We are still working our way through the Thanksgiving leftovers.  An inventory of our fridge contents indicated that we had leftover gravy, about  a cup of leftover green bean casserole, and about 2 cups of leftover turkey meat.  As I stared at these, trying to figure out how to recreate them, I decided that the perfect vehicle to finish off the last of the leftovers would be a turkey pot pie.

I have a confession to make.  I’m not really good at making pie crusts.  Actually, it’s not that I’m not good at making them.  It’s more like I have some pie crust anxiety disorder that makes it difficult for me to make them.  This is because of my mother.  She could make pie crusts without any effort.  She threw a few handfuls of this and a few handfuls of that into a bowl and magically produced a tender and flaky pie crust.

Considering my pie crust anxiety, I knew that I would have to find a different way to top my pot pie.  I considered biscuits, but after a very long day at work, I was eager to get the whole thing into the oven as quickly as possible so we could eat dinner.  Instead of making biscuits, I opted to make a topping similar to what would be poured on top of fruit to make a batter topped cobbler.

I poured the gravy into a pot, added the green bean casserole, the leftover turkey,  and part of a bag of mixed vegetables.   This was heated until boiling then poured into a 9×13 inch pan that had been sprayed with non stick spray.

The batter was quickly mixed together and poured over the top of this mixture and spread to the edges of the pan.   The whole thing was put into the oven and baked at 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes or until lightly browned.

A word of warning.  The filling for the pot pie will be the same consistency as your gravy.  If your gravy is thin, the pot pie filling will run when you cut it.  Personally, I like it that way, but if you want your gravy thicker, mix a tablespoon of flour with 1/4 cup water.  Mix well, and add to the gravy mixture while reheating and heat until it thickens.  Another option to try to add more substance to the filling is to double the amount of turkey in the recipe.  This was not an option for me because I used up every last morsel of turkey meat in my house.

I don’t know what was wrong with my camera.  I apologize for the blurry picture.  I took 3 photos and this was the best of the three.  I was so eager to eat dinner, I didn’t check the photo quality on a larger screen.  Though it doesn’t look very appealing, it gives an idea about what the finished product looks like.  I will take new photos the next time I make one of these. The fact that I plan to make this recipe again lets you know that this was a successful experiment.

Baker’s Man and Food Critic commented that it didn’t look like a pot pie.  It reminded them of a pan of cornbread, but even with this complaint, they agreed that it tasted good.  Both of them had second helpings.   I took leftovers for lunch today, and my co-workers enjoyed them as well.    This recipe is a keeper, and we definitely make it again.

Give it a try and let us know what you think.  As always, thank you for visiting Patty Cake’s Pantry.