Clean Eating Chicken Pot Pie

     I found this recipe a while back in the Clean Eating magazine. I have always loved chicken pot pie and it's a great comfort food, so I loved finding a clean eating version. I was skeptical about it having that 'comfort food' taste, but it was delicious and family approved!

     I modified it somewhat to make it even cleaner that it was, but you can change it up to whatever you use (almond milk, grapeseed oil...).

Ingredients:

. olive oil
. 1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour plus 1 tbsp. for kneading, divided
. 1  1/4 tsp. baking powder
. 1/4 tsp. Himalayan salt plus additional, to taste
. 3 tsp. grapeseed oil
. 2 carrots, halved lengthwise (if thick) and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
. 1/2 white onion, chopped
. 2 cloves garlic, chopped
. 8 oz. button mushrooms, sliced
. 1  1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 3/4-inch chunks
. 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
. 1 cup organic low sodium chicken broth
. 1  1/2 cups almond milk
. 1 cup frozen baby or petite peas
. 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
. 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
. fresh ground black pepper, to taste
. 3 tbsp. cold unsalted organic butter

Instructions:

One: Preheat oven to 400* and rub a 2 qt. baking dish with olive oil. In a large bowl, whisk together 1 cup flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Two: In a large skillet on medium-high, heat 1 tsp. oil. Add carrots and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until carrots are tender-crisp and onion is translucent, 8-10 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a bowl. Mist skillet with cooking spray and return to medium-high. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and mushrooms are lightly browned, 8-10 minutes. Add to bowl.

Three: In same skillet, heat remaining 2 tsp. oil on medium-high. Add chicken and Italian seasoning and cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is no longer pink in center, about 8 minutes. Return vegetables to skillet and stir to combine. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup flour and stir until chicken and vegetables are thoroughly coated and flour is no longer white, about 2 minutes. Add broth and stir to combine. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring frequently, then immediately reduce heat to medium-low and stir until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Stir in peas and cook until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup parsley and lemon juice. Season with additional salt and pepper and transfer to baking dish.

Four: Cut butter into 1/4- to 1/2- inch cubes and add to reserved flour mixture. With pastry blender, a fork or your fingers, incorporate butter into flour until mixture is shaggy with bits of butter the size of small peas. Add remaining 1/2 cup milk and stir until flour is just moistened. Lightly flour a work surface with remaining 1 tbsp. flour and briefly knead the dough into a ball with floured hands. Divide into 6 equal pieces and lightly pat each into a disk about 2  1/2 inches wide and scant 1/2 inch thick. Place disks on top of chicken mixture, evenly spaced about 1  1/2 inches apart. Bake until liquid is bubbling and biscuits are lightly browned and cooked through, 23 to 25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tbsp. parsley.

Tip: Wait until the very last moment (after the chicken mixture is finished and ready to bake) before adding the cold organic butter to the flour mixture and finishing the biscuits. This ensures a better rise and fluffier texture.

I hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as we did!

How Sweet Are You?

Hi, my name is tori and I'm an addict....a sugar addict. I can go long periods of time without sugar and not have a problem with it. But, when special occasions roll around and pies and cakes are everywhere then I eat a piece, that sweet tooth comes back and I have a hard time getting it under control again. After a few days in a row of eating sugar, my face breaks out, I get headaches, and I start feeling really tired during the day. So, what exactly are the dangers of sugar? I don't think that we fully understand the impact that eating an excess of sugar does (and most Americans do eat an excess of sugar and don't even realize it). But, here are a few things that do we know.

  -Sugar and carbs(which turn into sugar) contribute more to heart disease than fats do.
  -Sugar feeds tumors and can make cancer worse.
  -Excess consumption of sugar has clearly been linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, among other diseases.
  -Sugar activates reward centers in your brain similar to drugs like cocaine, thereby making sugar addictive (which explains my crazy sugar cravings after eating a piece of cake!)

   Your body processes all sugars differently, but that would be a whole other post! They cause your blood sugar levels to rapidly spike and then fall.
                                         

  High corn fructose corn syrup is processed even differently than refined table sugar. Your body actually can't digest HFCS because it doesn't know how to process it, so it's more rapidly absorbed into your bloodstream. The fructose then goes straight to the liver and triggers lipogenesis (the production of fats like triglycerides and cholesterol). This is why it's the major cause of liver damage in this country and causes a condition called "fatty liver" which affects 70 million people.
   The rapidly absorbed glucose triggers big spikes in insulin- our body's major fat storage hormone. Both these features of HFCS lead to increased metabolic disturbances that drive increases in appetite, weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, and more.

  High doses of these free fructose have been proven to literally punch holes in the intestinal lining, allowing nasty bi-products of toxic gut bacteria and partially digested food proteins to enter your blood stream and trigger the inflammation that we know is the root of obesity, cancer, heart disease, dementia and accelerated aging.

  So, what are your alternatives to processed sugar and high fructose corn syrup? And, no, I'm not talking about sugar substitutes, like splenda! Those are worse than sugar! I mean the healthier alternatives.

                                                                          Honey

 

Agave Nectar

 

 

Coconut Palm Sugar

 

 

Maple Syrup

 

 

Date Sugar

 

Xylitol

 

 

 

If you would like help with cutting sugar out of your diet, or more information about the alternatives- email me at rodriguez_tori@yahoo.com.

 

 

 

 

 

Info in HFCS- DrHyman.com.