Soup time

Finally, the soup is done.  The house has smelled good all day.  Our sore throats are going to love this!  Day 2, simply chop up all your vegetables and let them simmer in the broth at a very low simmer.  Saute your onions, mushrooms, etc in a little butter before adding to pot.  At the end you can add in precooked wild rice, noodles, etc.  I finish it off with fresh herbs, whatever I have around.  Always makes the soup!   Served tonight with warmed Brie cheese topped with cranberry chutney and fresh made bread. Enjoy!

Soup!

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is the leftovers!  And my very favorite thing.....SOUP!  Everyone always asks me how I make the soup.  Well, here you go, my friends.  It is a two day process usually.  So here is the "fun" part.  Day 1...take the bones from the meat and roast them in the oven, 350 degrees for an hour or so.  Pull them out and then put them and all the drippings in a stockpot.  Add extra broth as needed.  Simmer on low heat for several hours.  Now comes the REALLY fun part!  Strain all the broth to filter out the junk floating in the broth.  This may take a while.  Use a fat separator to remove all the fat.  Now the hard part is done!  You can freeze the stock for later use or make a lot of soup and then freeze it (which is what I usually do).  Either way, you can't beat fresh made broth.  I never throw away any kind of bones.  If you can't get to it right away, just wrap them up and put them in the freezer until you can.  In a few days I plan to take the ham bone and make more soup. Since we have sore throats today it will be just the thing....In the meantime, ham tetrazzini and pumpkin pie a la mode.

Change of Pace

Goin' Mediterranean for a change.....with friends.  Thank you, Lord, for all your grace and goodness!

The Big Day

Oh, my, I forgot all about taking the pictures.  I was too busy serving dinner.  Here are a few highlights.  We made two turkeys, ham and all the fixin's.  (Don't forget about PIE for dessert!).

More Pie!

OK.  I am behind on the posting as we have had a houseful this weekend.  I have missed documenting many dinners, but here are a few highlights......
....Just when you thought it was over, there comes MORE PIE!  Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without my pumpkin pie.  A surefire favorite, I got the recipe a number of years ago from a friend who said it came from a specialty deli.  To serve, you drizzle a little homemade warm caramel sauce on the plate, top with the pie, and top it off with either ice cream or whipped cream. Guess we will be eating a lot of pie!!!!!!!!

PIE

PIE!  It's what's for dinner! (And breakfast and lunch.....)!  Chocolate macadamia nut pies......

Pressure Cooker!

Well, tonight I was uninspired after a busy week at work.  My "always in-the-know" friend, Bob, had mentioned that he often takes a whole chicken and cooks it in the pressure cooker for 20 minutes and then finishes it off on the grill with some barbecue sauce, so when I found the whole chickens on sale at Fresh Market today I decided to give it a try.  Well, Bob, help me here.  It took the pressure cooker like 45 minutes to begin to jiggle.  Then, once we cooked it for 20 minutes it was overdone.  I opted out of the barbecue and simply drizzled a little olive oil and an herb medley on top of it and grilled it for about five minutes.  All in all, it was pretty good, but will try to cut down on the time in the pressure cooker next time.  The drippings will make for good soup though and I am planning on that for tomorrow.  I am always amazed at how far a whole chicken will go!  Served the dinner tonight with acorn squash, salad and a few new potatoes.  No one complained!  Happy Friday all!