Ham and Vegetable Pot Pie

This is most definitely a 1 pot/1 dish weekend recipe!!

Ham & Veggie Pot Pie

Prep Time: 1 to 1.5 hours with store-bought pie crust.

Ingredients:
1) 1 box of Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie crusts
2) 1 lb ham - diced into 1/2 inch cubes
3) 1 big bag of Baby spinach
4) ~1 cup peas (fresh, or frozen)
5) ~1 cup carrots (sliced)
6) ~1 cup celery (diced)
7) ~1 cup fresh onion (diced)
6) 1 egg, whipped, mixed in 1/3 cup water (egg wash)
7) 2 to 3 tbsp all-purpose flour mixed in water (for thickening veggies)
8) 1 tbsp McCormick's Italian seasoning
9) butter, salt and pepper to taste
10) 1 tbsp Wyler's poultry seasoning.

Directions:

Let both pie crusts in the box sit at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes before unrolling the first one. I used a 2" deep dish for this pot pie, so I used a rolling pin to make the crust a tad larger. Lay the pie crust in the dish, roll and crimp the edges if desired. I didn't roll or crimp mine as I am a novice at this ;) and also because I planning on using the second crust as a topping. Make sure to use a fork and poke a lot of holes on the bottom and sides of the pie crust to prevent it from rising away from the sides of the dish during baking.  I pre-baked the pie crust alone for about 10-12 minutes using red kidney beans as pie weights. Thanks to Nupur (http://onehotstove.blogspot.com/) for this idea. Check out her November 25, 2010 post for some pictures on how to use the beans (http://onehotstove.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html).  Just like her, I now have a jar of dry red beans that are used again and again as pie weights. 

For the filling, in a large deep pan, melt the butter, and fry diced onions and celery until transparent.  Then i slowly added in the baby spinach a little at a time until wilted and then added more. All 3 items added so far, onions, celery and spinach will sweat enough to make the mix pretty wet. Add the rest of the vegetables, and spices and mix well. Finally add the ham. I tend to leave adding the meat until the very end to prevent it from becoming too chewy. Lastly, I mixed in some of the flour water mix to thicken the whole mixture and give it some a white-saucy appearance.  Transfer the mix to the pre-baked pie crust being careful not to damage the crust. 

For the top crust, I had big plans of making a weaved top crust. My attempts failed miserably so i simply placed the strips of crust I'd made in a overlapping pattern resembling a weave. The kids didn't care ... ! You can also leave the top crust whole, with just a few cuts across the top to allow the steam to escape. I used my fingers and a little bit of the egg wash to stick the sides and top crusts together. 

Bake at 375F for 40 minutes. Allow the pie to rest of at least 10 minutes before cutting into it. Despite the spinach, all 3 kids loved it.  This one was a success and will definitely be made again in the Coder household!