Category: Recipes

Before the end of 2012, I made a homemade turkey pot pie that came out really good (even if the crust didn’t come out “pretty).” You’ll see what I mean when I post the pictures. The crust seemed a little too wet for me and I’m wondering if that’s why it fell apart (I did add extra flour while rolling.) Any ideas fellow bloggers?

I think you’ll enjoy this recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 pie crust (1/2 of a Perfect Pie crust recipe – click to see the instructions)
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 cup finely diced onion
• 1/2 cup finely diced carrot
• 1/2 cup finely diced celery
• 2 cups turkey, light or dark, diced or shredded
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 to 3 cups low-sodium chicken or turkey broth (more if needed!)
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• Frozen peas (optional)
• Fresh thyme, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit.
2. Melt butter in a skillet then add the onion, carrots, and celery. Cook until the onion is translucent (maybe a couple of minutes).
3. Add the turkey and stir.
4. Sprinkle flour over the mixture and stir then cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly.
5. Pour the chicken or turkey broth and continue stirring constantly.
6. Pour in the cream.
7. Add the frozen peas.
8. Bring to a slow boil and allow mixture to cook and thicken for a few minutes.
9. Add the salt and pepper to taste.
10. Add the fresh or dried thyme to taste.
11. Pour mixture into a casserole dish or deep pie pan.
12. Roll out the crust so that it’s about 1 inch larger than the pan you’re using.
13. Place the crust on top of the pot pie mixture, and press crust into the sides of the dish.
14. Cut vents in the top of the crust.
15. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden and bubbly and the crust is done.
    Allow to cool for a little before serving.

Now, you can use whatever crust you like to cover the mixture. I used the Pioneer Woman’s crust which is what I link to in my recipe. The crust came out a little moist and came apart on me when I tried to lift it from the floured cutting board but it tasted fine just the same. Because of this, I did not have to vent the crust (it had enough holes in it – hahahaha).

And here’s what a slice of this wonderful pie looked like …

Yum, yum and triple yum!

I found the recipe for both the crust and the turkey pot pie at a fellow bloggers site – The Pioneer Woman.

It’s not too late in the Christmas season to post another cookie recipe, is it? This recipe is one my son made last year and recently I decided to make it myself because I remember the smell and taste of the cookies. It was a very sweet memory.

With these cookies, the dough is frozen so you can make as few or as little as you want at a time. Hey, make them all at once and … no, no, no temperance is key here.

Ingredients

• 8 ounces unsalted butter (that would be 2 sticks)
• 1 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 smalls eggs (at room temperature)
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. Allow the butter to warm at room temperature (or soften in microwave)
2. In an electric mixer, cream the butter until soft
3. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy
4. Add the vanilla and the eggs then beat until fluffy (fluffy seems to be the theme here)
5. Add the molasses (making sure you get every bit of it out of the measuring cup) and beat until everything is well combined
6. Combine the dry ingredients together, sift them,  then add them to the mixture
7. On low speed, mix everything together until it is just combined
8. LIne a 9″x5″ loaf pan with plastic so that some of the plastic hangs over all 4 sides
9. Transfer the dough into the bottom of this pan and pack it down into the bottom of the pan (I used wax paper on the top then pressed my hand down on it)
10. Try to make the dough as level as possible
11. Cover the dough with the plastic overhangs
12. Freeze the dough until its very firm, preferably overnight
13. When ready to use, unwrap and remove the dough from the pan
14. Slice the dough into thin slices, no more than 1/8″ thick (just eyeball it)
15. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the slices of dough on it being careful not to place them too close to each other
16. Bake at 350 degrees until the edges turn dark brown, about 12 minutes. For softer cookies, bake for approximately 10 minutes. Keep in mind that every oven is different, eh?

That’s it! So simple, so good, so yummy, so … well, you get the point.

(Notice that some slices came out a wee bit thicker than others. Aim for perfection when slicing but don’t stress if you miss the mark. They’re only cookies, after all.

Fresh out of the oven, small glass of milk in hand … delicious!

Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!

(Note: Not sure exactly where this recipe came from as many “stories” abound. I do know that they were served at the Chez Panisse restaurant at one time.)

This butternut squash, mushroom, kale and sausage frittata came out pretty good except for “cook” error which you’ll see at the end of the post. (no peeking!)

The frittata was quite filling and I absolutely love the taste of the squash in it which gave it a hint of sweetness. Very very good!

Ingredients

• 2 large sausages, I used the chicken ones from Trader Joe’s that don’t have the pork casing
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 cups butternut squash, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup kale, torn into bit sized pieces
• 8 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk or cream
• 1 cup gruyere, shredded
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Cook the sausage over medium-high heat in a pan, remove the sausage, set aside and reuse the pan for number 2 below.
2. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and the butternut squash to the pan and cook it until its tender, about 7-10 minutes, then set this aside in a bowl.
3. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan again then add the onion and mushrooms and cook until the onions are tender and the mushrooms are browned, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the kale to the above mixture and saute until wilted, about 3-4 minutes.
5. Mix everything in a large bowl, pour it back into the pan and cook over medium heat until the eggs are almost set, about 7-10 minutes.
6. Transfer the pan to a preheated 400F oven and bake until the eggs have set, about 10 minutes.

Below is the “cook error” that I referred to. I allowed the frittata to “set” on the stovetop a little too long and the bottom got a wee bit burnt. Lucky for us it was still edible and didn’t taste burnt.

This recipe calls for the frittata to be cooked in an oven proof fry pan before transferring it to the oven.

You can also put the frittata in a casserole dish and bake it that way. In this case, the eggs will have to bake more than the 10 minutes so keep an eye for when they are “set.”

Note: Special thanks to a fellow blogger who I follow, Closet Cooking, for this recipe.

Winter’s approach means soup time! Served with warm bread and a crisp salad, I could live on soup all winter.

This soup was tweaked just a tad because it assumed you had leftover turkey from Thanksgiving and since we didn’t have to cook for Thanksgiving we had no leftovers.

If you have leftover turkey, great! Otherwise, I have a workaround for you to try. Oh — I highly recommend getting a meat thermometer so that you know when to take the meat out of the oven without it being overcooked and tough. My sister-in-law gave me one a few years back that has worked great. Click here to see one that’s similar.

Okay then — onward and upward!

First, let’s work on getting some turkey ready for this soup. I bought 2 large turkey thighs and baked them for an hour and a half at 350° Fahrenheit. I used my thermometer and made sure that the inside temperature was no less than 165 before I took it out of the oven.

Here they are all baked and pretty looking …

I let the thighs cool for a bit and literally tore the meat off of it with my hands. How’s that for heading back to caveman, uh, woman, days? The meat pulled off pretty easy and I tore it into small pieces.

Okay then! Now onward to the soup!

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped finely
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon (original recipe calls for a full lemon but that was too much so add a little at a time and taste it as you go along)
• Strips of lemon zest, from one lemon (make them large so you can take them out later)
• 6 cups turkey or chicken stock (I used chicken) plus the drippings from the baked turkey
•  1/2 cup to 1 cup barley (more barley will yield a thicker soup)
• 2 cups chopped turkey
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley or 2 tablespoons dried

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Special thanks to simplyrecipes for this soup.