Turkey Stock and Soup

My mom decided to give me the carcass this Thanksgiving. There was still a ton of turkey on it, so I picked it as clean as I could and made soup with the meat.

Turkey Stock

1 carcass, picked over

2 huge carrots

4 stalks celery

1 onion

handful peppercorns

salt

Add everything to a stock pot. Don't be shy with the salt. Cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer. Cook for several hours. The longer you cook it, the more flavorful it will be. I cooked mine for about three hours. I'm not patient enough to do it for longer than that. Let cool and then transfer to storage containers. I ended up with 5 1 qt freezer bags, 1 tray of ice cubes, and 5 cups to start a pot of soup.

Turkey Soup

2 tblsp olive oil

3 medium carrots chopped

4 stalks of celery hearts chopped

1 medium onion chopped

3 cloves of garlic chopped

2-3 cups chopped turkey

5 cups turkey stock

2 cups water

1/2 head cabbage cut into 1" squares

frozen or leftover veggies (I used corn and peas)

Salt and pepper

Crushed red pepper

Chopped parsley

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic and cook until tender. Add turkey, stock, water, cabbage, and any additional veggies. Season to taste. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer, and cook for at least 30 minutes. Add parsley just prior to serving.

Apple Pie

I had this bright idea to make an apple pie for Thanksgiving. I had never made one, but I had a pie crust in the freezer and a bunch of apples from the farmer's market. My confidence faded fast after I stated out loud that I would bring a pie to dinner. It worked out, though, and the pie was quite tasty. Next time I'll take a stab at making the crust too.

Apple Pie

1 frozen pie crust

3 apples (I used stayman winesaps), peeled and cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1/4 cup sugar

3 tblsp lemon juice

2 tblsp AP flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Topping

3/4 cup AP flour

1 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar (Or just use 1/2 cup brown sugar. I ran out.)

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch salt

1 stick cold butter cut into small pieces

Precook pie crust according to package instructions. Put apples, sugar, lemon juice, flour, and cinnamon in a large bowl and toss until apples are coated and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix flour, oatmeal, sugars, cinnamon, and salt. Cut butter in by hand and until small lumps form and set aside. Arrange apples in the pie crust. I tried to place them in a nice circle. It looks really easy when they do it on TV. It wasn't so easy for me. I went with a rough circle and decided that the topping would cover up anything that didn't look perfect. Drizzle any remaining juices over the apples. Top with the oatmeal mixture. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until top is lightly browned.

Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup sugar

Combine in a chilled bowl. Beat with hand mixer until stiff peaks are formed.

Mac and Cauliflower

I saw cheddar cauliflower at the farmer's market and felt certain that I could get Natty to eat it... Especially when I pureed it and stuck it in some mac and cheese.

Mac and Cauliflower
1/2 box whole wheat elbow macaroni
2 tblsp butter
2 tblsp AP flour
1 1/4 cup whole milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup pureed cheddar cauliflower (steam then puree in food processor)
Cook macaroni in salted water to desired tenderness. Drain and set aside. Melt butter over medium heat. Add flour to make roux. Cook to a light brown color. Add milk and cook, stirring frequently, until milk thickens. Remove from heat. Add cheese and cauliflower puree. Stir until melted. Add macaroni and combine.

Stuffed Cabbage

Have you ever noticed how gigantic the heads of cabbage are at the farmer's market? I'm always amazed, but can't stop myself from buying them. Having already used my standard cabbage accompaniment (ham steak) in another dish, I decided to try my hand at stuffed cabbage instead.

Stuffed Cabbage
1 package boil-in-bag brown rice
1 lb ground pork
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, grated
1 egg
squeeze of tomato paste
10-15 large cabbage leaves
14 oz can diced tomato
1/2 cup white wine
salt & pepper
Cook rice according to package directions. Mix ground pork, beef, onion, garlic, egg, salt, pepper, tomato paste, and cooked (and cooled) rice in a mixing bowl. Blanch cabbage leaves until they are limp enough to bend, but not fully cooked. In the bottom of a baking dish, mix can of tomato, 1/3 can (approximately 1/2 cup) of white wine, and salt and pepper. Lay a cabbage leaf flat on the counter, mound pork mixture in middle, fold in sides, and roll. Place seam side down in sauce. Continue until all mixture is used. Cook at 400 degrees for one hour or until internal temperature reaches 160.

Ideas for next time - spice up meat mixture, add spinach and cheese to meat mixture, make more sauce, etc.

Mmm Mmmm... Shepherd's Pie

I don't know what the policy is on reposting recipes created by known chefs, so I will abstain. But, I will direct you to go to the Rachel Ray daytime talk show site and search for the stretch a buck shepherd's pie. You will not be sorry. Especially if you are feeding an army! It literally overflows our large cast iron pan and makes enough for us to eat it at four different dinners.

