Turkey/Chicken Pot Pie

I froze some of the leftover Thanksgiving turkey so I could make this Pot Pie. I have made it before with chicken and its very yummy and pretty easy. I have no idea where I got this recipe! It could have been from a friend, a magazine, a website or somewhere else. 

Chicken/Turkey Pot Pie

Crust
1 box (15 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts, softened at room temp for 15 minutes

Filling
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cups shredded cooked turkey or chicken
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

Set oven to 425 degrees. Place one of the pie crusts into a 9 inch pie dish.
In a medium sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook and stir until tender. Add flour, salt and pepper and stir well. Add broth and milk and cook until sauce is thickened and bubbly.
Mix in the chicken and the veggies and remove from heat. Carefully pour or spoon the mixture into the pie dish line with one of the crusts. Place the remaining crust on top and crimp the edge to seal. Cut a few slits in the top of the crust..
Bake 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Cover the crust edge with foil during the last 15 - 20 minutes of bake time. Let stand 15-20 minutes before serving.


This recipe is pretty easy and self explanatory. I will tell you that my biggest pet peeve with pot pie is transferring it neatly to a plate. Ours was just big jumbled blob of crust and saucy mixture on our plates. It tasted good, just didn't look pretty. The original recipe said let it sit for only 5 minutes, and I let it sit for 20....maybe 30 would be better!?!

We all enjoyed this! Good ol' comfort food!

Chipotle Chili Cornbread Casserole

I learned of this recipe at a Pampered Chef a little over a year ago. I love it because it's all made in the microwave. Oh and it's delish.

Chipotle Chili Cornbread Casserole - adapted from Pampered Chef

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
6 green onions, with tops, divided
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 can (16 oz.) chili beans in sauce
1 cup chunky salsa
1 tbsp. finely chopped chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (or 2 tbsp. Pampered Chef Chipotle Rub)
1 pkg. Jiffy cornbread mix
8 oz. sour cream
1 egg
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1.  Chop the light green and the white parts of the of the onion to cook with the ground beef. Thinly slice the green onion tops. Reserve 1 tbsp. of the onion tops for garnish. Put the remaining tops in a medium bowl (which you will mix the cornbread in).
2.  In a 3-quart, microwave safe casserole dish, combine the bell pepper, onion bottoms and beef; mix well. Cover and microwave on HIGH for 7-9 minutes or until beef is no longer pink, stopping halfway through to breakup meat and stir. Remove the dish from the microwave (it will be HOT) and carefully drain off the juices. Add the beans, salsa and adobo peppers (or rub) to the meat mixture and mix well. Replace the cover and microwave for 5 minutes or until hot.
3.  While that cooks, mix the muffin mix, sour cream and egg in the bowl that has the green onion in it. Spread the muffin mix evenly over top of the chili and spread all the way to the edge of the dish. 4.  4.  Place the cover on the dish and microwave on HIGH for 7-9 minutes or until center of cornbread springs back lightly when pressed. Remove from microwave and sprinkle with cheese. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with green onion and tomato.

This is one of my hubby's favorite meals. He loves the chipotle flavor in the chili. It's kind of smoky and adds so much flavor! I have made this several times, and I have used the rub and I have used the canned peppers. Both are good. You may have concerns about cooking your meat in the microwave. Don't. It's awesome. You won't be able to tell this difference.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we do!!

