Back to the Casserole Dish

Thanksgiving is gone and the turkey is still here. Tonight I bring a special treat to all of my fellow Domestic Engineers. As if turkey salad, turkey Chili, turkey and rice soup, and turkey sandwiches weren't enough here's one more recipe to glean from the carcass of the turkey.
This little creation was quick, about 35 minutes to prepare from start to finish.

Ingredients
2 cups of cooked Turkey
1/2 cup Sweet Peas (canned or frozen)
3 Medium Potatoes (Diced)
1 cup Diced Carrots
1/2 medium Onion
1/2 Cup Flour
2 cups of Turkey Broth
1/2 cup Milk
Salt and Pepper

Topping
2 cups All Purpose Flour
2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup Shortening
1/4 cup to 1 cup of Milk

In a medium sauce pan bring 3 to 5 cups of Water to a boil. Add salt, Carrots, Potatoes. Cook until tender. Mean while prepare the roux.

Preparing the roux
In a small skillet over low heat add Turkey Broth. Whisk in Flour until smooth. Bring to a boil and add milk, salt, and pepper. Remove from heat and sit aside.

Preparing the topping.
Combine Flour, Baking Powder, and Salt. With a fork cut in shortening until the mixture looks like corn meal. Add in enough milk to make the mixture sticky. Set aside

In a large casserole dish combine Turkey, Roux, and Vegetables. Add salt and pepper to taste. Top with Biscuit dough topping and bake at 400 degree F until bubbling (about 15 minutes)

The beauty of this recipe is that you can subsitute the Turkey and Turkey broth with Chicken or beef. Its very versatile and is very filling on evenings when you are strapped for time and everyone just needs a bit of comfort food.

Did you say Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I cooked. This blog is coming a bit late but I wanted to share. We do Thanksgiving in my home as a time to Give thanks to all that we have in the very moment we are living. Last year we were Thankful that we could cook dinner in a crock pot, and share it with Motel staff.
This year has been an abundant year in our house and for my family. We were going to visit Family this Thank giving and I was very Thankful for that. However, like many things in our ever changing and busy lives those plans were cancelled. I woke up 5AM Thanksgiving morning and began the marvelous feat that is cooking a huge feast. To make it short I cooked at 15lb Turkey, Dressing, Cheesy Green Bean Casserole, Cherry Cream Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Mac n Cheese, Butter Beans, Corn, canned Crane Berry sauce and Rolls.
I set the table with our regular dishes (I don't have "Good China" yet ) and the heirloom flatware my mother gave me one year for Christmas. I used a Table cloth my son had picked out the day before and served real Sweet tea to drink.
We invited a few friends over for dinner and one of them arrived right on time with all of the fixing for a great garden salad. He marveled at my domestic masterpiece and filled himself to the point he couldn't move. I found that a bit of a compliment.
At about half-time during the Dallas football game, everyone wanted desert. I had made a Cherry Cream pie, and a Pumpkin Pie and our Guest brought along some wonderful Chocolate chip cookies.
The highlight of the evening however was the pumpkin pie. Never mind that I had taken the time to prepare it with the pumpkin that I had processed myself. It was great. I am no gourmet, however, I usually get a recipe and change it up to meet my needs.
I used the Libby's Pumpkin Pie Recipe. However, this recipe calls for a frozen pie crust. I never frozen pie crusts. I simply made mine using a recipe I developed all my own.

Pie Crust
2 cups All Purpose Flour (unbleached is better than bleached)
1 tsp of Salt
1/2 cup Vegetable Shorting
1/4 cup Unsalted Butter
2 tbs Ice Water

Sift Flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in Shortening and Butter. Add water to the mixture to help incorporate the flour, Shortening, and Butter. When well mixed roll into a ball and Freeze until firm.

Rolling.
On a floured surface, sprinkle 1 tsp of Ground Cinnamon. Roll pie crust dough over "Cinnamon Flour" surface until its larger than the pie plate. (Should be about 12 inches in diameter) Put dough in Pie Plate.

Cooking
Using a fork poke air holes in the bottom of the dough. Bake at 350 degrees F, until golden brown.

The cinnamon and butter give the crust a great flavor that compliments the pie filling. This crust is also excellent to use with Apple pies.


I also made some other Changes to the Pumpkin Pie Recipe

The Recipe calls for 1 can of Pumpkin, I used 2 cups of Fresh Pumpkin.
I always use ground my own Cloves, instead of using ground Cloves. In the past I have also ground my cinnamon.

That's really all for now. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving no matter what you served and who you share it all with.