Leftover Headaches...GONE!

So right after finals, I went from cooking deprived to cooking overload. I woke up at 6 am the next morning after finals are over. When others were still sleeping, I was up cooking. I made 8 dozens gingerbread cookies, a 15 lb turkey, stuffing. gravy, and baked an apple pie (all from scratch, of course!)  Needless to say, that was me taking on more than I could handle because I forgot I only have a half-size oven. However, 12 hours later, the cookies were done with none burned, the pie was beautiful, the stuffing and gravy were delicious, and the turkey was succulent. We had so much fun eating and caroling with friends! Then I was faced with what most people love and dread ... leftovers.

Leftovers are wonderful. You don't have to cook the next day. Your family is happy eating and remember the wonderful night from before....for about two meals. If you're like me, you always make too much food. I was left with enough turkey for 4 meals! First, we had turkey sandwiches, then turkey casserole... then we're out of ideas. I mean, you can always reincarnate the turkey, but what about the left over gravy and veggies?

So I decided to whip up something fun by putting a twist at the traditional way to recycle the leftover turkey. I made Turkey Hot Pockets. It's really easy and really fun! I used a home made crust. But if you are lazy, you can opt for a store bought crust as well.

Turkey Hot Pockets (6 servings)

Ingredients:
1 package    Pillsbury® Rolled Refrigerated Pie Crusts(2 per package)

4 cups          Leftover turkey meat (cut into small chunks)
2 cups          Leftover gravy
1 cup           Frozen mixed vegetables (or left over vegetables that you like, cut into small chunks)
1/2              Yellow onion (diced)
2 tbsp          Heavy cream
1/4 tsp         Black pepper
1/4 tsp         Salt (more to taste)
1/4 tsp         Sugar
1/4 tsp         Thyme (dried)
1/4 tsp         Sage (ground)
1 tbsp          Flour (optional; see directions)

1 large         Egg white, beaten

Directions:
1. Thaw the pie crusts. Cut each crust into thirds. Reshaped to form 6 small disks and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

2.  Preheat the oven to 400 F.

3. Mix the turkey, veggies, onion, heavy cream, gravy, salt, pepper, sugar, thyme, and sage in a large bowl. Add some flour if the gravy is thin. You should get a thick mixture that is thick enough to hold its shape when you spoon it on to a surface. 

4. Refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes.

5. Grease a large cookie sheet.

6. Take out the pie crust, one at a time. Spoon the turkey mixture on the one half of the pie crust, leaving at least a 1/2 inch edge on that half. 

7. Fold the other half over the mixture. Seal the crust using a fork. (see here for an image of how it should look by now... http://www.recipegirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/cherries81.jpg)

8. Using a sharp knife, make two venting slits on the top crust. 

9. Repeat steps 6-8 with remaining crusts.

10. Brush each hot pocket with the beaten egg whites. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown. 

Happy Cooking!