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.

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Vegan Recipe – From-The-Pantry Pot Pie

Yet another vegan crock pot recipe from my new cookbook, The Vegan Slow Cooker: Simply Set It and Go with 150 Recipes for Intensely Flavorful, Fuss-Free Fare Everyone (Vegan or Not!) Will Devour.

I love pot pie, so I was looking forward to trying this recipe.  It’s very easy to make and very flexible.  You can use whatever leftover veggies you have (I always keep a few bags of frozen items on hand for meals just like this), and you can add beans in place of the seitan if you so choose.

For the stew:
1 small onion, minced (optional)
2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
1 large stalk celery, minced (optional)
1 1/2 cups cubed chicken-flavored seitan, store bought or homemade (I used some that I made and froze in this post) or use crumbled, cooked, vegan sausage or diced tofu, beans, or potato
1 pound frozen mixed green beans, carrots, and peas (you can use fresh leftovers instead)
1 cup water, add more if needed
2 tablespoons vegan chicken-flavored bouillon
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons flour, if needed

For the biscuits:
1 cup white, whole wheat, or gluten-free flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon thyme (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup plain or unsweetened nondairy milk

The night before:
Place the cut-up onion, garlic, celery, and seitan in a large airtight container and store in the refrigerator.

In the morning:
Oil the crock of your slow cooker (skip this step if you use a liner like I do).  Combine all of the ingredients for the stew except for the flour in the slow cooker.  Add 1 to 2 cups extra water if you will cook it longer than 8 hours, or if your slow cooker runs a little hot.  Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

About 30 minutes before serving:
Add more water if the mixture is too thick, or add the flour if the stew needs to thicken up a bit.  Taste and adjust the seasonings.

To make the biscuits:
Combine all of the biscuit ingredients in a bowl and work until it comes together into a dough.  Turn the mixture out onto a floured cutting board (or cover a cutting board with parchment paper as I did), roll out 1/2 inch thick (or smush it with your fingers like I had to – couldn’t find a rolling pin anywhere!), and cut into circles with the rim of a drinking glass.  Place in the slow cooker on top of the filling.  Turn the slow cooker to high.  Prop open the lid with the handle of a wooden spoon, or place a clean dishtowel under the lid to prevent condensation from dripping onto your biscuits (I just set the lid back down and a slight angle so that some steam could escape).  Cook an additional 30 minutes.

The bag of frozen veggies that we had on hand was peas, carrots, and corn, but no green beans.  I added the extra water as suggested and it definitely came out watery.  I added the flour and a few tablespoons of cornstarch, which thickened it up nicely.  The biscuits took a long time to cook… I left it on high for one hour and they were still pale in color and a little doughy.

I added a sprinkle of sea salt on top of each biscuit

However, the final product was delish!  I loved it and went back for seconds.  The slightly doughy biscuits seemed a little more like dumplings, but that’s fine by me!  In my opinion, it would have been perfect even without the seitan, but Eric really liked having it in the pot pie stew.  He said that it mimics the texture enough and is masked by the flavor of the vegan chicken-flavored bouillon in the stew, so you would just assume it was chicken if you weren’t told otherwise.  I have folded down the corner or this page because this recipe will be a regular one in our house!