French Onion Burgers

This is one of my family's new favorite recipes! It's so easy, too! It's a Campbell's soup recipe that I pulled out of a magazine. It's kind of a cross between a French Dip Sandwich and a Cheeseburger. Sorry I don't have a picture for this, but the last time I made these I was starving and in a huge hurry, so I wasn't thinking about the camera! You can see a picture by clicking the link to the Campbell's website below the recipe. But, I'm pretty sure you can picture a cheeseburger without a lot of help! ;)

French Onion Burgers - adapted from Campbell's

1 pound ground round
1 can (10 1/2 oz.) Campbell's French Onion soup
4 slices cheese (your favorite!)
4 hamburger buns

Shape the ground beef into 4 patties, about 1/2 inch thick. Heat a 10 inch skillet (with a lid....you'll need it later) over medium-high heat. Cook burgers until they are well browned on both sides, but you are not trying to fully cook them at this point. After browned, remove them from the skillet and pour/wipe any fat from the pan. Pour the French Onion soup into the skillet and bring to a boil. Place the hamburgers back in the skillet, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, place cheese on the burgers and let sit 1-2 minutes so the cheese can melt. Serve on buns with bowls of juice for dipping!!


The original recipe for this can be found right on the can of Campbell's French Onion Soup or at
http://www.campbellkitchen.com/RecipeDetail.aspx?recipeId=25508&ref=%2fSearchRecipesResult.aspx%3fq%3dfrench%2bonion%2bburger%26filter%3d


I love making these burgers. I can keep all the ingredients on hand easily, they are super quick to prepare, and my entire family loves them. My kids don't like to dip them in the soup, so they just put all their usual favorite cheeseburger toppings on. They love them because they are so juicy and flavorful. I like to serve them with French fries or sweet potato fries and a salad.

Enjoy!

Spritz Cookies

Many years ago I got a cookie press and set out to find a yummy recipe to make using it. I found this recipe and adapted it from Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

These are one of my son's absolute favorites. I only make them at Christmas, but I really could make them any time of the year by switching the shape in the press and changing the color!,

Spritz Cookies

1 cup soft butter
2/3 cups sugar
3 egg yolks
1tsp. Almond flavoring
Food coloring
2 1/2 cups flour

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar, egg yolks, flavoring and food coloring until well blended. Gradually mix in flour. Following the directions for your cookie press, place dough inside and press onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 400 degrees 7-10 minutes or until set, not brown.


These do not work well with parchment paper. Press directly onto your cookie sheet. Also, when I recently made these, I made the dough one day, refrigerated it, then baked it the next. This was the most trouble I ever had with these cookies, so I don't recommend doing that either. Add to the fact the my cookie press is on the brink of breaking, and you can just imagine how frustrated I was.

Despite all that, I got the cookies baked, though most are brown on the edge because I didn't care by that point. But they still tasted yummy!

I will be attempting another batch here soon, hopefully with less frustrating effort!

Stovetop Popcorn

My BFF Tricia always makes delicious popcorn, and finally after tiring of the fake tasting microwave popcorn, I found out from her how to make it. It's more of a "technique" than a recipe, but for those of you who haven't made it before on the stove, this will help you!

Also, I will be referring to this recipe in the next couple weeks when I share a recipe for Caramel Corn!!!

Stovetop Popcorn

3/4 cup popcorn kernals
2 tbsp. olive oil
Crisco butter spray
Popcorn salt

In at least a 6qt. pot with lid, place the olive oil and ONLY 3 popcorn kernals. Place the lid on the pot and heat on medium high heat, shaking the pot occasionally. Once the 3 kernals have popped, the oil is hot enough, and now you can add in the rest of the popcorn kernals and replace the lid. Shake/swirl the pot around so all the kernals get covered with oil and kind of spread out on the bottom of the pan. The popping will start shortly. Continue shaking the pot occasionally. When the popping significantly slows down so you only hear one or two kernals popping at a time, turn the heat off, shake the pot a few times so the last few kernals can pop, then take off the lid and you should have a full pot of popcorn!!!

I then pour about a third of it into a large bowl with a lid and spray it with Crisco butter spray and sprinkle with popcorn salt. Then put the lid on and shake it up. I repeat this until all the popcorn is in the bowl, then serve!

This is the ONLY way we eat popcorn at my house anymore! It's an easy, inexpensive, low fat snack that we can have on hand all the time!

