Easy Turkey Pot Pie

My Mom cooked a turkey for the kids while Matt & I were in Hawaii, so I came home to a pound of meat in my fridge just beckoning me to make something delicious - Deep Dish Turkey Pot Pie.

Meat pies are a fast and easy way for me to repurpose a variety of leftovers, and my family LOVES to eat them. This recipe can be used for any kind of meat pie: turkey, chicken or roast beef. It's also flexible, so you can vary the proportions of meat, vegetables and gravy and still have a delicious result!

Perfect Pie Crust
(Makes two crusts)

• 2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup shortening (I use a butter flavored shortening stick)
• 1/4 ice water

Mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening with a pastry cutter. Stir in ice water using a fork until dough just holds together in a ball. *Tip: Don't over-handle the dough or it will become tough and lose it's flakiness. Break off 1/3 of the dough ball and set aside. 

Roll out the remaining 2/3 dough into a large circle about 1/4" thick and then wrap the dough around the rolling pin to easily transport it to your baking dish.  I use a 9" round casserole dish. Fit the crust around the bottom of the pan and trim the edges.

Add any leftover crust pieces to your 1/3 dough ball and roll out the ball into a smaller circle to be used as the top crust. *The crust is the most work and it still only takes 5 to 10 minutes depending on how practiced you are at making pastry. You could also buy prepared pie crusts in the refrigerated section of your grocery store.

Pie Filling

• About 1 lb. of cooked meat, cubed (turkey, chicken, roast beef) *I always use leftovers, and sometimes I've even used canned chicken.
• About 8 cups of frozen or leftover mixed vegetables (any of the following: peas, carrots, corn, green beans, & southern style hash brown potatoes)
• 2 Tbls. dried onion flakes
• 1 quart of gravy (*again using leftovers, or a gravy mix that goes along with the meat)

Just mix the meat, vegetables, onion flakes & gravy in a large bowl. Pour the filling into your prepared bottom crust, and then put your top crust in place. Fold & crimp the edges of the pie crust and put a few cuts in the center to allow steam to escape.

Cover the edges of the crust with tin foil or a crust shield, and bake at 375 for about an hour and 15 minutes. *Remove the foil during the last 15 minutes of baking. Check the center of the pie to make sure it's hot and ready to serve.

I can throw this together in 15 minutes of prep time, and then sit back during baking. For instance, I made the pie earlier in the day and just popped it in the oven while the kids were at piano lessons.  

The house is filled with the aroma of an old fashioned home-cooked meal, but it's really SO EASY, and leftovers never tasted SO GOOD! Enjoy!

*Shepherd's Pie Variation: We'll often have leftover mashed potatoes along with meat and gravy, so instead of topping the pie with a second crust, I'll spread a few cups of mashed potatoes over the top of the pie (omitting the hash browns in the filling.) Cut a few venting holes for steam and bake as usual. You can roll out and freeze the second pie crust, or better yet, make a single crust dessert pie to go with the meal. YUM!