Vegetable Chicken Pot Pie

 

Chicken Pot Pie is one of my favorite comfort foods and I love the flexibility of the recipe to add variety with whichever vegetables are fresh on hand.  (And with whichever topping sounds best.  See notes below).  It was a lot easier when I could add in a can of cream of chicken soup, but isn't too much more difficult (and probably healthier) to make up my own creamy sauce.

Vegetables:

Any you have on hand that sound tasty together.  Prepare by peeling if needed; slicing, dicing or cutting into bite-sized pieces.  Some recommended vegetables include: Carrots, potatoes, green beans, zuchinni, squash, onions, celery, etc.  (Frozen vegetables may also be used).

Vegetable Cream Sauce:

Makes: 1 1/2 cups thick cream sauce (Vegetables will add more liquid when cooked).

2 T Smart Balance (butter or margarine)

2 T all-purpose flour (or whole wheat flour)

1/2 cup RiceMilk

1 cup Chicken broth

Black pepper and salt to taste

1 chicken breast, cooked, shredded

1. In saucepan, melt Smart Balance.  Whisk in flour, salt and pepper.  Whisk in milk and chicken broth.  Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly.  Cook and stir for 1 minute more.

2.  Add in shredded chicken and vegetables. Stir together. Turn to low and prepare or roll out pie dough.

CRUST:

Prep: 15 minutes, Makes: 8 servings

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup shortening or Smart Balance

6 or 7 Tablespoons cold water

Dried or fresh herbs (if desired)

1. In large mixing bowl stir together flour and salt.  Add in fresh or dried herbs to taste (if desired), I think for this recipe I added in 1/2 tsp basil, parsley and/or oregano. Using pastry blender (or Bosch wire beaters), cut in shortening/Smart Balance until pieces are pea-size. 

2.  Sprinkle 1 T water over part of mixture; gently toss with fork (mix in with whisks or switch to cookie beaters).  Push moistened dough to side of bowl.  Repeat, using 1 T water at a time, until all dough is moistened. (I usually add in 5 T water and mix together with dough paddles in Bosch then add more water as necessary).  Divide in half.  Form each into a ball.

3.  On lightly floured surface, use your hands to lightly flatten one ball of dough.  Roll from center to edge in a 12 inch circle.  To transfer to pie dish, wrap gently around rolling pin.  Unroll into a 9 inch pie plate, careful not to stretch pastry.  Trim even with rim of pie plate.

4.  Roll remaining dough into 12 inch circle.  Once filling is inside pastry, place pastry on top; trim 1/2 beyond edge of plate.  Fold top pastry under bottom pastry. Crimp edge as desired. Use any excess dough to decorate top if desired, making sure to cut slits to allow steam to escape (these can also be made decoratively).  Bake for 1 hour.  (Cover pie edges with foil last 10 minutes or so of baking, if desired, to prevent overbrowning.)

5.  Cool 5 minutes and serve.

*For another delicious twist on this recipe we've also made up the vegetable cream sauce filling then covered it with Suffing mix or home-made stuffing and baked as above.

*For a third tasty topping, try covering it with biscuits (homemade or store-bought).  It all comes out as yummy comfort food.