Easy Pie Dough

Since the unsuccessful attempt of using crescent roll dough as pie dough in the previous post, I was intent on making one the right way.  There were many that I found in my search, and I ended up using the simplest one ingredient-wise, from Martha Stewart.

I only made half the portion, and yielded 3 mini chicken pot pies (in a muffin tin) using the filling ingredients from the previous post as well as 3.5 mac & cheese filled (yes, mac & cheese!) hand-held pies, which are kind of like hot pockets.  Use about 2 tablespoons or an ice scream scoop of filling, otherwise over-stuffing can cause bubbling out and lead to burns.  Be sure to cut slits on top to allow the steam to escape.  Cook at 400 degrees for 15 minutes then turn the heat down to 375 or 350 for another 10-15 minutes.

These pies were made late in the evening, sometime after dinner, so I let them cool overnight.  Today, I zapped one in the micro for about 30 seconds, long enough so the inside is piping hot and the crust still very flaky.  We're heading over to my parents' today so I'll take both types of pies over to share.

Chicken Pot Pie Filling

This pie filling was much easier to make than I thought.  To start, I go to my standby, the Costco roast chicken.  I had already used most of it for other meals and had half the breast left, enough for two and then some. I removed the meat and used the carcass, skin, and any leftover drippings from the roast chicken to make a broth (about 4-5 cups of water in a medium sauce pan).  This was the most time-consuming step of the whole process (30-40 minutes).  To finish, strain any leftover bits from the broth and let it cool to remove the solidified fat.  Now the whole chicken has been used and nothing has gone to waste.

To make the most of the chicken, I made a soup first before the filling.  Add the shredded chicken meat, 2 cubes of Knorr vegetable bouillon, and about 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro and heat through.  The cilantro makes the soup amazingly fragrant, but use with discretion, as some folks are averse to it.

Next is to make the pie filling.  I didn't have any fresh veggies so ended up using a frozen medley of peas, corn, carrots and green beans, which worked just fine.  Saute this in some butter until thawed.  Add about 1 tbsp of flour (I used TJ's biscuit mix) to make a roux, stirring briskly until the flour is slightly browned, then add about 1/2 cup of the chicken broth, stirring to get a creamy consistency.  Scoop in about a cup of the shredded chicken that's in the soup into this mixture.  Finish off by adding the cream. This makes enough for 2 individual bowls of pie. 

Here's a rundown of the ingredients:
4-5 cups water (for broth)
1/2 cup broth
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
2 cubes vegetable bouillon
1 cup frozen vegetable medley
1 cup shredded chicken breast
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1/3 cup cream

The pie crust is still in progress...  The crescent roll dough that I tried using did not cook evenly, so that was a bad idea.  One other thing that I learned was to find some bowls with large enough lips to hold the crust up.  I used casserole bowls with long handles, and the dough sagged into the filling.  Someone let me know if you have a good suggestion for bowls.  We did have plenty of chicken soup left to fill Ken's belly when the pie alone wasn't enough.  There's still some soup left, so I'm thinking of modifying it to make chicken & dumplings.

Thai Chicken (Turkey) Mint Leaves

This is one of my favorite Thai dishes to order and I never realized how easy it is to make until now.  The ingredients are easy to find and were already in my kitchen & garden.

1 cup of seasoned ground turkey or chicken (see previous post)
1-2 cloves chopped garlic
1 handful mint leaves
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1/2 cup chicken stock (I like Better Than Bouillon)
3-4 tbsp sweet soy sauce
1 tbsp cooking oil

Head the cooking oil then add the red bell pepper and garlic, cooking until the pepper is slightly soft.  Stir in the pre-cooked ground turkey and cook for about a minute.  Pour in the stock and reduce the liquid to about half that amount before adding the sweet soy sauce.  The last step is to add the mint leaves, cooking until wilted.

Ken thinks this tastes just like it came from the restaurant, which means it's a keeper.  I like to have this mixture over steamed rice with an egg fried over easy on the side.  The yolk from the fried egg pouring over the rice and the meat certainly puts this dish over the top.

Seasoned Ground Turkey Base

In my previous post about the turkey enchiladas, I cooked up the ground turkey before rolling up the enchiladas.  I took that idea of pre-seasoning to creating a ground turkey base for a myriad of dishes, since I'm just cooking for 2, so we're not eating the same dish night after night.  It's a simple and time-saving step that I wished I thought of doing sooner.  All there is to it is browning the meat and adding some seasonings.  Salt is left out and added later in other dishes to avoid over-salting.  This could be used to make enchiladas, tacos, dirty rice, cupcake lasagna, spaghetti sauce, chili...whatever you can dream up.  Give this a try!

1 package ground turkey - about 1 lb
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder