Grocery stores are packed with products that may tout convenience, but contain ingredients that aren’t healthy. Today, we highlight Marie Callender’s Chicken Pot Pie.
Back when I was little, I remember going to Marie Callender’s with my mom. I’d always order New England clam chowder along with cornbread, never thinking to order the Heartland Chicken Pot Pie. Over time, with the help of ConAgra Foods, Marie Callender’s began a line of frozen foods, offering all manner of cook-and-eat meals, including chicken pot pies.
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Marie Callender’s chicken pot pie
Chicken broth (contains water, chicken fat, chicken broth powder [maltodextrin, chicken broth, salt, flavor], disodium inosinate, and disodium guanylate, polysorbate 60, xanthan gum), enriched wheat flour (niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), white chicken meat, interesterified soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, water, carrots, peas, contains 2% or less of: celery, modified corn starch, onions, whipping cream, salt, soybean oil, nonfat dry milk, sugar, whey powder, isolated soy protein, modified food starch, corn starch, chicken broth powder (maltodextrin, chicken broth, salt, flavors), autolyzed yeast extract, flavoring, methylcellulose, carrageenan, soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, black pepper, oleoresin turmeric, caramel color.
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At a glance
The amounts listed are for the prepared product, which equals one 10-ounce pot pie. The daily recommendations are based on a diet of 2,000 calories a day. They don’t take into consideration individual weight, age or gender.
Marie Callender’s Daily recommendations
Calories 650 2,000
Total fat 38 g less than 65 g
Saturated fat 14 g less than 20 g
Trans fat 0 g 0 g
Cholesterol 35 mg less than 300 mg
Sodium 1,000 mg less than 2,400 mg
Dietary fiber 4 g 25 g
Sugar 4 g 25 g (6 teaspoons)
Protein 17 g 50 g
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Mariecallendersmeals.com says, "Marie Callender’s is more than a brand. It’s a philosophy, born from the real-life experiences of Marie Callender herself. … Marie learned the joy that came from sharing a good meal made from wholesome ingredients, and realized that something as simple as sitting down to dinner could strengthen the fabric of family and friendship."
Unfortunately, those wholesome ingredients become something else in this convenient version. This chicken pot pie may have "white-meat chicken, carrots, celery and peas" along with a flaky crust, but the 10-ounce pie is also a fat-sodium bomb. (I shudder to think about the 16.5-ounce size that’s offered.)
One-fourth of your entire day’s calories is spent on this 10-ounce pie. Recommended total fat consumed in a day for the average person is 65 grams and this product has 38 g — of which 14 g are saturated fat. (It’s suggested you have up to 20 grams a day.) Blood pressure-conscious eaters should also beware: This pot pie contains almost half of the sodium the average person should consume in a day (1,000 mg of a recommended less than 2,400 mg).
And that’s just the beginning. Other terrible ingredients include autolyzed yeast extract (which contains monsodium glutamate), hydrogenated soybean oil (read: trans fat) and, an ingredient I wasn’t familiar with: "interesterified soybean oil."
In 2006, when the Food and Drug Administration required the listing of unhealthy trans fat on labels, companies began replacing it with another chemically modified oil that acted like trans fat — interesterified oil. Since then, studies have shown that this type of oil decreases good HDL and increases bad LDL cholesterol levels — just like trans fat. The best advice? Avoid it and other products that list "high in stearic acid" or "stearate rich.
Authors David Zinczenko with Matt Goulding of Eat This, Not That book fame include carrageenan and caramel color on their list of "Top 10 Scariest Food Additives."
Carrageenan, a thickener and emulsifier, "has been linked to cancer, colon trouble and ulcers." And, according to the authors, caramel color, when produced with ammonia, "puts off 2-methylimidazole and 4-methylimidazole, chemicals that have been linked to cancer in mice. The risk is strong enough that the California government, a bellwether for better food regulation, categorized 4-methylimidazole as ‘known to cause cancer’ earlier this year. Unfortunately, companies aren’t required to disclose whether their coloring is made with ammonia, so you’d be wise to avoid it as much as you can."
I share Marie Callender’s opinion that sitting down and eating with your family is extremely important. I, however, will be enjoying Mrs. Hering’s (see recipe) chicken pot pies with my family, not ConAgra’s.
If you’d like a healthier substitute for a processed food in your pantry, email your request to lneilson@sltrib.com.
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Mrs. Hering’s famous chicken pot pie
In 1890, Mrs. Hering, an enterprising clerk at Marshall Field‚ overheard customers talking about lunch and offered them the homemade chicken pot pie she had brought for lunch. She set up a table, served her pie, and started a tradition, according to The Marshall Field Cookbook by Stephen Siegelman and Marshall Field.
Chicken/broth
1 3 1/2 pound frying chicken
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
1 small onion, halved
2 teaspoons salt
Dough
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
4 to 5 tablespoons ice water
Filling
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large onion, diced (about 1 1/4 cups)
3 carrots, sliced thinly on the bias
3 celery stalks, sliced thinly on the bias
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1/4 cup dry sherry
3/4 cup frozen green peas, thawed
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water
For the broth » Combine chicken, carrot, celery, onion, and salt in large stockpot. Add cold water just to cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease heat to low and simmer 45 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate and allow to cool.
Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil for 20 minutes to concentrate the broth. Pass the broth through a fine-mesh strainer and discard the vegetables. When cool enough to handle, pull the chicken meat from the bones and shred into bite-size pieces.
For the dough » Combine flour, salt, and butter in bowl of a food processor and pulse until dough resembles coarse cornmeal. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with 4 to 5 tablespoons of ice water. Stir and then press together with a wooden spoon until the dough sticks together. A little at a time, add more water if the dough won’t come together. Shape dough into a ball and then flatten into a disk. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 2 days before rolling.
For the filling » Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Place a large saucepan over medium heat and add butter. When butter is melted, add onion, carrots, and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes until onion is translucent. Add flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in milk and 2 1/2 cups of the chicken broth. Decrease heat to low and simmer, stirring often, for 10 minutes.
Add chicken meat, thyme, sherry, peas, parsley, salt, and pepper and stir well. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
To assemble » Divide warm filling among six 10-to-12-ounce potpie tins or individual ramekins. Place dough on a floured surface and roll out to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 6 rounds about 1 inch larger than dish circumference. Lay a dough round over each potpie filling. Tuck overhanging dough back under itself and flute edges with a fork. Cut 1-inch slit in the top of each pie. Brush tops of pies with egg wash. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place pies on baking sheet and bake 25 minutes, until pastry is golden and filling is bubbling.
Makes » 6 pot pies
Source: Adapted from Marshall Field Cookbook
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