There are only five days left until Christmas and I have counter tops full of cookies and homemade granola and bags of gifts. I don’t know where my boxes are for the cookies or which gift on the counter was meant for whom, and I have people coming over for lunch and a party to go to tonight and I’m meeting my girlfriend close to midnight just to say hello for a minute when she gets off the plane from CA because I have to leave for England first thing in the morning before the sun comes up.
I have no advice for this kind of situation. Except divide everything in the house into squares and give one square away to any one that comes in the door.

And make turkey pot pie. Smooth and warm and wonderful turkey pot pie. I may even put on some lipstick, wrap a short silk scarf around my neck and curl my hair in a flip for that. You may as well go whole hog when you’re walking down Betty Crocker lane. Iceberg lettuce with homemade blue cheese dressing for the salad. I have a Jonny Cash album and I’ll make a chocolate cake spread out in a sheet pan to roll up jelly roll style around fresh whipped cream.

I could be nicer and smile more as well. Or maybe when turkey pot pie was popular women really started to enjoy smoking and came up with saying things like “here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?”

Any way you serve it, it’s delicious.

Bring 6 cups of homemade chicken or turkey stock to a simmer. Season with salt. In the pot, simmer 4 diced potates and 4 diced carrots (cut in smaller dice than than the potatoes so that they cook at the same time, or add potatoes a little after the carrots have started to soften). Remove when they are soft and reserve. Pour the cooking liquid into a large bowl. Add 4 Tablespoons of butter to the pan and one diced onion. If you like herb, add a few sprigs of fresh sage or thyme or both. Cook until completely softened. Season with salt and pepper. Add enough flour to make a thick roux. Add salt to taste and cook until it no longer tastes like raw flour, and good enough to eat. Add the hot cooking liquid, a bit at a time, off the heat, until it is about the consistency of a thin mayonnaise, then turn the heat back on to medium and add the rest of the cooking liquid. When it is slightly thickened (whisk constantly) add shredded turkey meat, the potatoes, carrots and peas to taste. Have a casserole dish ready.
Make the biscuit dough: 2 cups of flour, 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons of sugar (mix together). Mix in with your fingertips: 6 Tablespoons of cold diced butter until the dough is nearly uniform sized lumps, and there is no more flour dust. Mix in about 2/3 cup of cold whole milk, just until it is like thick mud.

Be sure the turkey mixture is hot and pour it into the casserole dish. Drop bits of biscuit dough over the top to cover, and put immediately into a preheated 400 degree oven. When the biscuits are cooked through and slightly brown, the pot pie is done.