One of the challenges with having a child with diabetes is making sure they’re getting the right amount of carbs when someone else is cooking for them. Whether you’re a working parent or not, you can’t always be around to cook every evening, and equally it’s not always fair or practical to expect a babysitter to carb-count.
Sure, there are days when we rely on reading the backs of fish finger packets to check the carbs, but generally, I try to prepare at least one or two cook-ahead meals that can just be shoved in the oven by my lovely au-pair when I’m at work during the week. Even if it means a bit more prep time in advance, it makes life a lot more relaxed knowing that there’s a home-made meal, carb-counted and ready to go, with enough for all of us to tuck into, even if we’re not all at home to eat together. So this chicken and leek potato-topped pie is a home-made (and much nicer) version of a ready meal.
Ingredients (serves 6):
400g chicken breast chunks
400g leeks, trimmed and sliced
930g potatoes, peeled and chopped
100ml semi-skimmed milk, for mashing
300ml tub of ready made fresh cheese sauce
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
a sprinkling of fresh chopped chives
1tbsp rapeseed oil
Method:
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°, and boil the potatoes while you prepare the pie filling
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the chicken until it’s tender with no pink meat
- Add the leeks and cook until softened
- Pour over the cheese sauce and stir until heated through
- Add a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice, a handful of chopped chives and season with black pepper
- Drain and mash the cooked potatoes, with 100ml of semi-skimmed milk and a knob of olive oil spread
- Pour the chicken mixture into a gratin dish and top evenly with the mashed potato
- Put in the oven at 180° for about 30 minutes until golden and crispy on top, and the sauce is bubbling
Carb-count:
31g carbs per portion (based on one sixth of the pie)
carb-counting kids 