Every year my wife “vulture-izes” (as my mom calls it) the turkey carcass. Every little bit of meat is scraped clean and either eaten during this process or saved aside for future use. With these scavenged bones, wings and legs, I make a hearty homemade turkey broth. This broth makes the perfect base to make turkey ramen! (Now, when I say ramen, I’m not talking about authentic Japanese ramen. So all you ramen purists out there, keep that in mind.)
So many garden green peppers to use up! Easy recipe and great on a fall day. The turkey sandwich was a nice balance. We loved this meal!
RECIPES:
Stuffed Pepper Soup
1 c chopped onion
1/4 c celery
1 clove garlic, minced
2 c green pepper, chopped
1/2 lb lean ground beef,
1 – 16oz can crushed tomatoes
1/2 c tomato juice (I use 4 oz tomato sauce)
1/4 c uncooked white rice
3 c water
1T chopped fresh parsley
2 t sugar (takes the tomato bitterness away)
1 t salt ( to taste )
1 t black pepper
Saute onion, celery, garlic and green pepper til tender but not brown. Stir beef into vegs, cook til beef is brown. Stir in rice. Add tomatoes, juice, water, parsley, sugar salt and pepper. Cover and simmer 45 min or til rice is cooked. Adjust liquid as necessary.
I doubled the recipe and added more salt. I also let it simmer for about 1 hr and 15 minutes.
Turkey soup made with Thanksgiving turkey leftovers. I’ve made this soup every year since I was in college and over the years my process has changed. It’s always an all day event though. The longer it simmers, the better it is. The two ingredients that makes this soup zing are a bottle of beer, and some apple cider. I always use too many kluski noodles so the soup on day two is more like just noodles. But it still tastes awesome.
RECIPES:
Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Soup
I never measure or write anything down for this. I always wing it, but this is the best I can remember.
I take my biggest pot and put in about 1/3 bottle of white wine. Then I fill the pot about 3/4 full of water. Then I add salt, oregano, thyme, basil, and a few bay leaves. Then I throw in the a turkey leg and a wing, and whatever other scraps look the fattiest. Anything with big chunks of skin. Next I add chopped carrots, celery, and onions. I bring it to a boil and let it cook on low for a few hours.
Then I take the turkey out and cut up all the meat and return it to the pot. I discard the skin and all that stuff. I do keep two bar bones and throw them back in the pot. I’m not sure why, but this is what I do. After the turkey meat is chopped up and added, this is when I pour in a full bottle of beer. It’s different every year. This year I went with Bell’s Winter White. After the beer, I add between 1 and 2 cups of apple cider. Let it simmer for another couple hours.
Then it’s time to add the noodles. Bring it to a boil and add half a bag of kluski noodles and walk away. I always do more, I just can’t stop myself. I never walk away. Once the noodles are done, you’re good to go. But you can let it simmer longer too. This soup tastes the best left over.
Turkey burgers, steamed asparagus, left over vegetarian chili, and a garden salad. Nothing special here, just a plain simple turkey burger. Yes, I realize this recipe is from Elle magazine. I wasn’t reading it, it’s Aya’s. I was just looking at the pictures. And the picture of the turkey burgers made them look pretty good.
RECEIPES:
