By Inauguration was Wednesday. I watched twenty minutes of it on my phone between patients and felt something I had difficulty naming for a few days and then named: relief. Not joy, not triumph, just the specific sensation of a door that had been generating anxiety closing. I told Sean. He said "yeah." That was the whole conversation. We are not people who linger on the political, but we live in the world and the world had a specific texture this week and the texture changed on Wednesday afternoon and I am writing it down because it is true.
Nora is ten months. She is now walking assisted -- holding one of my fingers and going wherever she wants to go, which is everywhere. She wants to go into every room. She wants to examine every object at floor level. She has identified the dog bowl at my parents' house as a place of interest and I have to run interference every visit. She is thorough. She is systematic. She is going to be a very specific kind of person when she is older and I am both proud and slightly overwhelmed by this preview.
Chicken pot pie on Thursday because the cold came back and I had leftover roast chicken and Liam had asked for it twice. He says "pot pie" with the same energy most people reserve for good news. I made it in the big cast iron skillet with the puff pastry top and we ate it watching the snow fall outside and I thought: this apartment has been good to us. It has held us through a year I could not have predicted. I have been ungrateful for the small space sometimes. I don't want to be.
The pot pie I made Thursday was less about ambition and more about need — the cold had come back, Liam had asked for it twice, and I wanted something that would make the apartment feel like enough. This chicken and cheese tortilla pie captures that same spirit: it’s layered, warm, and comes together quickly with what you already have on hand, which is exactly what a Thursday after a week like that one calls for.
Chicken & Cheese Tortilla Pie
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked chicken, shredded or diced
- 1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained
- 1 can (10 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 large flour tortillas (8–10 inch)
- 2 cups shredded Mexican blend or cheddar cheese, divided
- 2 tablespoons sliced green onions, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat. Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9-inch round baking dish or oven-safe skillet.
- Make the filling. In a large bowl, stir together the shredded chicken, drained tomatoes with chiles, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, cumin, garlic powder, and black pepper until well combined.
- Layer the pie. Place one tortilla in the bottom of the prepared dish. Spread about 1/3 of the chicken filling over the tortilla, then sprinkle with a generous 1/4 of the shredded cheese. Repeat layers — tortilla, filling, cheese — two more times, ending with a final tortilla on top.
- Top and bake. Spread any remaining filling over the top tortilla and cover with the remaining cheese. Bake uncovered for 28–32 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling and the edges are lightly golden.
- Rest and serve. Let the pie rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Garnish with sliced green onions and serve warm, directly from the skillet.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 390 | Protein: 27g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 720mg