You guys, I think it's official. Summer is over.
Shut up. I know there are Christmas cookies in the freezer and Thanksgiving pounds hanging around my middle. That's not really how I measure the end of summer. I measure it by my stockpile of Farmers Market veggies.
They're all gone. ::sob::
That means I've switched over to using a lot of frozen vegetables. There is fresh produce to be found in our house, but now that it's crazy expensive and pretty much only available at the grocery store, it has been scaled WAY back.
Hold on a second. I need to shed a tear.
OK, so, now that we've switched over to frozen veggies, we've also started to switch over to what I consider to be our "winter recipes."
Vegetable Pot Pie.
This is one of those recipes that is one notch better than processed crap from the frozen food aisle, but that isn't quite from scratch. Unfortunately, I don't get paid to stay home and cook, so I have to find ways to make eating better fit in with my schedule. This is a decent compromise, in my opinion.
You start with a pre-made frozen pie crust (extra deep!) and pop it into the oven to bake according to the directions on the package. Then you throw some frozen vegetables into the microwave and get them nice and warm.
I use about half of each bag of these. Pro tip: To measure how much of the veggies you'll need, pour them into your frozen crust before popping it into the oven. Fill the crust up, then dump the veggies into your microwave-proof bowl to cook them while you bake your crust. It saves a lot of stress because not all frozen pie crusts are created equal.
My crust was able to hold just shy of three cups of vegetables.
You're going to add a can of cream of whatever soup (I use cream of potato, but that's only because SOMEONE in this house hates mushrooms. That SOMEONE is totally missing out.), a few tablespoons of milk, and a bit of salt and pepper.
You'll dump the veggies into the already cooked pie crust.
And then you're going to cover it with another pie crust, this time the flat one that is in the refrigerated section of the store. Yes, I know I just told you to buy two different kinds of pie crust. It's all in the interest of streamlining the process. (And, yes, I could have made the edge pretty. If I were trying to impress someone, I would, but the cries of "Mooooom, I'm hungry!" tend to override any need to be fancy with the crust edge.)
You'll bake until the top crust is done, and then HOORAY! Not-entirely-processed pot pie!
(BTW, don't ever read the ingredients on a Banquet Pot Pie. TRUST ME.)
If you aren't of the vegetarian persuasion, you can always add chicken or turkey or whatever. Just make sure to precook it so that the entire pie is done as soon as possible.
Vegetable Pot Pie
1 extra-deep frozen pie crust (the ones that are already in the pan)
3 cups frozen vegetables (peas, carrots, potatoes, onions, celery . . . it's all good)
1 can cream of potato soup (Or cream of chicken or cream of celery or cream of mushroom. I'm not here to judge your cream choices.)
2 tablespoons milk
1 refrigerated pie crust
salt and pepper to taste
Optional: Protein of your choice (tofu, Quorn Chik'n, turkey, chicken, etc.)
1. Bake the frozen pie crust according to the instructions on the package.
2. Place the frozen vegetables into a microwave-safe bowl and heat until warm. Mine took about 6 minutes.
3. Stir in the cream of potato soup and milk.
3a. Add a protein, if you so desire.
4. Add salt and pepper according to your tastes.
5. Pour the vegetable mixture into the cooked pie crust and smooth out the top.
6. Place the refrigerated pie crust on top of your Vegetable Pot Pie and crimp the edges. Or just fold them over. Whatever.
7. Bake at 450 degrees until the top crust is golden brown. Actual times will vary, but my oven needed about 20 minutes.
8. Allow the Vegetable Pot Pie to cool for a few minutes before cutting.
9. Enjoy!
