Crumbly Crusted Chicken Pot Pie

I find that, with children, the same food presented two different ways can lead to two different results.  Preschoolers are more apt to dig into a bowl of food rather than a slice of pie.  For that reason, I serve all of my pies bowl style.  The crust is crumbled into the filling and makes it even yummier. In this recipe, sweet potato adds extra nutritional value to the dish and can be used in addition to or in lieu of the white ones. 

When baking the pie crust, a few small pieces may be cut out using mini cookie cutters or fondant molds and can be added as decorative finish as seen in the picture below.  The tiny cutouts need about 6 minutes of baking, turning over after 4 minutes.

Crumbly Crusted Chicken Pot Pie

2 Refrigerator pie shells

2 15-oz can low sodium chicken broth, divided

12 oz. boneless chicken breast, cut to 1/4 inch dice

1 large clove garlic, minced

3/4 cup carrots, diced to 1/4 inch cubes

1 1/4 cup sweet potato, diced to 1/4 inch cubes OR

3/4 cup each of sweet and regular potato, diced to 1/4 inch cubes   

1/2 cup finely diced onion

2/3 cup frozen or canned peas

2 tsp. (2 packs) sodium free chicken bouillon

1/8 tsp. dried thyme

1/4 tsp. ground oregano

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 tbsp. golden flaxseed
1/2 tsp. soy sauce

2 tsp. olive oil

2 tbsp. cornstarch

Preheat oven.  Unroll pie shells on a cookie sheet and bake according to package instructions.   Remove and cool on rack.  Reserve 1/2 cup of chicken broth in a small bowl. Set aside.

Heat a large pot on medium, add oil.  Stir in onion, minced garlic, sweet potato, and carrots.  Cover and allow to sweat for 5 minutes, stirring twice.  Increase heat to medium high and add white potato (if using), chicken bouillon, thyme, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper, flaxseed, soy sauce, and the unreserved broth.  Loosely cover and allow to come to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Stir in chicken and peas.  Increase heat to medium high and allow come to a boil.  Whisk together cornstarch and reserved chicken broth and stir into pot until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.  Remove from heat.  When ready to serve, crumble a handful of crust and stir into pie filling.