The Best Leftovers

Most people tell me the best part of Thanksgiving is the leftovers. Well I soooooo agree. A few days after Thanksgiving when we have all had our fill of turkey sandwiches and the rest of the leftovers are about gone, then it's time to pull out my most favorite leftover meal of all. Turkey Pot Pie. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

I used AR's Chicken Pot Pie IX recipe with a few minor adjustments, the biggest being I used leftover turkey instead of chicken. 2nd I used a frozen peas/carrots because that's what I had on hand, I just doubled up the peas only measurement and skipped adding chopped carrots. Also I was out of chicken broth so I had to use water and two chicken bouillon cubes. I also never cut away the extra crust on my pot pies because that's my favorite part! I break mine all up and stir it together and those big chunks of baked pie crust are just so good! Here's the original recipe

Chicken Pot Pie IX

Ingredients

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)

2.In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.

3.In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.

4.Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

5.Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.



Just before I put the top on the pie Mr K. walked by and told me that it looked really pretty with all the pea/carrot colors showing through so I decided to use a cookie cutter on the pie crust so more of the colors showed through when it was done. I didn't have a turkey but found a small chicken in my grandmothers old cookie cutters that I inherited. I think it turned out so cute, If the smell wasn't making me wildly hungry I would have never been able to cut it!