Turkey Pot Pie Freezer Meal

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s Thanksgiving weekend and we have eaten turkey dinner TWICE! If your mom is anything like mine, she probably cooked a turkey twice the size of what was needed and now there are leftovers, like, A LOT of leftovers. Turkey Pot Pie is a really great idea for leftover turkey, and if you have enough, double the recipe and throw them in the freezer for one of your really busy days (read: everyday).

Turkey Pot Pie

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

3 cups chicken broth

2 carrots, chopped into small pieces

2 celery stalks, chopped into small pieces

2 small potatoes, chopped into small pieces

4 cups sliced mushrooms

1 tbsp butter

3/4 cup frozen peas

3 cups chopped leftover turkey

pastry to cover a 3 qt casserole see tips below

Melt butter is large pot over medium heat. Blend in flour, salt, pepper, and chopped onion. Slowly stir in chicken broth. Cook, stirring constantly, util it starts to thicken. Add in carrots, celery and potatoes. Cook these until tender (about 15-20 min). Meanwhile, in a frying pan, melt 2 tbsp butter and fry mushrooms. Add in mushrooms, peas, and cooked turkey to the veggie mixture. Stir together and pour into a large casserole. cover with rolled pastry and cut 6 small slits in the top. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 40 minutes or until pastry is golden.

TIPS:

*To make this one gluten free, use cornstarch or a GF flour of your choice as a thickener, and purchase a GF pie crust for the top (or make your own!).

*I often double this and pour into three 8x8 pans. A purchased, frozen pie crust flattened out covers the top perfectly and takes a lot of the time out of the pastry part of it. Another option is to use frozen puff pastry, found next to the frozen pie crusts in most grocery stores.

*To freeze: bake as directed. Let it cool, and cover with heavy duty foil. Label it (or you’ll forget what it is!) and freeze in a flat spot in your freezer. When you want to eat it, let it thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 min, OR microwave individual portions.

ENJOY!

~Leah