Chicken Pot Pie

It's fall again, which means time for warm and fuzzy (not literally) food. My husband suggested I make a chicken pot pie last weekend, which sounded just about perfect as long as I could morph it into something healthy! The search for a recipe online turned up about 10 zillion versions, so I closed my eyes and picked one, and came up with the following ingredient list :

crust:
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup lard (I hope you're as horrified as I am!)
6 T cold water

filling:
1/2 cup butter (yowza!)
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
black pepper to taste
2 T finely chopped onion
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
3 T butter (again??)
3 cups cooked chicken, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalk celery, chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and diced

The way I see it, three things need to happen to make this into something I would feed my family on a regular basis

• get rid of that awful crust. If you haven't explored using phyllo dough for recipes like pot pies and wellingtons in place of puff pastry or pie crust, I highly recommend it. Phyllo dough can provide a flaky crust without much fat.
• Optimize the fillings. See my rant about meat here. I like to use free-range, organic chicken and also cut down the amount (helps the wallet, too). The veggie variety is good in this recipe, but to make it better, cut down to one potato and add some frozen peas and green beans or whatever else floats your boat.
• Cut down the high-fat sauce/gravy. You want enough to coat the veggies and meat and maybe have a little bit leftover at the bottom of the bowl, but really, do you want pot pie or do you want cream soup? Cutting down to about 2/3 of what the recipe calls for also helps keep the crust from getting soggy.

The version I ended up with looked like this:

4-5 sheets phyllo dough

1/4 cup butter or trans-fat free margarine
1/4 cup plus 2 T flour
1 tsp salt
black pepper to taste
2 T finely chopped onion
3 cups broth
1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 T butter or margarine
2 cups cooked organic, free-range chicken
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalk celery, chopped
1 medium potato, diced
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup frozen green beans, thawed

1T butter, melted

1. Follow package directions to thaw phyllo dough.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
3. In a large saucepan, melt 1/4 cup butter. Blend in flour, salt, pepper and onion. Gradually stir in broth. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly. In a separate pan, saute mushrooms in 1T butter, then stir into saucepan. Stir in chicken and the rest of the veggies. Mix well and pour in to casserole dish.
4. Cover filling with layers of phyllo dough, brushing lightly with melted butter to seal. Cut several smalls slits in the crust to vent.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly.

It's cheeseball season! I mean....football season.

Today I decided to try to invent a healthier alternative to a cheeseball, in honor of the return of football season and all the delicious tailgating food that comes along with it.

Your classic cheeseball appetizer consists of a couple blocks of cream cheese and some shredded cheddar, along with seasonings,usually worchestershire sauce and sometimes the lovable chemistry-experiment ranch seasoning packets. See here. Cream cheese is spreadable evil, by the way. It is a high fat food that has very little in the way of useful nutrients, unlike many other dairy products.

My version turned out to be a cheese spread, which was delicious but did not hold it's shape very well, sadly. In the place of part of the cream cheese, I used part-skim ricotta which has roughly half the calories of full-fat cream cheese and twice the protein (don't forget, protein is the nutrient that is best at helping you feel full!). I also found a good reduced fat cheddar to shred (gotta have the sharp kind for the extra flavor) and used green onion and garlic for some natural flavor. Here's what I came up with:

Terri's tailgate cheese spread

8 oz cream cheese (regular or 1/3 less fat)
3/4 cup part-skim ricotta
1 cup shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar
2 tsp worchestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a mixing bowl. Transfer to serving bowl and sprinkle with chopped pecans.

Looking for a healthful cracker to serve with this spread? Try these, these, or these, which are all higher in fiber (read: whole grain), and lower in fat by about half when compared to a typical cracker like Ritz.

Pantry Raid Tip of the Week

Don't be afraid to invest some money in your groceries. This survey found that North Americans cite expense as the top reason for not eating more healthfully. Yet, we spend billions and billions of dollars on treating diseases such as diabetes, some cancers, and heart disease that could be prevented by eating healthy. Seems like our priorities are out of wack! Why would we rather spend money to treat diseases, rather unsuccessfully as it usually is, than prevent them ever beginning in the first place?

If you buy lots of junk food and skimp on the fresh produce to save money, keep in mind that you may end up spending that money on hospital bills or medications later, with the additional expenses of time and heartache.