0 Thanksgiving Leftovers: Chicken and Rice Soup

I found a really good recipe for making soup from leftover turkey meat and vegetables. With this recipe, you can use store bought stock, or any homemade stock (for pointers on making your own stock, click here). I hope that you enjoy!

Brown Rice and Turkey Soup from AllRecipes.com

0 Thanksgiving Leftovers: Turkey Stock

One useful way of using leftover parts of a turkey is making turkey stock. Turkey stock can be used in any recipe that asks for stock, and makes a great base for poultry soups.

Steps:

1. Toss the carcass and bones left over from a turkey into a pot. Add garlic, celery, onions, and a mix of any other left over vegetables.
2. Cover the bones with about an inch of water, and turn the stove to medium heat for half an hour. Every 5-10 minutes skim the fat from top of the stock water.
3. After half an hour, turn the heat down to low and leave for about 3 hours. Every 30 minutes skim the top of the water for fat.
4. Pour the stock water into a fine strainer to remove all meat and vegetables. Strain a few more times to remove other material that is not stock. 
5. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, skim the top of the stock for fat. As the stock chills, it will congeal due to the gelatin in the bones. Once heated, the stock will return to its previous state.

Enjoy!

0 Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Not for the diabetic

You'll need:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup Orange Juice
- 16 oz organic cranberries
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- whisk
- pot with lid
- potato masher

Directions:
- Whisk together sugar and oj and bring to a boil on medium.
- Add cranberries and let boil until cranberries have popped
- Mash cranberries and add wine.
- Keep stirring for about 5, let stand to thicken and serve.

2 Turkey Preparation and Cooking

Last week I prepared a turkey for an alternative Thanksgiving that I had with friends. Below I have details and tips to make your turkey look like above.

1. Preheat an oven to 375F.
2. Thoroughly rinse the outside and inside of the turkey to clean it. Pat the turkey dry, and place into a large roaster or roasting pan. Brush the outside of the turkey with softened or melted butter. 
3. If cooking in a roaster, cover the turkey with the top. If cooking in a roasting pan without a top, cover the entire outside of the turkey with aluminum foil. 
4. Cook in the 375F oven for about 30 minutes, and then turn the oven down to 325F. The total amount of time that the turkey must cook will be approximately 15-20 minutes per pound. After about 2 hours of cooking, start basting the turkey with the juice at bottom of the pan, and baste about every 30 minutes to an hour. During the last 30 minutes of cooking, uncover the turkey so that it browns the outside. Using a thermometer, check the turkey for when its done at 165F.
5. Most importantly, leave the turkey alone for about 20-30 minutes before slicing so that the juices do not run out and leave the turkey dry.

Enjoy!

2 Amazing Tomato Soup

There is nothing quite as great as hot soup in winter !
And this recipe is great since it's easy and incredibly tasty.

What you'll need:
- 2 cans of 280z tomato puree
- 1 quart mushrooms
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 5-6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or pressed
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 tsp salt

You will also need a:
- blender
- pan
- fairly large pot
- whisk

What to do =)
1. Bring puree, salt & broth to a slow simmer while whisking them together.
2. Sautee onions with half of the garlic.
3. Blend onions until smooth, and whisk into soup.
4. With remaining garlic sautee mushrooms until they shrink. Add to soup.
5. Let simmer for another 20 min in order to allow flavours to amalgamate.
6. Sprinkle a little rosemary on top and serve!

Note: goes well with a little sour cream