First you boil the carcass with water, onions, celery, carrots and black peppercorns for three to four hours, then you let it cool in the fridge overnight. I also always add a cube of chicken bouillon to the soup while it’s hot, for extra flavor. When you get it out of the fridge the next morning, it will have a thick layer of fat on top of it, which you remove and then go through the meat in the soup to remove deadly bones.

Some of the bones of a turkey are very small and clear (I think these come from the wing), others are big and fossil-like, some are dark and small and going through the soup is like taking an anatomy class for a turkey. There’s the vertebrae, one by one, disc one, disc two, the thigh legs, wishbone, some white wormy thing, a bunch of flat, clear gelatin thingies, blobs of fat, dark squiggly things and the random peppercorns. These all need to be discarded, as well as the onion, carrot and celery. Whew!

After that, you add more sliced carrots and heat up the soup again until they are cooked. I like noodles in my soup, so cook Egg Noodles in boiling water. This is a better idea than boiling it in the broth, because then precious broth gets evaporated. If I have leftover stuffing (alas, I don’t this year), that goes into the pot as well. There is a surprising amount of turkey meat that comes off the carcass (unless it’s been picked clean), resulting in a very hearty and filling turkey soup. If it’s too thick, I thin it out a bit with more chicken broth.

I started the soup yesterday. It was a rainy, overcast day; a perfect day to make soup. As an added bonus, your house will smell wonderful while this soup simmers on the stove. I would serve this with a simple salad, a leftover Thanksgiving roll or a Turkey Sandwich, if you want double turkey! Here’s the recipe.

Turkey Soup

Recipe by The Fannie Farmer CookbookCourse: SoupsCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Moderate

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

A simple Turkey Soup Recipe for after Thanksgiving.

Ingredients

• 1 turkey carcass

• 1 onion, sliced

• 1 carrot, sliced

• 2 stalks celery, cut up

• 6 crushed peppercorns

• Salt

• 1 chicken boullion cube

• Egg noodles

Directions

• Break the turkey carcass into pieces and put them in a large soup pot with any small pieces of turkey meat that you can spare.
• Add 8 cups of water, onion, carrot, celery and peppercorns.
• Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover partially and simmer for 3 to 4 hours.
• Remove from heat. Let cool a bit and put in the refrigerator overnight.
• Skim solidified fat off the top and go through the meat carefully, discarding bones, fat, peppercorns and any weird bits.
• Reheat with sliced carrots and noodles of your choice, until noodles are cooked al dente.
• Taste and adjust seasoning, as necessary.

Notes

• If you prefer, you can add rice or barley to the soup, instead of noodles.

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I’ve written past articles on things to do to save the earth, like using reusable bags and water bottles and having a compost bin in the kitchen and a rain barrel in the backyard. There are also ways to recycle leftovers, which helps save the earth and hard earned money. The leftover pork tenderloin I made last Sunday was made into shredded bar-b-que pork sandwiches last night and leftover chicken, whether from rotisserie or homemade, can be used in a wide variety of dishes, from quesadillas to pasta.

Food waste is a major problem in our country. An average of one pound of food per person a day is wasted in the USA. That equates to 103 million tons or 30-40% of the food supply each year, according to the USDA. While we may think of ways to reuse meat, cooked vegetables are a bit trickier. I’ve recently discovered a recipe of smashed potatoes and I love making them because they are #1 Easy and #2 A way to use leftover potatoes that transforms them.

Smashed Potatoes are best made with small to medium potatoes (like red or fingerlings) with a soft outer skin. It also doesn’t matter if you’ve tossed the potatoes with butter, olive oil or herbs. Rosemary or thyme are welcome herbs with potatoes, but I recently had tiny red potatoes tossed with butter and dill and they worked fine. You can also sprinkle the herbs (like parsley or chives) on the smashed potatoes after you bake them, as these herbs may burn at the high heat.

Once made, these are a great side dish with meat, poultry, pork, fish or eggs but can also be totally transformed and made into delicious appetizers.

To do this, follow the recipe and then top the smashed potatoes with a plop of creamy sour cream and either a spoonful of caviar, a slice of smoked salmon or a bit of olive tapenade for an elegant appetizer. You could also serve these with ranch or blue cheese dressing as a dip on the side, for a more rustic appetizer. Either way, they are delicious!

Smashed Potatoes from Gimme some Oven

• 1 1/2 pounds small potatoes
• Olive Oil
• Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Put parchment paper or foil on a baking sheet and brush parchment paper with olive oil.

1. Boil the potatoes. Put potatoes in pot, cover with water, 1 inch above the potatoes. Add 1 Tablespoon salt to water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cook 10 to 15 minutes, until a fork can be easily inserted. Drain water from potatoes.
2. Place drained potatoes on the parchment paper and smash potatoes until flattened. Some do this with a potato masher but I feel it works best with the bottom of a drinking glass.
3. Spray (or brush) potatoes with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
4. Bake 20-30 minutes until crispy and golden.
5. Remove and serve or top with toppings for appetizers.

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It was delicious, but I tweaked the recipe to make it more to my liking. I upped the amount of chicken in it from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 cups, used sour cream instead of cream cheese, added corn kernels to give it crunch, a can of green chilies to give it heat and added the chopped green onions INTO the casserole, instead of on top as directed. I also skipped the butter and added 1/4 cup of cheddar cheese to the top of the casserole, because who doesn’t like more cheese? Also, the barbecue sauce drizzled on top made the casserole too sweet for my liking, so we used Trader Joe’s Green Dragon Hot Sauce, redolent of cilantro and jalapeno, which was perfect.

My family really enjoyed this dinner last week; I served it with collard greens and sliced watermelon, for the complete Southern experience. The original recipe was by Blair Lonergan, a blogger at the seasonedmom. com. It’s a quick and easy recipe for the busy weeknight, getting dinner on the table in about 30 minutes with a satisfying and comforting dish.