A couple of tips that I have found make for better popcorn....1) only buy major brand popcorn. I have not found a store brand that works as well. I use Orville Redenbacher. 2) I prefer "light tasting" olive oil, but any oil will work. If it has a strong flavor, you will taste it on your popcorn. 3) Only Crisco brand butter spray. Just trust me on this one. 4) Regular salt won't do. You must have the nice, fine, popcorn salt. You can find this near the regular salt at the grocery store. And I don't buy the butter flavored kind. Just the regular salt.

Anyhow, now you are ready to make your own yummy popcorn! If you have a bigger or smaller pot, you can adjust the amounts of kernals and oil accordingly!

Happy popping!!!

Candied Fruit Slices

My husband and I both grew up with moms that made several different Christmas cookies. So when we got married and I started making Christmas cookies, I got our favorite recipes from our moms, and then have added a few new ones over the years.

This cookie recipe was one that my mother-in-law always made when my husband was growing up. It has become one of my family's favorites and I make it every year now, too!

Candied Fruit Slices

1 cup unsalted butter
1cup confectioner's sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup pecan halves
2 cups soft candied cherries (1 cup red, 1 cup green)

Cream butter in mixing bowl. Gradually add sugar, cream until light & fluffly. Blend in eggs & vanilla. Add flour, mix well. Stir in pecans and cherries, mix well. Chill dough for 1 hour and 15 minutes (no longer or dough will be too hard to handle). Divide dough into thirds. Shape each third into 10" long rolls. Wrap in wax paper and chill for at least 3 hours or overnight (this will make for easier slicing). When ready to bake, only pull out one roll at a time. Slice into 1/8" slices. Bake at 325 degrees on an ungreased cookie sheet for 16-20 minutes or until edges are delicately brown.


Now, these may sound like a lot of work to you, but let me tell you the my 11 year old son made these last week with just supervision from me. He did all the work. If he can do it, you can do it!!

A couple of quick notes on these. 1) Once you add the cherries and pecans, only mix until they are just blended otherwise they will break up into little pieces and they wont look as pretty when you slice them. 2) I do not double this recipe because it makes a lot of cookies, and I think it would be too hard to mix up. Also, the cookies don't spread so you can fit lots of them on a cookie sheet. Try to get all your slices pretty even otherwise you will have some cookies browner than others. I am not very good at this, but my husband loves the ones that are over browned so he happily eats those for me!

If you are looking for a different cookie that will add some "pizazz" to your cookie plates, then this may be the one for you!!

Baked Potato Soup

I made this soup recently because it sounded easy and yummy. Pretty much two things I look for in a recipe. I adapted this recipe from one I saw in Souther Living magazine.

Baked Potato Soup

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup flour
3 chicken bouillon cubes (or 1 Knorr extra large cube)
1 (24 oz.) bag of frozen steam and mash potatoes (like Ore Ida)
2 cups milk
Fresh ground pepper, to taste

Optional toppings: cooked bacon pieces, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, sliced green onion/chopped chives.

In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook about 10 minutes or until golden and soft, stirring often.
Stir flour into mixture. Add water and bouillon, leave heat at medium and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once it comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Microwave the potatoes according to the directions on the bag. But dont do any more than cook them!! When potatoes are done cooking, let sit in bag for a couple minutes. Carefully open the bag, pour into a bowl and mash.
Add mashed potatoes, milk and pepper into the onion mixture. Bring heat back up to medium and cook soup, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or until the desired thickness. The soup will thicken as it cools.
Ladle into bowls and top with desired toppings.


You know that I love to have leftovers at my house, so I doubled this. Faith, Frank and I loved it. Frankie didn't love it quite so much, but that didn't surprise me.

One thing I like about this recipe is that I can buy these potatoes when they are on sale and keep them in the freezer to pull out on a day when I don't have a meal planned. All of the other ingredients I usually have on hand!

I think you will be happy with the outcome of this recipe. It's a homemade soup with an easy shortcut with the frozen potatoes. No one will no if you don't tell!! ;)