Baby, It's Cold Outside

So recently the weather has been really cold.  For NorCal, at least; freezing temperatures overnight, highs during the day only hitting the 40's and low 50's.  And though I'd never admit it if asked, it's been a (somewhat) nice change of pace and is making me feel (a little) like it's holiday time.  It's also had me thinking about warm, comforting meals like pot pies.  And somewhat by accident, I've discovered that pot pies are a great way to satisfy my vegetarian daughter and my omnivorous son, in the same dish.  Someone will nominate me for a James Beard Award for this, I'm sure.

For instance, I recently found this recipe, prior to any reviews being written about it, while in search of new vegetarian options to use the lentils that have been sitting on my shelf for a bit.  It sounded delicious as written, and though I knew I would need to mask the mushrooms as much as possible to make it palatable for Natalie, I also immediately saw the potential to add a meat protein to it since it calls for individual pot pies.  So I made the filling as instructed one Sunday afternoon, but used fresh thyme because I had it and love it, and probably a little more of that and the dried sage than called for (dried sage only because both grocery stores I visited were out of fresh - annoying).  I chopped the mushrooms smaller to help them blend in more, and divided the filling among 4 bowls.  Then I chopped up a couple of sweet Italian sausages and sauteed them, and divided them between two of the bowls.   Voila!  Natalie had her hearty, healthy vegetarian dinner and Jack had his with meat.  And there's a dang kale salad again - with a new recipe this time.

We all agreed that these were good, and a nice change of pace, but also that when we think of pot pies, we first think of creamy, dairy-based sauces.  So...

I went back to a recipe I first tried in January of this year - Martha's curried vegetable pot pie which you can find here.  The last time I made it just as written, and it was OK but I was underwhelmed:  too sweet with carrots, parsnips and peas but nothing savory.  This time I omitted the parsnips, and sauteed celery with the leeks and carrots.  Again, I made the filling on Sunday, and then on Monday I poached two boneless, skinless chicken breasts in chicken stock with some fresh thyme sprigs, then shredded one and divided it among two of the pot pies. Again, voila!  Sadly, there are no photos of these individual pies.  I do have this shot, however:

Did I mention that THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS WON THE WORLD SERIES?!