Stuffed Pork Chops (Thanksgiving leftovers remake, take 2)

Even after using the leftover meat, potatoes, and gravy for the pot pies, I was still left with about two cups of stuffing. The first thing that came to mind was stuffed pork chops, something I love but had never made. Although I wouldn't say these were better than Thanksgiving dinner, it was a quick, tasty way to use up the last of the leftovers. Better yet, I put this together while the pot pie was baking, so I had dinner for the following night - all I had to do was bake the chops and steam some asparagus.

This is less a recipe than just a recounting of what I did - I would think you could adapt for as much or as little ingredients you have, pretty easily.

Ingredients:

• Prepared stuffing (I had about 2 C)
• Thick cut, boneless pork chops (the package I bought had 3)
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 can milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Create as deep a pocket as you can in the side each pork chop, being careful not to cut all the way through.
3. Fill pocket with stuffing.
4. Season both sides of chops with salt and pepper.
5. Heat a little oil in a saute pan then brown chops on both sides.
6. Meanwhile, spread any remaining stuffing in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Mix soup and milk in a small dish and set aside.
7. When chops are browned, place in baking dish on top of stuffing. Pour soup mixture over chops and cover tightly with foil. (I then put the whole dish in the fridge and continued on the next night when we were ready to have them. Remember to increase cook time if you cook these from the fridge.)
8. Bake for about 25 minutes, until pork is cooked through and stuffing is hot.

Game Hen Pot Pie (Thanksgiving leftovers remake, take 1)

Without exaggeration, I think this pot pie was better than our actual Thanksgiving meal. It's by far the best meal I've ever made with leftovers and one of my favorite things I've put together from scratch.

It was definitely easier to put together - and even more delicious - because we had left over hen breast meat (it's hard to pick dark meat off those little wings and drumsticks!), mashed potatoes, and gravy. It tasted just like the best of Thanksgiving - only a little bit better!

I didn't have enough gravy left over for the pie, so I made a pan gravy when I sauteed the vegetables. I also took a tip from some recipe reviews I read for apple pies and galettes, about brushing the bottom crust with an egg wash and baking it for a few minutes before filling the pie plate - and the bottom crust came out perfectly crisp and not the last big soggy...success!

As beautiful on the outside...



...as it was delicious on the inside!


Ingredients:

• 3 stalks celery, finely diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
• 1/2 sweet onion, finely diced
• 1 T butter
• 1 T garlic olive oil (Regular olive oil would work fine, too - but I used this great garlic infused olive oil we just got from the Newburyport Olive Oil Co. and you could really taste the garlic. If you use plain olive oil, I'd add a clove or two of garlic to the veggie saute.)
• 1/2 C cooked green beans
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 T flour
• 1 C low sodium chicken stock
• 1 C left over gravy
• 1 lb. cooked game hen (or chicken), large diced*
• 1 C left over mashed potatoes
• 2 prepared pie crusts
• 1 egg, beaten

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Place 1 pie crust in pie pan, fitting closely to the pan. Brush with some of the egg wash.
3. Bake for 10 minutes or until starting to brown.  Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Press mashed potatoes onto bottom of pie crust. Set aside.
4. Meanwhile, warm butter and oil over medium  heat until melted.
5. Saute celery, carrots, and onion until crisp-tender. Fold in green beans.
6. Sprinkle flour over pan and cook to remove raw-flour flavor, about 3 minutes.
7. Slowly stir in chicken stock and cook until starting to thicken, about 5 minutes.
8. Stir in gravy and chicken and combine well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
9. Pour chicken and vegetable mixture into prepared pie pan. Cover with second crust, sealing edges well and creating a few slits for steam to escape. Brush will remaining egg wash.
10. Place pie pan onto a rimmed cookie sheet and place in preheated over. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, until very golden brown.
11. Allow to rest 10 minutes or so before serving.

*We had a lot of meat left over because all of the recipes I read for Cornish game hens called for one hen per person. Both times we made them, each person only ate half.  At Arnold's, you can buy them individually; at Big Y, they come two to a package (and were buy one, get one free right before Thanksgiving).  The ones from Big Y were bigger and I think a little tastier.