Turkey Pot Pie

I find that two things I oftentimes have in the fridge during the holiday season, are leftover turkey and piecrust. Years ago, I discovered that a way to incorporate these two ingredients into an easy dinner was to make personal pot pies. I found a some heavy, round, 2-Cup baking dishes with fluted edges in the kitchenware section at a local gift shop and, because I was sure I would use them, I bought six. They have turned out to be so very handy! Larry and I are soup and casserole people. It is astonishing how many casseroles freeze, defrost and bake so nicely!

This is what I do...

In a large frying pan, I saute a half an onion and about 3 stalks of celery in about 2 Tbsp. of butter. Then, depending on what I have in the fridge or what I am in the mood for, I add some chopped turkey, maybe a potato chopped into small pieces, and about a cup of frozen mixed vegetables that I run under hot water for a bit. While that is heating up, I mix a cup of water with an envelope of turkey gravy ( I really like the Knorr or Pioneer brand Roasted Turkey flavor). Pour the mixture over the vegetables and heat until bubbly and the gravy thickens, then remove from the heat. Pour the mixture into two mini-casserole dishes.

Now take a handful of your leftover pie crust dough, and roll it out into a circle that is about 3" bigger in diameter than the casserole dish. (You will find that pie crust rolls out so much easier between two pieces of wax paper.) Cut 3 slits into the middle of the crust for air vents and top the hot turkey mixture with the crust, letting the crust hand over the edge of the casserole dish. Repeat for the second little meat pie. (Of course, you can use pre-made pie crust just as easily!)

Place the pies on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes, until the gravy bubbles out of the vents and the crust is a golden brown. Remove from the oven a cool for about 5 minutes. Yumm...

P.S. You can do this with leftover roast or steak and beef gravy. Experiment!

Rum Balls

Did you just get invited to a party and have no idea what to bring?

My niece, Tiffany, just gave me this recipe for no-cook Rum Balls. This is an old family recipe of hers that she has tweaked. It is quick and easy--the toughest part is grinding the Gingersnap cookies!

Gather all your ingredients together. Tiff likes to use fancy rum (can I call Alcohol Abuse?) and Fireball, for some added cinnamon-y flavor. But Spiced Rum works great! Grind up the Gingersnaps and nuts and put the dry ingredients into a large

mixing bowl.

Then mix the rum and Karo in a glass measuring cup and slowly drizzle over the dry ingredients, mixing a bit at a time into the crumb mixture.

Once the liquid is well incorporated into the mixture, begin making balls about the size of walnuts.

Roll each ball in powdered sugar. Your hands

will get sticky, so just keep lots of powdered sugar on them.

Let the balls sit on waxed paper for about 30 minutes and then pack them into an airtight container until you are ready to eat them. Yumm!

Persimmon Cookies

My Grandma had a persimmon tree, something very common in northern California. It was a huge, spreading, shady tree, that produced copious amounts of fruit every year. If you are not familiar with persimmons, they are a fruit the size of an apple, but with a completely different texture. They start off hard, astrigent and bitter when they are hard and not yet ripe. As they ripen, they become soft and sweet, and the skin very glossy and thin. The ripening process is exacerbated by a cold snap (it seldom freezes in the San Joaquin Valley). They are deffinately an aquired taste. When the weather turns, all persimmon lovers collect as many off the tree as can be reached. Then they are

placed on newspaper in a cool dry place to ripen. As they do so, people have to find ways to use them. After eating her fill, Grandma froze what she did non use (whole and in baggies, to puree later), made persimmon leather (not a fan!), persimmon bread (meh!), and persimmon cookies. The cookies are soft and moist and absolutly delicious with coffee!

This is the basic recipe. You can add walnuts, dates, currents, raisens...

If you are fortunate enough to find persimmons in the store, you need 2 to make this recipe. Yumm!