Traditional Easy Pot Pies

Good Monday morning!  Unlike most people, I just love Mondays.  My spirit is recharged from the great sermons and worship on Sunday, and although my body is tired from all the cooking I do in the afternoon, there is nothing better in life than to be with God's people on the Lord's Day.  

These photos were featured in the Savannah Morning News weekly food column with Miss Sophie.  And my church family absolutely loves this humble dish.    

 I have to agree with Miss Sophie, that great tasting rich stock or broth is the basis for great tasting pot pies.  So in the IPC kitchen we take a little extra time in making homemade stock by using the carcasses from Sam's rotisserie chickens.  We add bay leaves, fresh onions, carrots, and celery, whole peppercorns,  and cook until all the goodness comes out the marrow.  

Here is a simple pot pie recipe from Miss Sophie, which is very similar to the one I do for my church family.   I hope you will give it a try this week for your family.   Have a wonderful week everyone!  

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TRADITIONAL EASY POT PIE

Recipe by Miss Sophie  (Used with permission )

Sauce:

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

2 cups rich stock

Beef, Chicken, Vegetable or Veal Stock

2-3 sprigs fresh thyme

Filling:

2-3 cups chopped or shredded cooked meat

Rotisserie chicken, turkey, beef or lamb

2 cups cooked vegetables:

Peas, Carrots, Mushrooms, Potatoes or Frozen mixed vegetables, uncooked.

Crust:

1 box of 2 pie crusts or 1 sheet of puff pastry

1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon of water for wash

Melt butter in a medium sauce pan. Add onions and cook until translucent, 2-3 minutes. Whisk flour into butter and onions and cook for additional 2-3 minutes.  Slowly whisk broth into flour until smooth, add thyme and bring to slow simmer. Add meat and vegetables. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

For a 2 crust pie: spray a pie plate with cooking spray. Unroll one crust and cover bottom and sides of pie plate, trim excess edges. Pour hot ingredients into pie shell. Top with second pie crust, remove excess crust and tuck crust down around ingredients. Using the tines of a fork, crimp edges to pie plate to seal. Cut two or three slits in the top crust to allow steep to vent. Brush with egg wash.  Bake in a 400 degree oven 30 – 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

For a top crust pie only, pour ingredients directly into pie plate and cover with one pie crust or a sheet of puff pastry, remove excess and tuck crust down around filling. Using the tines of a fork, crimp edges to pie plate to seal. Cut two or three slits in the top crust to allow steep to vent. Brush with egg wash.  Bake in a 400 degree oven 30 – 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Large volume cooking tip:
For the crust, we bake about 300 Garlic-Cheese biscuits separately.  After we ladle the filling in a 12-oz disposable bowl, we then top it with biscuit and serve.  It's much easier to control portions and crust topping this way.  

Hobbes' Favorite Tuna Salad

 Bill Watterson

 My youngest loves a good tuna salad sandwich.  And he loves to read Calvin and Hobbes.  And being the youngest of four, he gets whatever he wants.  At least that's what my three older ones accuse me of.  

So when he begged for a stuffed Hobbes, I went searching online.  OK, maybe the older ones are right.  

Quickly I found out that a stuffed Hobbes can't be purchased anywhere, because Mr. Bill Watterson never liked the idea of commercializing his work.   So if you want to own a stuffed Hobbes, you gotta make it yourself.  

And here I found a great free pattern available online. Thanks to super creative Seamster, the instructions, complete with helpful step-by-step photos, were super-easy to follow, even for this novice sewer.  

The hardest part was hand sewing Hobbes' way-too-many stripes, but my youngest "hoorayed" and said things like, "Mom, you are the best sewer in the world!"  every time a stripe was sewn on.  With this kind of encouragement, I could have sewn the moon for this kid.  

Just like the real Calvin and Hobbes, these two are inseparable lately.  After only a few weeks,  Hobbes' white muzzle is already grey-brown, and his limbs are beginning to detach from being carried around so much.  And watching them share this tuna salad sandwich for lunch? Priceless.  

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Hobbes' Favorite Tuna Salad 

Makes 2 generous sandwiches

Recipe inspired from Cook's Country

2 (5 oz) cans solid white albacore tuna, packed in water

2 Tablespoon grated onion (great way to hide onion from kids)

1 Table Olive oil

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 Cup Hellmann's Mayonnaise

Salt and Pepper to taste

Optional ingredients: finely chopped celery, hard boiled eggs, fresh dill, or anything else that catches your fancy.

