Pot Pies

I remember when my mom use to make pot pies. I would have a fit. I hated them. My brother and sister would happily eat their dinner, and I would sit at the table, nose up, like a snot, refusing to eat my pot pie. I decided they were the worst and I would not even try them. Nothing would change my mind. They had peas, they had gravy, they were not for me. Now that I am a mom myself, I realize my mom is a saint for not slapping me!

Since my teenager-anxy days, I have never had a pot pie (I am nothing but true to my word). But around Thanksgiving, I kept seeing posts about people making pot pie recipes with their leftover turkey. The cutest ramekins filled with bright orange carrots, firm peas, and shredded turkey. Guys, it looked good. And I couldn’t believe it. I hate pot pies.

But I had a bunch of leftover turkey and I didn’t feel like making soup. I decided that it was time to finally try pot pies.

Ok, now I feel like an adult. I like them. They were good. It was filling, warm, and the perfect level of salty savory. I would make this again. And I can’t believe it. Guys, you should try this. They are good. You’ll feel like an adult. It’s great.

It doesn’t have to look pretty. It just has to taste good.

Ingredients

  • Yellow onion, diced
  • 5 carrots, diced
  • 1 bag frozen Trader Joe’s Mushroom Medley (OR a bunch of diced mushrooms)
  • 1-2 cups turkey or chicken (or opt if desire veggie)
  • 2 tbsp Trader Joe’s Garlic Herb Butter (OR just butter)
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • Lemon, squeeze
  • Maple syrup, drizzle or two
  • 1/4 tsp Trader Joe’s Multipurpose Umami Seasoning Blend
  • 2 cups peas
  • 1 package frozen pie crusts, thawed
  • Salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400F.
  2. Over medium heat on the stove, sauté onions, carrots, and mushrooms in butter, salt and pepper for 5 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Add in cooked turkey/chicken.
  3. Remove from heat and sprinkle with flour.
  4. Then, put back on heat. Add vegetable stock, lemon,maple syrup, and umami seasoning.
  5. Simmer to until a bit thick. Toss in peas.
  • Scoop into ramekins, and top with the pie crusts.
  • Bake for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
  • Enjoy!

Source: Cup of Jo

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Buffalo Meatballs

Wow. Has it really been that long? Since my last post, we celebrated a new years, a birthday, and a month of working far over 200 hours.  To say the least, it’s been busy.  And yet, despite early mornings, late nights, and not enough sleep, I have no complaints.  January kicked ass.

starting out 2013 on the right foot.

First, January is my birthday month.  I never say no to a reason for a themed-party so this year my birthday party was Prom.  Complete with a cheesy background and spiked punch, we slow danced, played beer pong, and slammed shots. One of the greatest parts was my actual prom date from my junior prom came–so I was wearing the same dress, the same jewelry, same shoes, same tiara, and the same date. We had to reenactment our prom photo.  That and a bunch of friends that were willing to dress up with me in prom dresses, suits, and tuxes and just let loose, get drunk, and play some beer pong until 4 in the morning.  It was the perfect birthday celebration.

prom
the husband and my prom photo.

And well, with working and planning a prom, not much time was left for cooking.  So we survived on salads, pasta, and cereal.  No new recipes.  No grocery shopping–seriously–we didn’t go grocery shopping for a month!  But now it’s February.  And while work hasn’t slowed down, my party planning has so I finally have some time to try out some new recipes.  And I have missed it!

Since this weekend was the Superbowl, I decided to make a healthier version of buffalo wings–buffalo meatballs made with ground turkey.  It was delicious, easy to make, and no where near as messy as wings.  Hopefully you all will enjoy it as much as we did!

 Buffalo Meatballs

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Taco Flatbread Pizza

I am starting my second round of p90x.  And this time my focus is on nutrition.  Which is particularly challenging during this holiday season.  But so far so good!  Especially with delicious meals like this taco flatbread pizza!

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For me, the hardest part of eating healthy is not living alone.  When I lived by myself in law school, healthy eating was never an issue.  I controlled what food was in my fridge and what cluttered my cupboards.  Now as husband and wife, grocery shopping is a team sport.  Since Matt is a woodworker, he is all about the snack food that’s easy and fast to eat–which basically means unhealthy (but delicious) food that is rather hard to resist.

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So finding meals that are healthy but still have that snack-like taste can be difficult.  This taco flatbread pizza was an excellent compromise–full of protein, little bit of veggies, and still falls into the pizza family so both Matt and I were happy.  This has definitely made it into our recipe rotation.

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Turkey and Black Bean Enchiladas

 

The weather here has been going from scorching hot to rather chilly.  Quintessential Minnesota.  Today was more on the chilly side so I decided to make a warmer dish.  Chances are it will be too hot for anything warm for the next couple of months.  I LOVE Mexican food. No surprise to anyone who knows me.  I’ve worked at two different Mexican restaurants and my go-to drinks are mojitos and margaritas.  I am always on the hunt for healthy, Mexican recipes.  This recipe is filling, full of protein, and a healthy alternative to greasy restaurant enchiladas.  We were out of black beans today so I substituted chili beans, but I originally made these enchiladas with black beans.  Both are good!

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Cremona Chili

I LOVE chili.  Love it.  In fact, whenever I cave and decide I’m going to get fast food, I pick Wendy’s so I can get chili.  I have multiple different chili recipes, and I have yet to take a side on the noodles or no noodles battle.  But one thing I can definitively agree upon is using turkey instead of beef (or you can opt out of meat all together and make this vegetarian).  The beans and tomatoes serve as the prominent flavors so any distinguishable taste between turkey and beef is effectively muted.   For only 4 Weight Watcher’s Plus points per 1 1/2 cups, this chili is a healthy and filling meal.

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Cabbage Rolls

 

Tonight I made cabbage rolls.  With St. Patrick’s Day on Saturday, I wanted to get in the Irish spirit.  Growing up, I always loved my mom’s cabbage rolls, but I wanted to try a different recipe.  So, here is Paula Dean’s recipe as posted by Pennies on a Platter.

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