Chicken and Biscuit Casserole

OK, I'll be the first to admit this is not a meal that is friendly to the waistline but I figure it this way, I am not going to make this every day or even once a week so I'll be fine...sometimes you just need some comfort food...in the world's longest winter, you just need comfort food.  I had to laugh, yesterday on the radio they were talking about a new index to measure for the combination of cold and snow; it's called the Winter Misery Index or WMI.  Let me tell you that my WMI is about 10,000,000,000 at this point, maybe I will start making this once a week!

1/4 C. butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 C. chopped onion
1/2 C. chopped celery
1/2 C. chopped baby carrots
1/2 C. all purpose flour
2 tsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
4 C. chicken broth
1 10oz. can of peas, drained (wonder if I could use frozen here)
4 C. diced cooked chicken meat
2 C. buttermile baking mix
2 tsp. dried basil
2/3 C. milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a skillet, melt the butter over medium high heat.  Cook and stir the garlic, onion, celery, and carrots in butter until tender.  Mix in the flour, sugar, salt, 1 tsp. dried basil, and pepper.  Stir in broth, and bring to a boil.  Stirring constantly, boil 1 minute, reduce heat, and stir in peas.  Simmer 5 minutes, then mix in chicken.  Transfer mixture to the prepared baking dish.

In a medium bowl, combine the the baking mix and 2 tsp. dried basil.  Stir in milk to form a dough.  Divide the dough to 6 to 8 balls.  On floured wax paper, use the palm of your hand to flatten each ball of dough into a circular shape; place on top of chicken mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.  Cover with foil and bake for 10 more minutes.  To serve, spoon chicken mixture over biscuits.