4 slices of bread

2 pieces of lettuce leaves  

Open two cans of tuna and drain water completely.  Transfer tuna into a medium size bowl and pat dry with a few sheets of paper towels.  

In a small microwave safe bowl, combine grated onion and olive oil and heat for 45 seconds.  Cool.  

Using a fork, toss onion mixture with tuna and add lemon juice and mayo.  Add any optional ingredients if using. Season well with salt and pepper.  

Assemble the sandwiches or use it to top a bed of greens.  

Note: Here is the link to canned tuna drainer that Pateberry mentioned in her comment.  Thanks Pateberry for this tip!

Jenna's Gingerbread Sandwiches with Chocolate Butter Cream

 These photos were featured in the Savannah Morning News with Miss Sophie's weekly food column this morning.  Gingerbread cookies with chocolate buttercream frosting; who would have thought of such a combination?  

I was quite skeptical when Miss Sophie told me she was making this for Jenna's party.  I figured since I love chocolate butter cream, I could always lick the filling off the gingerbread cookies, right?
But the moment I took a bite, I tasted all the wonderful flavors of Thanksgiving and Christmas, but even better, with smooth, silky, chocolate buttercream too.  

Improving on the wonderful flavors of Thanksgiving and Christmas?  Yes, folks.  It can be done. 

These are on my 'must make' list of cookies for the year.  

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OLD FASHIONED GINGERBREAD COOKIES

From “White Jacket Required” by Jenna Weber.  

Used with permission by author

2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

2/3 cup molasses

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon ground white pepper

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 egg, lightly beaten

3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325 F. In a large heavy-bottom pot, combine brown sugar, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and white pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat and continue to boil for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove pot from stove and add baking soda, stirring to combine well (be careful: the mixture will bubble up here – just keep stirring!). Add butter a few chunks at a time, stirring to combine with each addition. Add egg and stir, Stir in the flour and salt gradually. The dough will be very soft and still warm.

Roll the dough 1/4 – inch think on a floured surface and cut into rounds with a cookie cutter or large glass.

Bake cookies, spaced 2 inches apart, until golden and just set, about 12 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool. The cookies will firm up as the cool.

To make sandwiches, spread Chocolate Buttercream Icing on one cookie and top with another cookie.

CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

From “White Jacket Required” by Jenna Weber. This is a delicious and easy frosting recipe that would also be delicious on white or yellow cupcakes. 

Used with permission by author

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

Pinch of sea salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 tablespoons milk

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter, powdered sugar, salt and vanilla for 5 minutes on high speed. Add the cocoa powder and milk and keep beating for another 8-10 minutes until very light, thick and fluffy.

Jenna's Book Launch Party Recap

Happy Monday everyone!  We had the absolutely best time at Jenna's Book Launch party last week at Miss Sophie's Marketplace in The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum!   How about some photos from the party?  

Here is Jenna flanked by two middle-aged women who adore her.  Just look at her; how could we not? 

The buffet table was filled with goodies Miss Sophie and I made: 

Crab Cakes with Remoulade

Chicken Satay with Red Chili Sauce

Beef Sliders with Pepperjack Cheese (Adam's favorite)

Mini Pimento Cheese Biscuits with Ham and Apple Butter (Yum!)

Charcuterie with Roasted Red Bell Peppers, fresh Mozzarella and imported olives

 Fruit display

And for dessert, mini cupcakes and Jenna's Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites

Miss Sophie made Jenna's gingerbread cookies from her book and filled them with chocolate buttercream.  Holy smokes, these were good! The recipe will be posted next Monday!

A wonderful classical trio played for this special event, thanks to a generous friend who hired these three teenagers. That's my son playing the cello, with his incredibly gifted friends, the Holliday boys.  

Conversations flowed and new friendships were made.  Hey there, Adam in the back!

There were over 90 guests who attended the party, and Miss Sophie and I couldn't have been happier sharing this gifted writer with our Savannah friends.

Oh yeah, she even got to speak at a podium with a microphone for the first time.  

I assure you, Jenna, a podium may become very familiar to you in the future.
Check out Jenna's schedule for remaining book tour dates and locations here!

Our author says there will be another book ahead.  It sounds like Miss Sophie and I will be planning another party....