Veggie Skillet Pot Pie with Purple Gnocchi

Last week we attended BlogHer'13 in downtown Chicago, while that didn't mean a plane ride for us, we still stayed downtown at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place.  Which BTW is absolutely gorgeous!  The staff is fantastic and the food is pretty darn good too.

The only thing we didn't get a lot of over the weekend was fresh fruits and veggies.  When you're attending a conference for three days and also hitting just under twenty parties in the same amount of time, you just eat what's available.  Unfortunately fresh fruits and veggies were in short supply, which was awful for our new flexitarian diet of vegan before dinner.  A lot of the parties had waitstaff circling with finger foods (most of them fried) or buffets of unhealthy choices.  I think I had something fresh at only three events the entire weekend.

That said, I felt kinda icky by the time I got home Sunday afternoon.  That icky feeling didn't just come from a total of 30 hours of sleep in about 4 days, but the icky feeling you get when you eat a lot of things you just don't normally eat.  See at my house, I'm pretty picky about what we eat.  For the most part I don't buy processed foods, this is where being a food blogger comes into play.  I like to make EVERYTHING from scratch.

Yesterday I wanted something comforting but as vegan as I could get it.  (It's hard for me to go entirely vegan as I'm horrifically allergic to soy)  So I've modified one of our fave skillet chicken pot pie recipes to be vegetarian.  If you swap the butter and chicken broth for coconut butter and veggie broth you'll have a delish vegan dish that your family will love.

Veggie Skillet Pot Pie with Purple Gnocchi

8 ounces homemade purple gnocchi
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1-2 tablespoons minced onion
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup fresh chopped green beans
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 medium carrots, grated
1 14.5 ounce can low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon sage
1 tablespoon cornstarch

You can find the recipe for purple gnocchi here.  I typically make a big batch and freeze them for later use.  This is super convenient as you can toss the frozen gnocchi directly into boiling water to cook.

Bring a medium sized saucepan of water to a full, rolling boil.  Toss in gnocchi and allow to gently boil until the gnocchi begin to float.  This means they are finished cooking, remove from pot with a slotted spoon or drain in a colander.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and saute, until softened.  Add green beans, gnocchi and garlic, stirring until garlic is fragrant about 1 minute.  Add chicken broth, stir then add black beans, carrots and spices.  Cover and bring to a simmer, allow to cook until green beans are still crisp, but tender.  Right before serving, mix cornstarch with a little water.  Stir into skillet and allow mixture to cook until it thickens.  Serve.

This is absolutely delish and so reminds me of chicken pot pie which we love to bits and pieces.  Susie had the leftovers with tortilla chips and said it was fantastic!