Creamy Chicken and Grits Casserole

• 2 cups 1% low fat milk
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup uncooked quick-cooking grits
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup corn kernels, either canned, fresh or frozen.
• 1 small can green chilies
• 3/4 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 3 ounces sour cream
• 2 large egg whites (or 1 egg)
• 2 1/2 cups diced rotisserie chicken
• 4 sliced green onions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 1 1/2 quart baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Combine milk and broth in a medium heavy saucepan; bring to a boil. Gradually add grits and salt to pan, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook for 5 minutes, or until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
3. Stir 1/2 cup cheddar cheese and sour cream into saucepan until smooth. Stir in egg whites, corn and green chilies. Spoon mixture into baking dish. Bake 25 minutes.
4. Just before serving, drizzle with either barbecue sauce, hot sauce or Green Dragon sauce.

Serves 6

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It was also used as an easy snack throughout the day. Other ideas for using leftover ham: a ham and cheese omelet, quiche, chef’s salad (with hard boiled egg), ham salad, on pizza with pineapple or a flatbread, thrown into Mac and cheese or other pasta dishes, in soup or beans; ham can also be made into delicious, homemade croquettas.

I’ve turned to my good old trusty and cooking-battered Fanny Farmer Cookbook for some of these classic recipes and I love this quote from my 1979 edition:

“It seems almost superfluous to make suggestions for using leftover ham, it has so many uses. In fact, ham is something you never want to be without. As a Virginia-born friend, Edna Lewis, said of her childhood: ‘Ham held the same rating as the basic black dress. If you had ham in the meat house any situation could be faced. On short notice it would be sliced and fried with special red gravy…The smoked shoulder was indispensable as a seasoning for other meat dishes; a slice would be added in to fried chicken, rabbit or quail. It was used also in boiled pots of cabbage, beans, watercress and black-eyed peas’.”

The Fanny Farmer Cookbook, 1979

If you have leftover ham, and can’t find inspiration in any of the above suggestions, this is a very easy recipe from James Beard’s cookbook, Beard on Pasta. I won’t make this because: #1 my family doesn’t like peas (I do) and #2 I have no peas. But ham and peas are a natural combination; farafelle (bow tie) pasta would be perfect for this dish, but most any short pasta will do. If you have no cream, you could just make this with butter.

Ham and Peas James Beard

Very simple. Pour a cup of heavy cream into a saucepan. Let it cook down and thicken slightly, and add some peas and bits of ham. Pour over hot noodles and sprinkle on quite a lot of grated cheese.

Now, if you have leftover hard boiled eggs, the logical first choice is to make egg salad with them. I love egg salad and, once again, turned to my Fanny Farmer Cookbook for the recipe, which used eight of my eggs. Other options: chopped and served over cold asparagus in a vinaigrette as a salad, in Asian soups and noodle dishes, sliced on toast and covered with Bechamel sauce, as part of a grain bowl, or sliced and served on a savory oatmeal. They are also good just sprinkled with toasted sesame salt and eaten out of hand.

Deviled Eggs are pretty much the little black dress of the egg world. Everyone loves them, they’re first to go at potlucks and are endlessly adaptable. They can be mixed with curry powder, chopped scallions and topped with chutney, mixed with siracha and topped with cilantro or chives, mixed with truffle oil and topped with caviar, mixed with Buffalo sauce, chopped celery and topped with blue cheese, or served Bricktop’s style- topped with candied bacon.

Here’s my mother’s recipe for a classic deviled egg.

Deviled Eggs Lyla Lee Rice

• 12 hard boiled eggs, shelled
• 1/2 mayo (Hellman’s)
• 1/4 cup Miracle Whip
• 1 1/2 tsp. hot dog mustard
• 1 tsp. grated onion
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3 T sweet pickle relish

Peel eggs. Slice eggs in half and remove yolks. Mash and add other ingredients. Use a pastry bag to fill egg halves for nicer presentation. Decorate with paprika, chopped parsley or pimento. Makes 24.

If you have both leftover ham and hard boiled eggs, you have the making for a classic Chef’s Salad. If you don’t have all of the ingredients, don’t sweat it. As long as you have lettuce, ham, eggs and dressing, you’re good to go. This recipe, from Fanny Farmer Cookbook, says “This is a main dish for a summer evening or a lunch.”

Chef’s Salad Serves 4

• 1 head iceberg
• 12 radishes, trimmed, sliced
• 2 stalks celery, julienned
• 1 1/2 cups French Dressing (recipe below)
• 4 tomatoes, peeled, cut into 6 wedges each
• 3/4 cup Swiss cheese strips
• 1 cup cooked ham, cut into strips 1/8 inch wide
• 1 cup cooked chicken or turkey, 1/8 inch wide
• 4 hard boiled eggs, quartered
• salt and freshly ground pepper

Core the iceberg lettuce and save four outside leaves for the bed in which to put the salad. Place them around the edges of a large salad bowl. Cut or tear the remaining lettuce into bite-size pieces, place in the bowl and toss with radishes, celery and half of the dressing. Arrange the tomato wedges around the inside edges of the lettuce. Combine the cheese, ham and chicken, toss and spread it over the lettuce and vegetable. Place the hard boiled eggs between the tomato wedges. Salt and pepper lightly over the salad. Spoon the rest of the dressing over the salad.

French Dressing

• 2 T vinegar
• 1/2 tsp.salt
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

In a small bowl mix the vinegar and salt and let stand a few minutes. Add the pepper and slowly stir or whisk in the oil. Taste for acid and salt and add more if too bland. Stir to blend before using or store in a jar with a tight lid and shake before using.

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