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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

From Stew to Pot Pie

This weeks crockpot dish is Stew. I am not a big stew person but I just LOVE this recipe. I got it from an college roommate many years ago.

My Favorite Stew:
1 large can cream of chicken soup (low fat)
1 can tomato sauce
1 small can water (tomato sauce)
carrots
potatoes
Stew beef, cubed
1 pkg. onion soup mix

Dump into crockpot and cook on high 7-8 hours
My Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
Modifications for next time
: nothing! I love the color of the base. I love the creamy thickness. YUM!

On Wednesday I turned the stew into a pot pie. My family loves pot pie. I am the only one that can't stand it. :) I use my favorite pie crust recipe called "Never Fail Pie Crust". This is one of those recipes that most people have b/c it gets past around at every enrichment potluck. But just in case you missed it here it is.

Never Fail Pie Crust:
5 cups flour
1 TBS salt
2 cups shortening

Use pastry blender or 2 knives to cut shortening into flour until the size of a pea. The secret to a good pie crust (imo) is to NEVER use a mixer.

1 egg, beaten
2 TBSP vinegar
mix in measuring cup and add enough water to make 1 cup.

Add to dry ingredients and mix.

My secret for lifting the pie crust off the counter is to use a spatula to lift the edges away from the surface. Then place wax paper on top of crust and fold the crust onto itself in thirds. Make sure the crust only touches the wax paper and not itself. This make it easier to get the center off with out it falling apart.

I used a 9x11 pan. The pan size can vary depending on how much stew you have left.

Place bottom layer of crust in pan. Leave edges long enough so when it shrinks it will still seal to the top. Poke fork holes into bottom crust. Bake at 450* for 10 minutes.

Add stew. If needs to be thickened add a bit of corn starch. I prefer to heat my strew up for about 5 minutes in the microwave so it takes less time to cook. Place top crust and seal it to bottom crust. Be care as crust and pan are hot. Place on cookie sheet and cook for about 30 minutes (or longer if you didn't warm the stew first.)

My Rating: Gary rated this 6 stars out of 5.
Modifications for next time:
Personally, I just would eat the left over stew and not make a pot pie. :) But everyone in the family LOVES it, so that is not an option.



My boys love this dish!!

With the left over pie crust I make cinnamon crisps. Roll out dough and cut into strips and dump Cinnamon & sugar on them and bake the for 5-10 minutes depending on how thick they are.
Enjoy!

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