Special Request Pot Pie Recipe

Ok, I actually make food for an army, so I'm gonna try to simplify this down to what a couple or your average family of 4 might eat, instead of the mamma-jamma version I make to feed what is anywhere from 7 to 12 ppl at my house for dinner on a regular basis.

A few notes: I had leftover roast pork and a few roast-in-jacket potatoes. You could use a handful of any chopped meat you have on hand. You could microwave-bake a decent size potato, let it cool and chop it up. I usually make my own gravy, because I am good like that. But a can of gravy from the store will do too.

Unlike baking, which is a formula based on acids and bases and leavening and should be followed fairly closely, good cooking is mostly being flexible. Because the recipe is flexible, calorie count is approximate. We figured around 298 calories per serving (1 1/4 cups)

Pot Pie
about 8 oz. pre-cooked and chunked up meat of some kind
2 small cans or one jar of gravy, any flavor
1 nuked good-sized potato, chopped into 1/2" cubes
1 10-oz. box of frozen mixed vegetables

Chuck all of this into a square or round 9" cake pan or pie pan. Salt & pepper surface to taste. Dampen edge of pan with water so crust will stick.

Crust
Don't panic over crust. It's easy and you won't ever want to buy one of those tasteless cardboard store-bought frozen crusts again. Or maybe you will, in a pinch, but don't we all do that?
(No, I don't. LOL)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cold shortening or lard or even butter, but NOT low-cal margarine-type spread, which will make your crust soggy & gross
1 teaspoon salt

then 1/4 Cup ice cold water

Using a pastry blender, which is an essential kitchen tool with u-shaped wires attached at either end to a wooden handle (or two table knives held together if you lack a pastry blender), cut cold shortening into the flour using a press-down-and-flick-wrist-sideways motion (with blender, or up-and-down motion with knives), repeatedly until the mixture looks like coarse-ground meal or like small aquarium gravel.

Pour ice water into the center and mix it in with a fork until *just* blended. Don't over mix! Very lightly dust countertop and rolling pin with flour, lay crust on counter, dust it lightly with flour too, and roll out, rolling from center outward in every direction. Fold lightly into quarters and place on top of pot pie. Unfold and seal down edges, folding extra in and pinching with fingers. Cut steam vents in top with a knife.

If you don't have a rolling pin, you can use a large vegetable can, a relatively straight-sided soda bottle, or even a roll of frozen breakfast sausage!

Bake the pot pie at 400 degrees F for about 25 minutes. Serve with green salad or sliced tomatoes!