RECIPE DOCTOR
Throw together your own chicken pot pie

By Elaine Magee
Knight Ridder News Service

Q. My family has gotten in the habit of eating frozen chicken pot pies once a week. But the other day, I read the label, and was shocked at all the fat we were eating. Do you have a lighter and quick recipe that I can make at home instead?

A. I avoid making pie crust like the plague — I'm not sure why, but I do. So when this reader needed a "quick" recipe for chicken pot pie, I turned to the Pillsbury dough boy (and his refrigerated pie crust). The trick is to cut calories and fat grams from the crust in half by only using a top crust on our pot pies (instead of a top and a bottom.)

Now for the filling. Again, in the interest of time, I used the breast meat (skinless) from a roasted/rotisserie chicken purchased at the grocery store, to give me the 2 cups of chopped chicken I needed. I used a tablespoon of butter or canola oil to brown the onions instead of 3 tablespoons and made my gravy with 1/2 cup of fat-free half and half instead of heavy cream. I added some carrots and diced potatoes.

I loved being able to throw these pies together and into the oven within about 15 minutes and my family loved eating them.

Instead of a 714 calorie pot pie, we have a 415 calorie pie. Instead of scarfing down 51 grams of fat (20 grams of which are saturated), we have 17 grams of fat (4 grams of which are saturated).

Quick and Comforting Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe makes four small-sized pot pies, but you can make eight (or four or five man-sized pot pies) by doubling the recipe.

(The original recipe had 714 calories, 51 grams fat, 20 grams saturated fat, 108 mg cholesterol per serving.)

This makes four regular-sized pot pies:

• 1 1/2 cups diced potatoes (about 2 medium), peeled or not depending on preference
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 tablespoon butter or canola oil
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 3 tablespoons Wondra quick-mixing flour
• 1/2 cup fat-free half and half (divided use)
• 1 cup condensed or double strength lower-sodium chicken broth (canned can be used) (see note)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (more or less to preference)
• 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1/2 cup frozen petite peas (if you don't want to use peas, increase the carrots by 1/2 cup)
• 2 cups skinless roasted chicken breast, bite-sized chunks, firmly packed (you can buy a rotisserie chicken from your supermarket and use the breast meat)
• About 3/4 of a single pie crust (such as Pillsbury's folded pie crust in the refrigerated section)

Add diced potatoes, carrots and 1/4 cup water to microwave-safe dish and cook on high, covered, until vegetables are cooked through (about 8 minutes) then drain well in colander. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and set out four individual aluminum pie pans.

Heat butter or oil in a medium nonstick saucepan. Add onions and cook on medium heat, stirring frequently, until light brown. Meanwhile, add 3 tablespoons of Wondra quick-mixing flour to a 1 cup measure, add 1/4 cup of half and half and stir to make a paste.

When onions are light brown, reduce heat to simmer and stir in chicken broth, pepper, salt, poultry seasoning, and the half and half mixture. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth. Stir in peas, drained diced potato, carrots and chicken.

Spoon 1/4 of the mixture into individual pot pie dishes and cover each with pie crust cut to cover the top of the pot pie. Cut initials into the crust with a sharp knife (this will help vent the pot pie as it bakes). Bake pot pies for about 25 minutes or until the crust is nicely brown on top. Place pot pies on a cookie sheet if you are worried the filling will bubble out of the dish.

Note: If you can't find condensed lower-sodium broth, use ready-to-serve broth and stir in a couple of packets or teaspoons of Herb Ox lower-sodium chicken broth powder.

Per pot pie: 415 calories, 22 g protein, 43 g carbohydrates, 17 g fat (3.5 g saturated fat, 8 g monounsaturated fat, 4.5 g polyunsaturated fat), 36 mg cholesterol, 4.5 g fiber, 735 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 36 percent. Weight Watchers points: 9.