Redemption meal? Yes. I had to make up for my meatloaf cupcakes. It was a must.
There isn't a better redemption meal than chicken pot pie. What is not to love? One dish, creamy, stick-to-your-ribs filling, and all with a flaky biscuit topping. Chicken pot pie is nostalgic for me--it reminds me of being a kid. When we were young, my brother Nick was a picky eater, but he loved chicken pot pie. So much so, my mom had to tell him everything was "chicken" to get him to eat it--chicken meatloaf, chicken spaghetti, chicken casserole, etc. Hey, as a mom, you gotta do what you gotta do!
Chicken pot pie is not necessarily considered a healthy dish but there are a lot of ways to make it better for your without skimping on flavor or losing any of the comfort factor: No cans of condensed soup, organic dairy milk, hormone-free chicken breast, lots of vegetables, and whole wheat flour as a thickener. A pot pie is not complete without a biscuit topping. For those of you who make them from scratch, more power to you. Me, I haven't made it that far yet. I resort to refrigerated buttermilk biscuits. I prefer
Immaculate Baking Company's buttermilk biscuits--a step up (or a giant leap) from Pillsbury biscuits. Immaculate's products are non-GMO, they use unbleached flour, contain no artificial preservatives, and have no-hydrogenated oils. Win-Win.
Let's get to the goodness...
Healthier Chicken Pot Pie
-Adapted from Motherhood on the Rocks's Healthy and Easy Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients:
1 lb of organic, antibiotic-free chicken
1 large sweet onion, diced
2 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup of organic celery, sliced
1 cup of carrots, sliced
1 cup of frozen peas, unthawed
1 cup of frozen corn, unthawed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup of organic dairy milk
1 can of buttermilk biscuits
*I specify the celery to be organic because it is one of the highest pesticide-contaminated foods according to EWG.
Directions:
1. Bake chicken at 350 for 20 minutes, or until cooked. Let cool, then shred or dice.
2. Heat olive oil in a soup pot, saute onion and celery until soft.
3. Add chicken broth, carrots, corn, peas, thyme, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Bring
to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, approximately
10 minutes.
4. Slowly sprinkle whole wheat flour into the vegetable mixture, stirring constantly to thicken.
5. Slowly add dairy milk, stirring constantly.
6. Add chicken breast.
7. Continue to simmer for 10 minutes, or until sauce has thickened.
8. Coat a baking dish with olive oil cooking spray. Pour vegetable/chicken mixture into dish.
9. Place biscuits on top of the mixture. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 or until biscuits are
bronzed.
Oh my Lord, this is heavenly. Cody and I couldn't stop eating this. I may have exceeded my one serving limit on this dinner. Since it is just us two, I split the filling into two different baking dishes so I could put one in the freezer. I am trying to cook once, eat twice, as much as possible this year. I am looking forward to pulling that baby out of the freezer some chilly night when only a belly-warming dinner will do.
