A “Little House” Thanksgiving

Yesterday on Thanksgiving Day, we did not eat turkey. Mom had not gotten a turkey because she did not want to have that much meat in the house after we ate our dinner. So I asked if we could have a dish I had made only once before from The Little House Cookbook for the day: Chicken Pie. I would make some substitutions to make it Kosher, but it would be great for the day, because Thanksgiving is about being thankful for what you have and honoring those who came before you. Plus, it is intended to be a patriotic holiday. So I made the following recipe to celebrate the day:

Chicken Pie

Pie Crust Ingredients

(You will make the following recipe 2x)

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup Crisco

1/2 teaspoon butter

Recipe

1. Mix Flour and salt.
2. Knead in Crisco and Butter. If it it seems too “dry” add just a tad more Crisco and Butter.
3. Press into the pie pan you are using.
4. Then get the same amount of the above ingredients and do the same thing up to putting it in the pie tin. Make a ball and wait till you are caught up to with the ingredients with the pie filling.

Ingredients for the Filling

1 5-Pound Chicken

3 Hard Boiled Eggs

3 Slices Turkey Bacon

2 Tablespoons Flour

Salt and Pepper

1/2 Cup to a Cup Chicken or no-Chicken Broth

Recipe

1. Heat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Boil the chicken until it is thoroughly cooked, around 30 minutes.
3. Slice hard boiled eggs.
4. Slice Turkey Bacon.
5. Use Crisco in a skillet and then gradually add Turkey Bacon, Boiled Eggs, and Flour.
6. Take Chicken out of pot and cut it into pieces.
7. Then add pieces of chicken into the frying pan.
8. Once it is cooked so that there are no raw pieces (but before it is browned), place chicken in open pie crust.
9. Take ball of unused crust and cover the chicken.
10. Put in the oven for 5 hours.
11. Take it out; if the top crust is not hard, cook it a little longer. When it is solid, the meal is ready.
12. Serve.

We served cranberry salad on the side with cranberry juice and our neighbor Sam came over to dinner. There were leftovers and today I shall have some pie.

Thanksgiving is an all-important American Holiday, teaching us to celebrate what we have. I know it is too late for the reader to cook this pie for Thanksgiving, but if they are Jewish, this Sunday Chanukah begins, and if they are Christian, Christmas is coming soon. Why not try something new? And by all means, read the Little House on the Prairie books to celebrate. This meal is mentioned in the second book, Farmer Boy, and Almanzo Wilder’s (Laura’s husband’s) family has a celebration that this pie is based on in my version or the version of The Little House Cookbook. This Thanksgiving we also had a pecan pie–but that is another Blog.