Leftover Turkey Pot Pie in 35 minutes

During the holidays your home can be filled with so much fun and laughter, but there's always so much housework involved.  You clean your house from top to bottom before the company arrives and then when they leave, your home (the kitchen in particular) looks like a disaster zone.  I'm always on the look out for time saving receipes that don't require a lot of pots and pans to clean up afterwards.

Here's a quick and easy pot pie receipe by Sunny Anderson that I tried out last week.  I served the filling over pasta instead of putting it in a traditional pie crust.  It wasn't the best turkey pot pie filing I've ever eaten, but it was pretty decent considering how easy it was to prepare. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs leftover turkey
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/4 tsp dried oregano
2 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup frozen peas and carrots
1 cup frozen pearl onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs all-purpose flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream (warmed to room temp)
1 store bought pie crust or puff pastry sheet, unbaked and thawed
1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F.  Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat and add the onions, peas and carrots, seasoning them with salt and pepper.  Stir and cook until the onions become tender, about 3 - 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute longer.  (I sauteed the garlic first).  Sprinkle in the flour and stir until the flour dissolves into the veggies and juices.  (You might need to add a little water).  Add the chicken stock and raise to a simmer, stirring until thickened.  Once the liquid has thickened, stir in the warmed heavy cream.  Then fold in the leftover turkey until it's warm.  Season with salt, if needed.

Place the filling into a round casserole dish or pie pan.  Unfold the thawed out pie crust and place it over the top of the filling, tucking the excess edges inside the pan.  Brush the top of the crust with the egg wash.  Using a knife, gently cut 3 vents in the top of the crust.  Place in oven and bake until the crust is golden brown, about 20-25 minutes.




 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake

Give your kids a boost of Vitamins A and C over the holidays with this super easy and yummy loaf cake recipe.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake

1 ¾ C all purpose flour

1 ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp

1 C white sugar

3 large eggs

1 C canned pure pumpkin

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 C whole milk

3/4 C mini semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 C chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

 

Set oven to 350F.   Butter and flour a 9x5x2 ½-inch metal loaf pan.  Sift first 5 ingredients into a medium size bowl.  Using an electric mixer, beat butter in a large bowl until creamy smooth.  Gradually beat in sugar, then add eggs 1 at a time.  Next, beat in the pumpkin and vanilla.  Slowly add the dry ingredients into pumpkin mixture alternating with the milk.  Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.  Transfer batter to prepared loaf pan.  (You can also put batter in a cupcake pan to make individual cakes).
 
Bake loaf cake for about 55 minutes or until tester (toothpick) inserted into center comes out clean.  Cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes.  Then, turn cake out onto rack and cool completely.