Humble Food: Vegetable Pot Pie

This week has been a rather strange one. Two of the days this week when I was supposed to work, I was switched to on call instead - right as I was about to head out the door to drive to the hospital. While I would normally be disappointed, as one of the best parts about loving your job is, well, looking forward to being at work, this week these days of on call duty have been such a blessing... because... I'm back in school again.

After 3 glorious months of no homework, reading novels instead of textbooks (I just finished rereading Walker Percy's The Second Coming, which is outstanding), catching up on home improvement projects, gardening, and, of course, spending countless leisurely hours cooking, I've returned to classes, endless note-taking, and tests. My goal of a master's degree as a Nurse Anesthetist beckons, and I do feel like I need a little more biochemistry in my life (I know, I should be embarrassed to say such things out-loud), so I've stacked up the textbooks beside my desk once more! I'm a part-time student at the moment, while I navigate the process of being "the new girl" at work - where I'm not yet "established" enough to require my supervisors to arrange my work schedule around a full class schedule - and while Zach figures out where he wants to go for residency, which might include another move to a new state and a new adventure in the next couple of years, but I've still managed to acquire homework aplenty! Consequently, as I have a test this coming Tuesday morning (preceded by working the night shift Monday night) and several hours to log in the histology lab, I breathed a grateful sigh when my boss called this morning to switch me to on-call.

Since I was supposed to work day shift today, though, I had lunged out of bed at 4AM and was already showered, dressed in scrubs, and making coffee when the phone rang at 5AM. Finding myself thus awake and enlivened at such an early hour, what else is one to do but - clean the house! Seriously, I fully admit that scrubbing and vacuuming before the sun has even arisen is not an especially tantalizing prospect, but having everything gleaming and pristine before the day had fully taken a deep breath and readied itself did make me feel inordinately productive.

Since I still have a long day of studying ahead, though, I'm definitely turning to a classic comfort dish for our supper tonight...

When I was very small, my mother used to fix pot-pies quite regularly, and I never grew weary of the creamy, texture-laden interior and soft, doughy exterior. By the time I was around 10 or so, though, my mother had set pot pies aside, perhaps thinking we had tired of them, or perhaps in favor of more "fashionable" dishes. It's taken me several years of adulthood, but I've finally resurrected the recipe... Since Zach was raised with pot pies too, this casserole is pure, simple, unadulterated nostalgia for us. Unlike the prepackaged pot pies one can find in the freezer section of any grocery, however, this pot pie is a haven for vegetables - onions, carrots, mushrooms, and corn, all swimming blissfully together under a fluffy dome of golden whole wheat biscuits...

Vegetable Pot Pie

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup light vegan marg or butter
1/2 cup 1% milk

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1" cubes, OR 1 lb firm tofu, cut into 1" cubes, OR 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained
3 T canola oil
2 onions, chopped
3 carrots, diced
2 vegetable bouillon cubes, crumbled
1/2 lb button or portabella mushrooms, sliced
5 T whole wheat flour
1/2 cup 1% milk
1 1/3 cup vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen

~ To make the biscuit dough, stir together the flours, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Using a food processor, cut in the vegan marg or butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Pour in the milk, and pulse again in the food processor just a couple more times, until a sticky dough ball forms. Cover, and set aside.
~ Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat at 2 quart casserole dish with cooking spray.
~ In a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute the chicken, tofu, or chickpeas in the canola oil until browned.
~ Add the onions and carrots, and continue to saute until the onions are limp and translucent.
~ Stir in the bouillon cubes and mushrooms, and saute a bit more - just until the mushrooms begin to release their juices.
~ Reduce the heat to medium low, and stir the flour into the vegetables until well combined.
~ Quickly pour in the milk, broth, and bay leaf, and stir just for 2 minutes - the sauce will thicken rather quickly.
~ Remove the skillet from the heat, and stir in the corn kernels.
~ Pour the mixture into the casserole dish, and top with rounded tablespoonfuls of biscuit dough until the whole top of the dish is covered with little dollops of dough.
~ Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes - until the biscuit topping is golden brown...