Monday, March 7, 2011

How To: Make a Monday dinner Pot Pie from your Sunday dinner Pot Roast

My friend, Christie, had a fabulous idea to put together a How-To Tuesday blog party.  Go here to see all of the links to the Tutorial Party. 

Here’s my silly offering:

I’m not a very creative cook.  Detailed, yes.  Successful, yes.  But not so much creative.  I made a pot roast and then ate the leftovers till they were gone.  Until…I went to my friend Julie’s house after I’d had Faith.  She fed our family a yummy pot roast on Sunday and then while we enjoyed dessert, whipped up a second meal for me to take home:  Beef Pot Pie. 

I’ve been doing it ever since.

Step 1:  Make (and enjoy) your pot roast.  This is my favorite recipe: Awesome Slow Cooker Pot Roast. (Note:  I add beef broth in place of the water in this recipe and I add carrots, onion and celery about 3 hours before it’s supposed to be done.)

Step 2:  On Monday, over the din of piano practicing and people getting their feelings hurt and Faith asking to watch Despicable Me for the THIRD time today…pull out your leftover tupperware full of pot roast and veggies.   We had asparagus as a side last night, so I’m planning on throwing those in, as well.

 

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Step 3:  Last night’s pot roast make AMAZING gravy, so we always make mashed potatoes.  For the Pot Roast, I needed some cooked chopped potatoes.  Pull out 2-3 medium potatoes.

Step 4:  Peel and chop your potatoes.

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Step 5:  Microwave with an inch of water for 5-6 minutes (till they are soft but not mushed).  Make sure your lid is slightly ajar so that the steam doesn’t blow your lid off halfway through.

 

 

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Step 6:  Chop your roast and dump the pot roasted veggies into your pan, along with your cooked potatoes.

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Step 7:  Begin your quest for thyme in your ridiculously underorganized spice area.  (Someone do a tutorial on spice organization—but not the drawer kind.  I have no drawers.)017

Step 8:  Yay!  You found it!

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Step 9:  Sprinkle 1/2 t. thyme over your meat and veggies (more if you’ve slowly upped your husband’s thyme tolerance over the years), along with garlic salt (because your husband’s always had a high tolerance for both).

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Step 10:  If there isn’t enough gravy from the crockpot, add some beef broth (I bet you wish you’d saved that half of a can you threw away last night, don’t you?!  Now you’re going to have to grab some beef bullion and make some more) and stir it all in the pan.

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Step 11:  Make (or buy) a single pie crust and lay it over the top.  Try to care more than me about how the top looks.

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Step 12:  Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes (I know the picture said 30, but it wasn’t enough, all right?).  Pat yourself on the back for having dinner done at 5:06 pm.032

Step 13:  Enjoy your finished product:

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15 comments:

Lindsey said...

Lovely. But all I can do the entire time is think about the pampered chef tools you need that would so help you in your kitchen. :)

Lauren in GA said...

Do you and your thyme need a few minutes alone? Just kidding...I just love your humor...I love how you took a picture of you kissing your thyme.

I also love how you keep it real when you mention things like, "people getting their feelings hurt" in the background while you cook and how we should use more thyme if we have, "slowly upped [our] husband’s thyme tolerance over the years". You make me laugh.

I loved this tutorial. I am totally making this.

I'm not sure if it would work...but I have seen spice racks that can be attached to the inside of the doors of your cabinets.

Elizabeth said...

Snap we have the same spice rack (that is a disorganised shelf). Love this tutorial as you are both informative AND funny.

Annie said...

Yay! And it was a two-fer: I got your pot roast recipe and learned how to make pot pie. Does it work if I do it while someone *doesn't* do his piano practicing even though I asked three times and while two girls discuss who ruined the sweater that they, in a crazy moment, decided to buy together and share? Just checking. I want to do it right.

calibosmom said...

Oh, I like this How To. Does it work with pork roast too. I'll try it! Thanks!

Karey said...

Great post! And as far as your pie crust goes, you only need to care more about how the top looks if you're taking it to a sick friend or a mom with a new baby. Otherwise, it's just fine.

I know what I'm fixing for dinner next Monday.

This How-To Tuesday is going to be fun.

missy said...

Totally laughing at this post (and getting very hungry) and also laughing at Lauren's comment (Do you and your thyme need a few minutes alone?) I wish my kids would eat asparagus. I'm happy to see that you and I went to the same top-pie-crust cooking school.

Christie said...

Seriously. Best. idea. ever. So simple, yet so genius. I am totally stealing this. Thanks so much for playing along. You have NO idea how much it warms my cold little heart.

Tristan said...

That is a great idea!! What a great way to use leftovers.

Jamie said...

You inspired my "How To..." post with that photo of your spice cupboard. It made my organizational loving heart shudder. But I adore the idea of the pot pie, I'm so putting this on the dinner menu for next week!

By the way, I linked to your post in my post, hope that's okay-if not give me a heads up & I'll remove.

Alisa said...

K so I totally blog talk you. Don't worry I'm not a complete stranger. I'm Luke's(your cousin) wife. I love reading your blog because it's real and shows what a mom's life is really like. Thanks for the great recipe. I am always wondering what to do with leftover pot roast.

Shopper Gal said...

I laughed so hard reading Lauren's reply!! You and your Thyme sitting in a tree... HA!!

Thanks for the recipe link for your pot roast and your Monday tip!!

PS Who blames Faith for asking to watch Despicable Me a zillion times? It's a really, really good show!! HA

crystal said...

Ha! I laughed so hard at you kissing your thyme because I took a picture last week of me kissing my vacuum.

It was for my mom, who gave me the vacuum for Christmas. But still.

Your thyme is probably much more sanitary than my vacuum. Let's hope.

And...I cannot wait to make Monday pot pie! Can I please come be your intern and learn how to be a mother?

katie said...

I had to smile about the thyme as well. I just made a shepherd's pie a few weeks ago that I found on WW and it was soooo good and I realized it had a lot of thyme and perhaps I really like that spice. I have never made a pot roast in my life (my hubby doesn't like meat that much), but I think I might attempt it with your recipe. Thanks for posting.

Penny said...

Just had to let you know that I just made this!! Will put it in the oven soon. Thanks for the idea, it's amazing how easy it is. Why did I never think of it before? Now Todd will think I slaved all day over it when really I ran to Ross this morning! Score!