turkey pot pieI don't know about you, but I can hardly bring myself to open the refrigerator door. Every time I look at those Thanksgiving leftovers, all I can hear is Bubba's monologue from Forrest Gump (with "turkey" replacing "shrimp," of course): Dey's uh, turkey kabobs, turkey creole, turkey gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir fried. There's pineapple turkey, lemon turkey, coconut turkey, pepper turkey, turkey soup, turkey stew ...

What I'm getting at here is, I already cooked that dang turkey once. The last thing I want to do is cook it again ... and again ... and again. Still, something must be done with all the bonus bird ...

That's why I love the idea of Turkey Pot Pie. You can basically use up ALL your leftover turkey making one (or several), and they freeze fabulously, so you don't even have to eat it today! Or tomorrow!

I just can't decide which of the following recipes to try first ...

Turkey Pot Pie (recipe adapted from Ina Garten) Ordinarily I find the word "roux" somewhat intimidating, but the suggestion to substitute pre-made pie dough for the from-scratch variety kind of makes up for it. I have no problem with short-cuts.

Turkey Pot Pie with Mashed Potato "Crust" How easy (and brilliant) is that? No dough to deal with at all, plus a great way to use up all those extra mashed potatoes. Why do we always make enough mashed potatoes to feed an army??

Turkey Pot Pie Soup Talk about comfort food. And though this recipe doesn't call for the use of any other leftovers, I feel like you could toss some green beans in there, too.

Turkey Pot Pie with Cheddar Biscuit Crust Need I say more? Cheddar. Biscuit. Crust. I'm sold.

Paula Deen's Turkey Pot Pie Okay, so it's not the healthiest pot pie ever (um, Paula Deen?) but you know it'll be amazing. AND there are cranberries!

Which of these recipes sounds the yummiest to you?

 

Image via JeffreyW/Flickr