Perhaps the epitome of comfort food is a chicken pot pie. Rich and creamy, filled with chicken and vegetables and topped with pastry, it’s hard to beat a chicken pot pie for dinner. Nancy and I are particularly fond of Marie Callender’s pot pies, and it was once our go-to meal for a quick, weeknight entrée. Then one morning as the hand on my bathroom scales had been consitently moving in the wrong direction, I looked at the calorie content of a single, 10-ounce pot pie and it was 484. I had been eating two at a sitting. That’s about a thousand calories without eating anything else!
I have found that homemade food is not nearly so fattening as store-bought and processed food, so I decided to experiment and make a pot pie from scratch – well, almost from scratch.
Here’s how I made mine – nothing fancy, but it was delicious!
First, boil 2 breast portions with all skin removed in about 6 cups of water for 30 minutes, then remove to cool, and chop the chicken into bite-size portions. Also, reserve the chicken stock.
In a fry pan with a third cup of melted butter, add a half-cup of chopped celery and a half-cup of chopped onions, sautéing until tender.
Next, add a pack of frozen peas and carrots and two cups of the chicken stock. Once the frozen vegetables are thawed, add a half-cup of flour and a can of cream of chicken soup. When the mixture as thick and bubbly, stir in a 1/4 cup of light cream, and pour the mixture over the chopped chicken in a round casserole dish. Next, I cover the casserole with a single pie crust, trim the edges and bake at 400 for 40 minutes.
This is a relatively easy dish to prepare and I believe it to be tastier than even Marie Callendar’s famous chicken pot pies.
Homemade Chicken Pot Pie
Two large breast sections (skin removed)
1/3 stick butter
1/2 c chopped celery
1/2 c chopped onion
1 bag frozen peas and carrots
½ c flour
1 can cream of Chicken Soup
1 Pillsbury pie crust
Salt and pepper to taste