Cheesy Potato Sticks

These were supposed to trick Natty into eating something, but they didn't work. Luckily, they are tasty, so we'll just have to eat them with dinners.

Cheesy Potato Sticks

2 large potatoes

milk

butter

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 egg yolk

pinch coriander

flour (for dusting)

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Peel potatoes, cut up, and boil in salted water until fork tender. Mash potatoes, adding milk and butter to taste. Add cheese, egg yolk, and coriander and mix. Turn out onto floured surface and flatten to about 1". Cut into finger width strips. Flour hands. Pick up each piece of potato mixture and form square. Coat in breadcrumbs and place on lightly greased baking pan. Cook in a 400 degree oven until lightly browned.

Chicken Pot, Chicken Pot

Chicken Pot Piiiiiieeee! This is my second favorite comfort food. 'Nuff said.

Chicken Pot Pie

1.5 lbs chicken breast

1 medium onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

3 cloves garlic

2 tblsp butter

2 tblsp all purpose flour

2 cups chicken stock

1/2 bag frozen green beans

1/2 bag frozen corn

1/2 bag frozen peas

1 frozen pie crusts, thawed

salt and pepper

olive oil

Cut chicken breast into bite size pieces and brown in a two count olive oil over medium high heat. Moved cooked chicken breast to baking dish. Lightly brown onion, carrot, and celery in olive oil. Add garlic and stir. Push veggies to the side of the pan and melt butter in skillet. Add flour to butter and cook until light brown. Add stock to pan and stir gravy together with veggies. Add frozen veggies and simmer for five minutes. Add veggies and gravy to chicken in baking dish and mix. Cut and stretch pie crust to cover chicken and veggies. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until crust is brown.

Dressing up Ham Steak

After a crazy day, I had about 5 minutes to make dinner before everyone in my house, including me, had a breakdown about how hungry we all were. Ham steak to the rescue! I also made another attempt at getting Natty to eat veggies, but apparently rice isn't his thing... Stinker.

Ham Steak with Mustard Sauce
1 ham steak
1/4 medium onion sliced
1/4 cup white wine
1 heaping tblsp course ground mustard (by tblsp here, I mean one of the regular spoons out of the drawer, so it was probably more like 2 tblsps if you're actually measuring)
Cook ham steak in skillet over medium high heat until browned. Remove from skillet. Toss in onions and let brown for a minute. Add wine and deglaze pan. Add mustard and combine. Remove from heat.

Cheesy Rice
1 package instant brown rice
1 large carrot chopped into 1 inch chunks
milk or water
1/4 medium onion chopped
1 handful shredded mozzarella cheese
Cook rice according to package directions. Add carrot to water while rice is cooking. Drain rice and carrot. Place rice in serving dish. Puree carrot in food processor with a small amount of milk or water to help it along. Saute onion. Add pureed carrot, sauteed onion, and cheese to rice and stir to combine.

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Don't be fooled by the appearance of broccoli in this dish. It should not be filed under heart or waist friendly. In fact, Kevin tasted it and said, "Yumm. This is not good for me." It is delicious and super easy. Many thanks to Jen (and Terry) for the recipe. Send me more! I'm totally in love with casseroles right now.

Chicken Broccoli Casserole
1 head steamed broccoli
1 package chicken breast cooked and cut up (I actually used a half of a leftover rotisserie chicken. The mix of white and dark meat was delicious.)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (Jen's recipe calls for 1/2 cup, but we really like cheese around here and tend to indulge.)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 tblsp melted butter
Spray baking dish with cooking spray. Arrange broccoli in an even layer and top with chicken. Mix chicken soup, mayo, and lemon juice in a small bowl. *Top chicken with soup mixture. Top soup mixture with cheese. Mix melted butter and breadcrumbs and then sprinkle on top of cheeses. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

*This is a bit different from Jen's original recipe. I needed to make the baking portion as simple as possible so that my injured husband could take care of it while I was out. Jen's original recipe calls for you to top the casserole with the breadcrumb mixture and then cook for 20 minutes. Then remove the casserole from the oven, sprinkle with cheese, and return to the oven for 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

Thin Mint Ice Cream

I stole the idea for this from John, but since his recipe required patience (something I'm not known for) I opted to create my own, more immediately gratifying version. John's recipe can be found here. Either recipe gives you the chance to put cookies in a bag and bash them with a rolling pin and that's good stuff! Especially if you're having a bad week, which I was, which is probably why my cookies were more pulverized than crushed.

Kevin dubs this the best ice cream ever - high praise from a guy who claims not to like mint chocolate combinations.

