Buget Saver Dinners: Pot Pie

One of my favorite budget saver dinners is a pot pie. Pot pie is an easy, tasty way to use up any sort of left over meat. Here's my recipe with step by step photos. Want an easier, weeknight version? Just open a jar of gravy and a bag of frozen mixed vegetables and voila! Instant Pot Pie, it works for me.

Ingredients

2 cups leftover beef, diced (using just one cup works well too)
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup peas
½ cup corn
1 rib celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
1medium potato, diced
2 Tbsp flour
2 cups water
2 Tbsp Beef Bullion Base
1 2 crust pie crust
Dash of Mrs. Dash
Dash of black pepper
1 Tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Assemble all ingredients. (See step 1). Blend flour into the two cups of water. Pour into a small sauce pan. Add 2 Tbsp of the beef bullion base, a dash of black pepper and a dash of Mrs. Dash and whisk. (see step 2) Bring to a boil and whisk constantly for 2 minutes to make beef gravy. Mixture should look like the step 3 photo. Pour all assembled ingredients except milk including the gravy into a large mixing bowl. Mix well.

(step 4) Line the bottom of a 10 inch round pie plate or an 8 x 8 baking dish with one of the pie crusts.(step 5) Spoon pot pie mixture into the bottom pie shell. (step 6). Top with second pie crust and pinch edges closed. Baste pie crust with the milk, (this makes for the most tender, flaky crust you can imagine). Cut a hole in the center and pop into the oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Easy version: instead of using individual vegetables and making your own gravy, you can use a 16 oz bag of frozen mixed vegetables and a 12 oz jar of beef gravy. It works just as well. This pie is also delicious when made with chicken.

Step 1: Assemble Ingredients