What to do with your Thanksgiving leftovers

Like any Canadian who celebrates Thanksgiving this month, I am always excited to indulge in my dad’s famous tender turkey dinner, complete with delectable veggies, fresh and mouth-watering gravy. However, also like most people on Thanksgiving, my family always overestimates how much food we will be serving. The result? A lot of turkey leftovers sitting in our fridge, waiting to be consumed before it goes bad.

To avoid having the same bland dinner for the next week, try making interesting recipes out of your leftovers. A well-recommended recipe I found that helps to eliminate the amount of leftovers in your fridge is cooking up a delicious turkey potpie. The turkey potpie will help to lessen the quantity of turkey, vegetables and even the cups of gravy that is currently vacating your refrigerator.

For this recipe to work successfully, you will need:

2 cups frozen peas and carrots

2 cups frozen green beans

1 cup sliced celery

2/3 cup butter

2/3 cup chopped onion

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon celery seed

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

1 1/3 cups milk

4 cups cubed cooked turkey meat – light and dark meat mixed

4 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit (220 degrees C).

Place the peas and carrots, green beans, and celery into a saucepan; cover with water, bring to a boil, and simmer over medium-low heat until the celery is tender, about 8 minutes. Drain the vegetables in a colander set in the sink, and set aside.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and cook the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in 2/3 cup of flour, salt, black pepper, celery seed, onion powder, and Italian seasoning; slowly whisk in the chicken broth and milk until the mixture comes to a simmer and thickens. Remove from heat; stir the cooked vegetables and turkey meat into the filling until well combined.

Fit 2 piecrusts into the bottom of 2 9-inch pie dishes. Spoon half the filling into each piecrust, and then top each pie with another crust. Pinch and roll the top and bottom crusts together at the edge of each pie to seal, and cut several small slits into the top of the pies with a sharp knife to release steam.

Bake in the preheated oven until the crusts are golden brown and the filling is bubbly, 30 to 35 minutes. If the crusts are browning too quickly, cover the pies with aluminum foil after about 15 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

And then once the potpie has cooled down, you are free to indulge! Here’s to prolonging the most delicious holiday without getting bored of the entrée itself!

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