Recipe: Pot Pie

We eat this at least once a month. It's great to serve to company, it's fabulous in cold weather, and it makes enough for us to have leftovers for several days. It's also a fairly healthy and well-balanced one-pot meal, although it can be more or less healthy depending on the type of crust you use.

If I plan it right, it takes about 20 minutes of work in the kitchen to put this all together, and another 20-30 to bake. If I get started making it as soon as I get home from work, I have just enough time to change my clothes, wash my hands, and get settled in to being home and then dinner is ready.


Pot Pie Recipe (6-8 servings)

Ingredients

• 1 chicken or turkey thigh, or 1/2 lb cut of beef
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 bag frozen organic mixed vegetables
• 1-2 tablespoons flour or cornstarch
• 2 frozen organic pie crusts
• Seasoning (salt, pepper, thyme, sage, etc.) to taste
  

In the morning, put the meat (I usually use chicken, but have done beef once and turkey once) in a slow cooker with the garlic, onion, and other seasonings. I don't turn it on when I leave in the morning, because it would be mush by the time I got home, but Mr. Scrimp leaves for work later than I do so I have him turn it on before he goes.

When meat is done cooking, remove it from the slow cooker with a fork or a straining spoon (depending on the type of meat and how well-cooked it is). Strain out onions and garlic from broth, put broth in jars, and refrigerate or freeze for use later. If there is skin on the meat, remove the skin. Pull meat off the bone and chop into cubes.

Put cubed meat into a saucepan or small pot with the bag of mixed vegetables. If you want, you can also add the onions and garlic back in. Add some water--I usually use about half a cup, but you can vary this depending on how much broth/gravy you want in your pie. Stir in the flour or cornstarch and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

When about half the water has boiled down, fill one frozen pie shell. Place the other on top and crimp edges together. Cut slits in the top for ventilation.

Because the meat is already cooked when it goes in, I just follow the directions on the packaging for how long to cook the pie crust. It generally takes about 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

I imagine it would be fairly easy to modify this to a vegetarian recipe as well. If I were to do that, I would probably add chunks of squash or cauliflower in place of the meat, and I wouldn't pre-cook them to keep them from turning into mush.