Libby Klein Thanksgiving is upon us! It's really late this year too. I know you're probably in the midst of planning and shopping. Maybe things are hectic for you, or maybe you're sitting back, reading a book, and letting someone else do the cooking. Either way, I hope you enjoy your holiday. I always make way too much food. The problem is, I have a big crowd and we each have our favorites. All the holiday favorites have to be represented. We have to have chunky cranberry sauce with oranges and cloves AND the one that comes out the shape of the can. Holidays can be complicated. One thing that I'm going to make easy for you is the leftovers.
I give two days to take the victory lap around the big meal with a leftover plate of all my favorites, and the very important turkey sandwiches. After that I need to do something with all this food. My favorite solution is pot pie. You can use almost every leftover from the typical Thanksgiving dinner and put it in pot pie. I bake mine in little single-serving ramekins, but you can make one big pie - or - you can dish yours out into single-serve freezer proof dishes to bake later. Just thaw and warm in the oven. No need to fuss with a tricky pie crust, just top your warm pot pies with puff pastry and you've got a tasty meal.
Thanksgiving Pot Pie
Filling
2 cups Leftover Turkey, chopped or cubed
Veggies – whatever you have. I used 1 bag frozen peas, 1 bag frozen carrots, and 2 cups leftover green bean casserole. If you have roasted potatoes or brussels sprouts throw them in here!
3-4 cups Leftover gravy. I used the Kevin's Gluten Free Turkey gravy and it was AMAZING!
1 cup leftover stuffing - yep. It will make a nice thick gravy.
Frozen puff pastry, thawed and set up to room temperature. Below you'll see I have both gluten-free and glutened for the lucky folks.
1 beaten egg for egg wash or 2 TBSP heavy cream for cream
wash.
NOTE: ONLY THE SCHAR PUFF PASTRY IS GLUTEN FREE! THE PEPPERIDGE FARM HAS GLUTEN. I GIVE THAT ONE TO THE FAMILY.
Directions
Warm all the above on the stove until hot. Spoon into a casserole dish or individual casseroles - or into freezer proof dishes to thaw and bake later.
Either bake the frozen pastry by itself on a cookie sheet (which will create a higher lift) and top the finished pot pies when ready to serve. Or cut into rounds to cover individual casseroles. Brush with beaten egg or heavy cream. Bake according to package directions.
Serve right away. If you make a large frozen pot pie to serve later, this makes a great solution for when you need to take something to a party, or make a meal for a friend at the last minute. Just be sure to do the pastry after the pot pie filling is hot.
Gluten-free baker Poppy McAllister and her aunt Ginny are looking forward to a quiet, homey Christmas at their B&B in Cape May, but unfortunately, death isn’t taking a holiday this year . . .Ever since Thanksgiving, Poppy and her pals have been left with an unsolved mystery of the romantic kind. But at least this mystery isn’t the kind that involves murder. That all changes when the body of a fish supplier is discovered in the kitchen of her ex’s restaurant—and he’s frozen, not fresh.
For once, it’s not Poppy who tripped over the corpse, yet she can’t escape being drawn in since the victim has a note taped to him reading Get Poppy. Figures—an engagement ring isn't labeled, but the dead guy is addressed to her. Now, while Aunt Ginny plans a tree-trimming party and pressures Poppy to decode a mysterious old diary, the amateur sleuth is asked to “unofficially” go undercover at the restaurant to help the police. Until then, the only crime Poppy had been dealing with was Figaro’s repeated thefts of bird ornaments from the tree; now it looks like it’s going to be a murder-y Christmas after all.
classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/