A leaner pot pie.

One of the things that I love to eat is chicken pot pie. Typically I just buy the frozen version so that I can have a cooking "day off" every once in a while. But recently, I read this article about the 20 worst foods in America, and low and behold, Stouffer's white meat chicken pot pie made the worst list at 1,160 calories!!!

This made me rethink my easy pot pie cooking habit and firmly decide to prepare my very own. (My new personal casserole dishes were a great motivator as well...) I made my recipe up after looking through a billion cookbook and internet sources, and it turned out great. The best part? (Besides the taste, of course.) Mine was only 463 calories per serving.
I admit, I did use some pre-packaged foods to make it, so it's probably possible to lower the calories even further. One thing I know that helped was omitting the bottom crust. When you have a great flaky crust on top - you don't even realize that the bottom crust is missing.

I'm not a recipe writer, but scroll on down if you want to see my version.

Amanda's Chicken Pot Pie

One recipe for Double Pie crust (I added mine below)

1 onion, diced

1 box of Rice-a-Roni rice pilaf

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

4-5 cups cooked, chopped or pulled chicken

2-3 cups frozen vegetable mix or vegetable soup starter mix

pinch of salt

Cook veggies according to the package instructions; drain and set aside.

Saute the onion in olive oil until almost translucent, then add the rice and continue cooking according to the package instructions.*

Combine, rice mixture, chicken, vegetables, soups and salt and pour into individual casserole dishes or pie plates. (This recipe was perfect for 5 10 oz. dishes and one pie plate, or two pies.)

Top with pie crust. Flute edges and add a slit for venting. Bake at 425 for 25-30 minutes or until crust is a golden brown.

Let cool for 5-10 minutes.

*Note: I think next time I might add some mushrooms into the onion and pilaf step.

Double Pie Crust

2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup crisco

6-7 tablespoons of very cold water

Combine flour and crisco with a pastry cutter until all the pieces are about the size of a pea and similar in size. (You want the lumps - 'cause that is what makes the crust flaky.)

Add the water, one tablespoon at a side and fluff with a fork after each addition. I like to push all the dry mixture to one side of the bowl and the moistened bits to the other side so that I know what has been watered and what hasn't.

Do NOT over mix. It's really going to not look much like a dough. There are going to be pieces falling off all over the place - and that is good. It's exactly what you want. It'll all mash together eventually when you roll it out.

So, take half of your now flaky dough and tenderly shape it into a ball (still - don't over mix!) and wrap it in cellophane. Do the same thing with the other half. Now put both of your dough balls in the fridge. It'll be easier to roll them out when they are colder.

To roll them, sandwich them in between parchment, or sprinkle a dusting of flour on your rolling surface. Make sure your rolling pin has flour as well. Once the dough is the size that will fit over your pie plate (you'll need to cut special pieces for the personal casseroles) use your floured rolling pin to pick it up and place it over your pie.

Voila.

Easy peasy.