Thanksgiving Leftovers

The holiday crunch has begun. We are all now in that Annual Marathon between Thanksgiving and Christmas where the focus everywhere is food, family, gifts, and giving. Scooter and I did the nearly unthinkable (at least in my family)--we went out of town (just the two of us) to my aunt and uncle's vacation home on the coast for all of Thanksgiving weekend. I cooked the traditional dinner with our Guest of Honor, Mr. Tom Turkey, as the table centerpiece; my first turkey I cooked by myself and he turned out pretty darn good. We watched several Thanksgiving parades--McDonald's Parade in Chicago, and the Macy's Parade in New York--relaxed in the hot tub, marveled at the rare blue sky outside, and ate until we couldn't eat anymore.

This is only the second Thanksgiving I have ever spent away from family. The first time was when I was in college and drove to the LA area to spend it with several friends. The condition of my going was that I called my parents on Thanksgiving to at least talk to them. Since the entire extended family was also there for the holiday, the phone was passed around. Twenty "How are you?'s" later, I said my goodbyes and wished my
parents well. My family is all about spending time together, so any holiday spent away from The Family raises eyebrows at the very least. It's certainly not a bad thing--I'm proud to say that my family has some very strong ties, even considering the conflicts (mostly normal family stuff) that come up. But it does make traveling plans around the holidays difficult, unless the whole family goes too--which we did one year for Christmas (that was a really fun trip).

One thing Thanksgiving always seems to result in is leftovers. Regardless of how many people you have over for Thanksgiving, you still end up with them. It almost seems like a Law of the Universe--no matter the size of the crowd, you'll be eating mashed potatoes, turkey, and gravy for days. Now while I'm all for eating turkey, it can get tiresome after a couple of days. So I tried to figure out what can be done with the rest of the turkey and came up with a couple of ideas. All the leftovers were put in the freezer for turkey soup (to be made sometime this month during the cold weather) and a turkey pot pie recipe I came up with to help use some of those leftovers. Here's what you'll need to make your own turkey pot pie:

What you'll need:
1 9-in pie crust
2 to 2 1/2 c. shredded turkey
1 1/2 c. turkey gravy
1/2 12-oz. bag of frozen peas and carrots
1 1/2 to 2 c. mashed potatoes

What you'll need to do:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the pie crust in an ungreased pie pan and gently mold the dough to the sides of the pan. Shape and trim the edges of the pie crust as desired.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, add the shredded turkey, the frozen peas and carrots (no need to defrost them), and the gravy. Mix until all the turkey and veggies are coated with gravy.
3. Add the turkey mixture to the pie crust and spread until it forms an even layer. Add the mashed potatoes to the top and create an even top crust (like a shepherd's pie).
4. Place the pie pan on a rimmed baking sheet and put in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes or until the pie is bubbling around the edges. Serve with leftover pumpkin pie for dessert!

The great thing about this recipe is that it's fairly easy to put together, and if you don't have some of the necessary ingredients, you can make some fairly quickly or buy from the store. The pie crust can be homemade or easily bought to cut down on prep time. If you've gotten low or run out of gravy, you can buy a 12-oz. jar to use instead. If there are no mashed potatoes left (or the leftovers have already turned into a science project), boil 1 1/2 russet potatoes and mash with 2 Tbs. butter, 4 oz. cream cheese, and a handful of chopped chives or crumbled bacon pieces (optional)--or go the really easy route and get instant mashed potatoes. I would definitely recommend a hot pot pie for cold weather.

Enjoy!