Two New Recipes...And Not A Single Picture!

I'm pretty sure we skipped fall this year and jumped straight to winter.

And winter makes me want to cook. Warm, hearty, comfortable things. Things that warm you heart and soul and make my babies lick their plates.

This week I've hit two especially delicious dinner home-runs. Turkey Pot Pie and Chicken and Dumplings. Both were yummy and warm and a hit all around not to mention easy-peasy. I wasn't planning on posting these recipes so I didn't take any pictures so you'll just have to use your imagination and pretend my pictures would look something like HERS even though we both know they never would.

I made Turkey Pot Pie on Monday. I've never had turkey leftovers before because I've never hosted Thanksgiving before and I don't really like the traditional smoked turkey that my family always had. Since I was hostessing, I had Brad fry a turkey at a friend's turkey fry party to serve along with the smoked turkey my great-uncle brought. I realized that I actually kind of like turkey...at least I like fried turkey. So after everyone left I was left with a big ziplock bag full of turkey. I made turkey sliders and turkey quesadillas, but then I saw THIS recipe and it looked a-MAZ-ing. (Does she ever have a recipe that isn't?!)

I was feeling fancy (and lazy) Monday night, so I used a store-bought frozen puff pastry crust instead of a pie crust. I didn't change the cooking time, so the top browned a bit faster than I had intended and the underside was still just a little undercooked. However, it was still yummy...soggy crust and all. As I was making the filling, my kitchen started to smell better and better every passing second and drew the rest of my family down like flies to honey. Next time, I'll try a pie crust and see what happens. I know most of you have already eaten your leftovers or frozen them, but I think you could use rotisserie chicken meat and it would be just as yummy. Plus, it's so freaking fantastic that I had to share!

Here's the recipe with my adjustments.

Turkey Pot Pie
1 puff pastry sheet
1/2 stick butter
1/2 of a diced onion
3 large carrots, sliced
2 stalks of celery, sliced
2 cups leftover turkey, cut up (I only had white meat left so that's what I used.)
1/4 cup flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken or turkey broth
splash of white wine (optional)
1 cup heavy cream
Frozen peas
a few teaspoons of dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Get the pastry sheet out to thaw.

Melt butter in a skillet or dutch oven. Add onion, carrots, and celery, and cook until translucent (a couple of minutes.) Add turkey and stir. Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir. Cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour in chicken or turkey broth, stirring constantly. Splash in wine. Pour in cream. Add frozen peas. Bring to a slow boil and allow mixture to cook and thicken for a few minutes. At this point, I thought my pie filling was a little "loose" so I grabbed some corn starch and thickened it up to cream gravy consistency. Add thyme, salt, and pepper to taste. Do one final taste at the end and add what it needs. I ended up adding more salt and pepper because it needed it. Pour mixture into a casserole dish or deep pie pan. Place the pastry sheet on top of the pot pie mixture, and press crust into the sides of the dish. Cut vents in the top of the crust. Bake for 45 minutes or until very golden and bubbly. Allow to cool exactly 7 1/2 minutes before serving.


Tuesday night I made Chicken and Dumplings. In the crock pot. I cannot express to you how happy it will make your heart to eat this. When I was pregnant with Eli, I didn't get really, really sick. I was bone-tired and lost my appetite due a constant stomach uneasy-ness but not really nausea. Right at the end of my first trimester we went to eat at a local joint, CALICO COUNTY. (I need to take a moment and give this little restaurant a plug. It's one of my all-time favorites. They serve cinnamon rolls all day long and the pot roast is to die-for. Let's have a moment of silence for the pot roast.) I ordered the Chicken and Dumplings and I was certain that I had not eaten anything that wonderful in my entire life. Ever since then, chicken and dumplings has been one of my comfort foods.

But let's face it, I'm not gonna boil and de-bone an entire chicken on a weeknight and then make homemade dumplings. Although I've been told it's not that hard. When I came across a crock pot recipe for Chicken and Dumplings last year, I figured it was worth a try. The worst that could happen would be that we all hated it and I'd never make again.

Luckily, it was downright delicious...and I'm going to share the recipe with you.

Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings
2 or 3 large frozen chicken breasts (I keep thinking I'm going to use some chicken thighs too for dark meat, but I never do.)
1 can cream of chicken
2 cans chicken broth
1 1/2 cup water
a handful of frozen peas
2 or 3 sliced carrots or 1 can of carrots, drained (I've used both.)
2 stalks of celery, sliced
dried thyme and/or parsley
1 can of regular (not Grands) biscuits (I used two of the small cans of biscuits for a total of 10 biscuits.)

Place chicken in the crock pot and cover with cream of chicken, chicken broth, water, veggies, salt, pepper (plenty of this), and herbs. Cook on low for several hours. (I cooked mine all day long while I was at KU.) About an hour before you're ready to eat, take the chicken out and shred it into big pieces. Cut biscuits into quarters, roll into balls, and place in the Crock Pot and turn it on high. Stir occasionally. Cover again until ready to eat.


I served mine in my Christmas mugs while a fire burned in the fireplace. It made me think of the quote, "There's nothing like staying at home for real comfort." Nothing indeed.