Easy Vegan Pot Pie

I haven’t been cooking a lot lately.  The main reason is that I’m pregnant and, in case you haven’t heard, pregnant women can be lazy.  I’m sure that women who are raising children while pregnant just fight through the nausea and exhaustion because they have kids to take care of, but I’m not there yet.  A full work day or even a long day of shopping makes me just want to lay on the couch for hours before finally going to bed.  Eric has been really great about taking care of me and picking up food to go because most of the time I feel like doing nothing.  However, I’ve been feeling pretty guilty for all my laziness and I understand the importance of cooking in advance so that I have food ready to just warm up when I’m feeling famished.

I searched Pinterest for interesting, but easy-looking recipes.  I have always loved pot pie.  I love the combination of the veggies, flaky pastry, and gravy-like filling.  So, when I saw this “Cheater” Vegetable Pot Pie, I decided to give it a try.  I left out the mushrooms because I don’t like those and I added a little vegan chicken bouillon for flavor and some of Trader Joe’s vegan grilled “chicken” strips.  I liked the recipe a lot, the only problem was how bland the filling was.  The non-dairy milk, flour, and veggie broth mixture definitely needed some major seasoning like vegan gravy might have.  We ended up just adding a lot of salt as we ate.

We will definitely make this recipe again, just trying some different ingredients using trial and error.

Pot Pie Filling

The slightly edited recipe below makes 7-8 servings.

Ingredients:

• 1 small sweet onion, roughly chopped
• 1/2 bunch kale, de-stemmed and chopped
• 2 large carrots, thinly sliced
• 1 Tablespoon vegan butter
• 2 red potatoes, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, sliced
• 2 stalks celery
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• half cup of non-dairy milk (I used almond)
• 2/3 cup frozen sweet peas
• salt and pepper
• 1 sheet of puff pastry crust, thawed and rolled out (Pepperidge Farm is vegan)
• 1 Tablespoon vegan chicken bouillon
• Trader Joe’s vegan grilled “chicken” strips – use however much you like

Directions:

1. Water saute the onion, kale, and carrots for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the butter, potatoes, bell pepper, and celery and cover with the heat on medium/low for 5 minutes.
3. Stir the flour into the veggie mix, mixing until it’s all combined, 1-2 minutes.
4. Pour in the veggie broth, almond milk, and vegan chicken bouillon.  Keep stirring until there are no flour lumps, then bring to a simmer.  It’ll start to thicken up in about 4-5 minutes.  Add the frozen peas, then remove from heat.
5. Add Trader Joe’s vegan grilled “chicken” strips and a bit of sea salt and freshly ground pepper, then stir.  Spray your 8 x 8 baking dish with some non-stick spray, then pour in your delicious veggie mixture. (I ended up making a couple of smaller individual pot pies and one larger one to share – this recipe makes a lot!)
6. Cover with your puff pastry and cut slits in the top to vent.  Bake at 375 until the crust is golden brown, 15-20 minutes (or maybe more depending on  your oven).  Let cool for a few minutes, then serve.

Advertisement