Thin Mint Ice Cream
1 cup whole milk
2/3 cup half and half
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
1/2 sleeve thin mint cookies, crushed
Mix everything but cookies together and whip with a wire whisk until foamy. Add mixture to ice cream machine and run machine for 15 minutes. Add cookies and continue according to your machine's instructions. Serve immediately or place in freezer until it reaches desired consistency.

Fall Salad

I made this for dinner at a friend's house this weekend. There are not a ton of what I consider to be "normal" salad vegetables available at the farmer's market in November, so I opted to roast all the delicious vegetables I found. I also found some very spicy arugula. This recipe also marks the first time I successfully purchased, cooked, and consumed beets. I'm not convinced of the greatness of the beet, but it was up against some stiff competition in this salad.

Fall Salad
1 bunch arugula, chopped
3 radishes, sliced
1 purple potato, sliced into thin disks
1 yellow potato, sliced into thin disks
1 head kohlrabi, peeled and sliced into thin disks
1 carrot, peeled and sliced into thin disks
8 beets, scrubbed and trimmed
olive oil
salt and pepper

Combine arugula and radishes and set aside. Put all remaining vegetables, except for beets, in a bowl and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread in an even layer on a baking sheet and place in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until veggies are tender. Toss beets with olive oil, salt, and pepper and place on a separate baking sheet in a 400 degree oven until fork tender. (I put the beets separate so that the other veggies would not turn red. After removing beets from oven, let cool for 10 minutes and then peel and slice (I actually served them whole, but probably slicing them would have been prettier). Vegetables can be served on the salad hot or cold (I went with cold). Serve with mustard vinaigrette.

Mustard Vinaigrette
2 cloves garlic, finely minced or grated
4 tblsp balsamic vinegar
1 heaping tblsp coarse ground mustard
1/4 tsp dried parsley
1/8 tsp dried thyme
pinch salt
fresh ground pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
Mix all ingredients except olive oil in a small bowl. Add olive oil while stirring with a fork. Transfer to serving container.

The Simplest Things

Sometimes the simplest things end up being the most delicious. Finding myself with so many apples that my fridge is overflowing and an abundance of cheddar cheese, I decided to just have apples and cheese for lunch. But since I was cold, I decided a warm lunch would hit the spot.

Grilled Cheese and Apples
2 slices whole grain bread
cheddar cheese
thinly sliced apples
butter or margarine
Butter one side of both slices of bread. Assemble sandwiches with apple and cheddar to your taste. Grill until bread is golden and cheese is completely melted. Enjoy!

Tacos on Crack

To start, big thanks to Jen for this recipe! And, thanks to Jen's mom for giving it to her!

This casserole is all of my favorite things about tacos in the exact right proportions. I have to admit, I went back for seconds despite my no seconds rule. For his part, Kevin stopped himself before he ate the whole casserole. Simple recipe and damned tasty!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole
2 tblsp oil
1 medium onion (I managed to be out of onions this week. Boo.)
4 cup pulled chicken
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 package taco seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin
jalapeno
6 whole wheat tortillas (cut into quarters)
1 block monterey jack cheese shredded
(Jen suggests a few other optional ingredients including black beans, spanish rice, or corn)

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute onions (if you aren't an idiot and forget to buy them). Add chicken, tomatoes, tomato sauce, spices, jalapenos, and any other optional ingredients that make you happy. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for 15 minutes. Spray a 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray. Layer tortillas, topped with chicken mixture, then cheese. Repeat until you're out of chicken mixture. Mine only made two levels, but rumor has it you can get to three layers. Bake on 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until cheese is melty and deliciously browned.

Grilled Fennel

Kevin fell in love with grilled fennel at a restaurant near us, so I thought I'd try to recreate it. Way too easy to make, but I thought I'd post it anyway.

Grilled Fennel
1 fennel bulb
olive oil
salt and pepper
Remove leaves and stalks from fennel bulb. Cut bulb into quarters and clean. Toss in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place on hot grill pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side.

So That's What a Turnip Tastes Like

In my mission to try more things from the farmer's market, I picked up turnips this week. I had to do a little research to figure out what to do and it turns out you can pretty much treat it like a potato or just eat it raw. I did try a bite raw, but with no salad greens available, I opted to cook all the turnips I picked up.

Mashed Turnip and Potatoes
3 turnips
4 medium potatoes
2 tblsp butter cut into chunks
1/4 cup half and half
4 pieces crispy bacon chopped
salt and pepper
Peel turnips. Cut turnips and potatoes into 1" chunks and place in medium saucepan. Cover with cold water. Add a generous amount of salt and bring to boil. Cook until potatoes and turnips fall off the fork. Drain and return to saucepan. Add butter, half and half, bacon, and pepper. Mash to desired tenderness.