Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Skinny Chicken Pot Pie.

I love Chicken Pot Pie.
Wait, love isn't strong enough of a word.
I would marry Chicken Pot Pie and have its babies and call them mini-pots. 

The thing keeping me from eating Chicken Pot Pie for every single meal of the day is that it's so fattening. But delicious. And loaded with carbs. But delicious. 

What's a girl on a diet to do? 

Mama Laughlin to the rescue. I love this chick. She's hilarious and doing a magnificent job at losing baby weight while keeping life in perspective and being a human. Right up my alley. I follow her posts and was skimming through her recipes earlier this week. I found a skinny version of chicken pot pie and the heavens separated and angels began to sing. 

I made a couple adjustments to the recipe and will note them below. 
The ingredients are simple and able to be adjusted to your liking. Well, at least I did.

What you'll need are:


-1 rotisserie chicken  *I used 2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
-carrots *I used 20 babies. Carrots! Baby carrots! 
-6 celery stalks-1 small yellow onion *I left out the onion. Hubs doesn't like it and I have a Mike Meter at stake here!
-4 Tbsp. fat free evaporated milk
-1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
-1 1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch
-1 can Reduced Fat crescent rolls

DIRECTIONS (complete with my own pictures. You're welcome)


1. Preheat your oven to 350.


2. Cut up carrots and celery. Put in a pot with 2 cups of water and simmer until veggies are soft. Good to do this first because it takes the longest.


3. Cut up chicken into bite size pieces, cook in skillet, set aside.


4. When veggies are soft, drain them - but be sure to save the vegetable stock!

5. Set veggies aside and pour vegetable stock back into pot.


6. Add in 1 cup of chicken broth, 4 Tbsp. of fat free evaporated milk, and 1 1/2 Tbsp. of cornstarch (mixed with a little water first). Stir.


7. Add back in your veggies and chicken.


8. Simmer for a few minutes. While that is simmering, take your reduced fat crescent rolls and roll them out on the bottom of a 9x13 ungreased pan, pressing the seams together.



9. Pour mixture on top of crescent rolls.



10. Bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes.


I let it set for a few minutes before digging in. My mouth thanks me. Burns are bad.


Overall, this was good. I love veggies and chicken. And crescent rolls. All the goods were there. I put all the ingredients into My Fitness Pal and divided the dish by 8 servings. My version turned out to only be 164 calories per serving! And you know I ate 2 servings :) 

Some things I might change for next time are as follows:

* I would shred my chicken instead of chunks. Like Mama L did. I should have just paid attention, right?

* My version was too runny, less gravy-like. I'd prefer it a little thicker. I would think I need more corn starch. Or less broth. Suggestions?

* My version had soggy crescent rolls in the bottom.  I would think I could cook the crescents in the pan before adding the veggie/chicken mixture (sort of like pizza crust is done beforehand) so it is flaky and delicious.

* Another way to avoid the soggy bottom could be to add the crescent rolls on TOP of the mixture, then bake. 

The real test is the Mike Meter. 


He gave it a 5.2. His comments were that it tasted like chicken noodle soup without the noodles. He agrees with my tweaking ideas. I think we will see this one again, though - with the adjustments. It was tasty!

Happy Cooking!

2 comments:

  1. I think putting the crescents on top would be awesome!! And more cornstarch should thicken things up!! I might have to try this!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please do! I'll definitely be trying this again soon with dome adjustments.

      Delete

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