should be 350 degrees now. Put it in the center rack and set a timer for 30 minutes. Check on it when it is close and if the biscuits are already golden brown on the edges and puffy, take it out, or leave it a few minutes longer if the biscuits still look raw. Hopefully you will also notice liquid bubbling on the edges of the pan. Let it sit on the stove or pot holders after you take it out for a few minutes until it isn't bubbling anymore before serving.

DING! It's done! Let's eat! Congrats, you cooked! Think about how easy this was; all you really did was throw chicken, a bag of veggies, a can of soup, cheese and biscuits into a pan and put in the oven for a while. It doesn't get any simpler, and you just made a mostly nutritious meal. Now when you have nothing in the house, you'll know how to make something and won't have to just get take out. You're adulting AND saving money! Way to go!

Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments and if you've got a similar one to suggest!