My Sweet Things

A few weeks ago I was telling my husband how I had a craving for chicken pot pie. I have warm, happy thoughts of that most delicious meal. When my brother and I were young and stayed home over summer break, Banquet Pot Pies were an easy satisfying meal. That silver bowl with top and bottom crust filled with perfect squares of chicken, peas, cubed potatoes and green beans were our lunchtime favorite. Criss cross a cut on the top and heat in the oven. Out came a hot, bubbly, golden crusted pie. Goodness!

As I got older and started paying attention to those dreaded calories and fat, I realized those golden chicken pot pies were not the best food choice so I have stayed clear of them for a long time. All good things come to those that wait for sure because I came across a recipe for Chicken Pot Pie Soup. Thanks to Gina’s Skinny Recipes at Skinnytaste for sharing this awesome recipe that really does taste like those beloved chicken pot pies of my stay home summer days!

Chicken Pot Pie Soup – Original recipe can be found by clicking here.

• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups water
• 4 cups fat free milk
• 1 large celery stalked chopped
• 1/2 medium onion chopped
• 8 oz baby portabella mushrooms
• 2 chicken bouillon – I used one as the bouillon often contains a lot of sodium
• fresh ground pepper
• pinch of thyme
• 10 oz frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, peas, corn, green beans) – I did not have this on hand so I cooked fresh carrots, used one can of corn and a small bag of frozen peas.
• 2 potatoes peeled and cubed small
• 16oz cooked chicken breast, diced small

Combine 1/2 cup of the cold water with the flour in a medium bowl and whisk until blended. Set aside.

Pour the remaining water and milk into a large pot and slowly bring to a boil. Add the celery, onion, mushrooms, chicken bouillon, thyme, pepper, vegetables and return to a boil. Partially cover and simmer on low until vegetables are soft, about 20 minutes. ( If you cook your own carrots like I did, do not add them in at this time since they will already be soft.)  Remove lid and add potatoes and cook until soft. (I cooked mine for 10 minutes.) Add the chicken, and slowly whisk in the water/flour mixture stirring as you add. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until the soup thickens. Add a dash of pepper to taste.

So delicious! It really does taste like Chicken Pot Pie! I had some pie crust in the freezer that I let thaw and cut into heart shapes. I baked them at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.  I HAD to have some crust!

See those little cubes of chicken and potatoes? Just like I remember from my Banquet Pot Pie Days. Thanks again to Gina for sharing this recipe that brought back many great memories and gave me back chicken pot pie. For those of you using  the Weight Watcher’s Point Plus program, a 1 cup serving serving is 4 points. A 1 1/2 cup serving is 6 points. Both of these values do not include the crust. For more nutritional information and more tasty WW recipes head over to Skinnytaste.

It’s all good. ~ Donna

I visit my friend Wendy’s blog daily. She shares so many wonderful tantalizing recipes! She posted a recipe for Sausage Roasted Vegetable Penne that sounded scrumptious. She adapted the recipe from Melissa d’Arabian on Food Network.  I  made a few changes to the original recipe to fit the ingredients I had on hand. The original recipe calls for Penne Pasta and I had Gnocchi so I used that instead. I only recently started buying Gnocchi after I tried a Trader’s Joe’s version of it. Gnocchi is a potato dumpling. It is made from potatoes that have been boiled  and pushed through a potato ricer. Once the potatoes are processed, flour and salt are added to make a dough.  To cook the Gnocchi simply drop into gently boiling water. When it floats to the top it is done. Real simple quick process. I am a Gnocchi fan.

Ingredients I used for this recipe. Wendy’s version can be found here.

1 sweet onion, cut into wedges

1 medium zucchini, sliced in 1/2 lengthwise

1 red bell pepper, cheeks removed and sliced into strips

1/2 pound button mushrooms, stemmed

2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Roma Tomatoes – Sliced into thick strips  (I would have liked to use grape tomatoes but they were $4.99 for a small container!)

1 package Sweet Italian Sausage

1 bag Gnocchi Pasta

1/4 cup white wine

Parmesan Cheese for Garnish

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Cut the onions, mushrooms and zucchini and place in a bowl. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil. Toss to coat and sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. Arrange on baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes so they start to  caramelize. (You want them to brown deeply.) Start getting your tomatoes ready by slicing them if you are using Roma or if you are using grape then toss them into a bowl with the remaining olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. When your 15 minutes timer is beeping at you, take out the veggies that are cooking, flip them over and add the tomatoes. Cook all veggies together for another 15 minutes.

Cook the sausage. Love that sweet sausage. Start boiling your water for the pasta/Gnocchi.

Pour yourself a glass of white wine. Proceed to drink. Turn up the heat on the sausage and deglaze with white wine. Sip your wine as you stir the meat.

Hello Gnocchi!

When the veggies are ready, set them to the side to cool for a bit. Chop them up to get ready to meet the sausage.

Add the veggies to the sausage, add your pasta and mix together. Add your freshly grated Parmesan on top and you are ready to eat!

Wendy you are so right! This dish is a winner! Thanks for sharing and friends hop on over to see Wendy at Kiss That Frog. That girl  has  got it going on in her kitchen!

It’s all good ~ Donna