Sunday, November 28, 2010

Plan to walk an extra mile if you make this

As we all know, the holidays are not  the time to diet or watch what one eats.  Well maybe watch as in watch how much I can eat today.  As usual, I sat down to Thanksgiving dinner already full.  I am a picker and I can pick a meals worth before the food is even done.  Needless to say I over ate, drank too much good wine and contiunued to do this all weekend long.  Oh I love the holidays!  The 4 of us shared the holiday with our friends Donnie & Denise at The Pinehurst Inn.  We came home Thursday night with a lot of leftovers, including a whole turkey.  Friday afternoon I got right to work.  The top family request was a turkey pot pie.  So I decided to go ahead and make this for the kids & hubby.  I wish I had paid more attention to the quantities of what I put into this because it was the best one I have ever make.  I will do my best to repeat it.  I made enough for one large casserole dish hoping we'd have leftovers (wrong) and one smaller casserole dish that I will freeze.   I use only a top crust so this is a very simple and fast dish to make.

                                                             Jen's Turkey Pot Pie

Saute up 4 diced celery stalks, 4 diced carrots, 1/2 chopped onion in about 1/2 stick of butter.  I actually used a pan that had a little bit of bacon fat in it that was left over from breakfast (yum).  Cook until tender.
Add 1 can corn, 1 pkg frozen peas and about 6 cups diced turkey.  I used both white and dark meat.  4 peeled and diced potatoes.
Add about 2 cups chicken broth.
Adjust your seasonings; salt, pepper, garlic thyme etc... depending on what was used when you cooked the turkey.
Let simmer for about 10 minutes.
Mix 4 tbsp. flour into 1 cup milk, blend well.  Slowly add this to the vegetable & turkey mix.  You want it to thicken up a little.
Pour into casserole dish.
Now for the you'll need to walk an extra mile part:
The crust is make in a food processor, quick and easy
Put 2 c. flour (yes, I used all white flour here) 1/2 tsp salt, 2/3 c butter,  3/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese pulse together while slowly adding about 4 tbsp cold water until mixture forms a ball.  Remove from processor and roll out in a thick slab to cover your casserole dish.  Don't trim any leftovers, simply fold over around the inside edges.  My crust was close to 1/4' thick.
Bake for about 40 minutes at 350 or until the crust is a golden brown.  Remove and let sit for at least 10 minutes before serving. 
***Remember, I didn't put all the mixture in.  I still have some left over to freeze or maybe make another smaller pie for dinner tomorrow.
As we sat down to our dinner pie and movie that night I knew I'd have to walk the extra mile the next morning to make up for all this rich food.  OK, I admit, I was feeling a little ill by now.  When I finally crawled out of bed at 7:30 Sat. morning I saw a beautiful site, SNOW! and lots of it.  After a few cups of coffee and last nights dinner fresh in my mind,  I was on my way with my xcountry skiis, dogs and a smile on my face.  Why walk when you can ski?

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