Wok's For Dinner: Chicken Pot Pie

This particular recipe is one I found nearly two years ago from the Go Red For Women Heart-Healthy Recipes website. It's been tucked away in my cookbook, waiting for the day when I decided to try it out. I don't make chicken pot pie too often since it's more of a "cold weather" kind of meal. And for a heart-healthy recipe, it wasn't too bad. Not my favorite version of chicken pot pie, but it was worth trying out at least once. I think, however, that I will continue searching around for the "perfect" homemade chicken pot pie. So far, the Banquet pot pies are our favorite, but they're definitely not homemade, and they're definitely not heart-healthy!

Here's my version. I took out some of the ingredients because I just didn't have all day to slave in the kitchen over this meal. I also changed it to be a slow cooker meal instead of cooking it on the stove. And instead of making a homemade crust, I simply used a refrigerator ready-made pie crust (much quicker!).

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:
3 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
4 split chicken breasts, skins removed
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1 bay leaf
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 sm. can sliced mushrooms
2 cups homemade chicken stock
2 refrigerator ready-made pie crusts

Directions:
Place vegetables in bottom of slow cooker. Add chicken, then seasonings, mushrooms, and chicken stock. Cover with lid and cook on low 4-6 hours or on high 2-3 hours or until vegetables are tender and chicken is cooked through. Remove split chicken breasts from slow cooker, and debone. Discard bones. Shred chicken and stir into vegetable mixture in slow cooker. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place one pie crust into bottom of deep dish pie plate and trim edges. Place pot pie mixture into pie crust. Cover mixture with second pie crust. Trim edges and press crusts together to seal. Cut a few slits in the center of top pie crust and flute the edges. Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, then cover edges of crust with foil or special aluminum pie cover (not sure what it's called, but I got one at Bed Bath & Beyond for about $5). Return pot pie to oven and bake an additional 20-25 minutes or until crust comes out nice & golden.

If freezing: After slow cooking, allow pot pie mixture to cool down, then place into a gallon-size freezer bag. Gently squeeze the air out, then seal. Lay flat in freezer. Thaw 36-48 hours in refrigerator. If desired, heat in a large saucepan on the stove before putting into prepared pie plate (I didn't allow mine to thaw but about 24 hours in the fridge and it was still pretty frozen, so I had to put mine in the saucepan). Bake pot pie as indicated above.

This post is linked to Crock Pot Wednesday. :)