Chicken Pot Pie 2

 

Okay, I admit it, we've visited Chicken Pot Pie before.  And yes, that recipe is still one of my favorites.  However, this is the perfect recipe for when you are just too busy to make pie crust, and you want to throw something hearty and healthy together quickly.

 

I apologize for not having a picture of the entire product, but Laela was yanking on my pant leg telling me that she was "STARVING", so chicken pot pie with a hunk cut out is what you get.

 

Easy Chicken Pot Pie (mostly from scratch!)

 

You'll need:

• 1 sheet of puff pastry
• 2 chicken breasts (can be leftover from roasted chicken- that's what I used)
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 potatoes, chopped
• 1 celery stick, chopped
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1Tb butter
• 1Tb flour
• 1 cup chicken broth/stock
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1 sprig thyme
• Salt and pepper

Instructions:

• Preheat your oven to 425-degrees Fahrenheit.
• Heat a large skillet to medium heat.  Add a few glugs of olive oil.
• Place the onion, carrots, celery, and potatoes in the pan to cook for about ten minutes.  Stir occasionally.
• While the vegetables are cooking, heat a medium saucepan to medium-high heat.
• Add the butter and flour.  Whisk until they are well combined.  Do not allow it to brown. 
• Pour the chicken stock/broth into the pan with the butter/flour mixture.  Whisk until it thickens to an almost gravy consistency.
• Mix in the rosemary (I cut my rosemary with scissors to make it nice and easily diced) and thyme leaves.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
• If using raw chicken, cut it into cubes.  Put it in the pastry dish.
• Add the cooked vegetables, frozen peas, and the chicken stock/broth mixture to the pastry pan.  Gently stir the ingredients together.  They'll meld together well while they bake, so don't go overboard trying to mix everything together.
• Gently unroll the puff pastry over the pastry dish (I usually use a pie pan, but you can use anything you like- corning ware is great for this).  Gently pinch the sides so that they adhere to the dish.  If you have any leftover dough, hand it over to your little one to make fun shapes, and then top the pastry with the shapes.
• If you want to it to have a rich golden texture, use a pastry brush to paint the pastry with an egg wash (1 egg that's been beaten with 3 tablespoons of water).
• Bake for 30 minutes.
• Enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie

All anyone seems to talk about lately is going green. The thing that bothers me about this is that the people that talk about it the most, with maybe the exception of my buddy Dawn, are the ones out buying $9.00 cleaners instead of just buying a reusable bottle that they refill with baking soda and vinegar, or some other kind of natural cleaner. They're the ones that won't car pool, but brag that they have a Prius. Are they really living green?

How does this relate to previous posts, you ask? Well I've been trying to "eat green". Does this mean I've run to the store to buy every organic item sold? Do I seem like the kind of gal that wants to spend more than I already do on groceries? No sir.

I'm a big fan of cooking from scratch. I don't understand why our culture is in such a rush to eat, but I'm convinced a big part of that contributes to why so many people are so darn fat. You might be thinking to yourself, "but this girl makes cakes and other terrible-for-you goodies all the time, what room does she have to talk?", and in a way, you're right, but let me ask you this. When you eat a HoHo, or goodness knows whatever your processed poison is, can you honestly say that you know what's in it? At least when I make my cakes, candies, cookies, or whatever, I know what's going into it. I know what I'm feeding my family.

Let's take it one step further. You're craving chicken pot pie, so you go out and you buy store bought pie crust. Do you realize how many extra chemicals and ingredients are in there for what's supposed to be a five ingredient food?

I understand the fear of cooking that people have, and why it seems so much easier to just get something processed you can nuke in the microwave. Trust me. My husband knew how to do three things when we got married- how to boil water, how to cook a cheeseburger into submission and how to microwave. He was petrified of learning how to cook, let alone trying to make things from scratch, but after months of watching me do everything, he started to get more confident, and now he's a pretty great cook.

So how does this relate to being green? Buying local produce, meat and milk not only helps the local economy, but can be used really easily to make great meals.

Here is a delicious recipe for Chicken Pot Pie:

Ingredients:

2 large chicken breasts
4 carrots (chopped)
3 large potatoes (I like red or yukon gold with the skin on), quartered
2 cups chicken broth
1tsp onion powder
2tsp corn starch
peas (desired amount)
corn (desired amount)
salt and pepper (to taste)
2 sprigs rosemary (diced)
2 sprigs thyme
1/2 cup water

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cut chicken into cubes (If you want to make it super quick and easy, use butcher scissors)
3. Pour chicken broth into a medium pot. Bring to a boil.
4. Add rosemary and thyme (dried rosemary and thyme will also do, just cut the amount in half)
5. Add the cubed chicken to the broth. When the chicken begins to turn white, take the chicken pieces out and place in a 9" pie pan.)
6. Combine 1/2 cup of water to the 2tsp of corn starch. Whisk them together until they are a white pasty/thick liquid.
7. Whisk into the broth. The combination will thicken a bit. Set aside.
8. Boil water.
9. Add chopped carrots and potatoes to the water. Boil until fork tender.
10. Strain carrots and potatoes. Combine the carrots and potatoes with the chicken in the pie pan.
11. Add desired amount of corn and peas.
12. Add the thickened broth to the mixture in the pie pan. Salt and pepper to taste. Gently mix everything together in the pan. (You can do this in a bowl if you like, and then add it to the pan, but this saves time and dishes.)
13. Roll pie crust onto the top. Pinch the sides and stab a few slits into the pie crust.

Cook for 40 minutes, or until crust is browned.

This is my favorite pie crust recipe by the fabulous Alton Brown (I make it in batches and freeze it so it's always handy)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pie-crust-recipe/index.html


Happy, Healthy Eating!