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Soup’s Up!

Posted on November 29, 2010 by kissmybroccoli

Hope everyone had a great Monday! It’s been a cold and rainy day here. Definitely a sure fire way to make Monday even more fun! 😉

I’m working my late shift at the hospital this week, 9:00-7:30. Totally rocks that I get to sleep in, but most nights when I get home all I wanna do is just veg until bedtime. Tonite, I needed something for dinner that was quick, easy, and WARM!

After thinking about turkey soup for over half my shift, I decided on a combination of ingredients that would ~~make the biggest dent in~~ incorporate more of the Thanksgiving leftovers. I had plenty of veggies left-over from the veggie tray and for some strange reason I made 3 cups of rice for the KERF’s amazing dressing when I knew I’d only need 1. Guess I snapped into cafeteria lady mode! <-sadly, this is an actual problem I have when I get into “cooking mode”…I.just.can’t.stop!

Anyway, back to the soup!

Creamy Turkey and Wild Rice Vegetable Soup:
1 1/4 cup low sodium organic chicken broth
1/4 cup water
7 scallions, green and white parts, sliced (you could use about 1/4 a yellow onion, but I needed to use these up!)
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 1/2 cups broccoli florets, chopped
1 cup cooked turkey, diced into cubes
2 cups cooked wild rice
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp celery seed
salt & pepper to taste

1 Tbsp butter
1 heaping Tbsp AP flour
1/2 cup half & half

Combine broth, water, and veggies in a medium sauce pan over med-high heat. Bring to a boil and let cook for 5 minutes, until veggies are brighter in color and tender. Reduce heat to medium and add turkey and rice.

While the soup heats through, you will make the roux (this is what thickens the soup and makes it creamy). Place 1 tablespoon of butter in a separate saucepan and melt over medium heat. Once melted, add in your heaping tablespoon of flour and whisk until combined and mixture starts to pull from the sides of the pan. Remove from heat and add in the half & half. Whisk like crazy until smooth and return to heat to thicken a little. Once thickened (doesn’t take but a couple of minutes), add your roux to the soup pot and stir to combine. Adjust seasonings to taste. Enjoy!

I used to think unless it came out of a can, the only way to make soup was in the crockpot which takes planning and lots-o-time, but this super simple and fresh recipe was complete in about 20 minutes and so warm and delicious! Better than any canned soup I’ve ever had and just what I needed to end a cold, rainy Monday!

Posted in Entree | Tagged leftovers, soup, turkey | 4 Comments

Don’t Fear the Leftovers!

Posted on November 28, 2010 by kissmybroccoli

Since this was my first time hosting a holiday meal, I now know what it’s like to have an overabundance of leftovers. But I ain’t skeered! Let the creative juices run! All of my meals today incorporated the leftovers from Friday nights feast.

If you know me at all, you have probably noticed that I kinda have a thing for oatmeal. Not the instant-hungry-again-in-1-hour-stuff, but the old-fashioned hearty “stick to your ribs” bowls as my mama would say! Ever since I started lurking around Ashley’s blog, I’ve been experimenting with my usual bowl so this morning I decided to go for the steel-cut variety. If you’ve never had steel-cut oats, they do take a little longer to cook, but it’s definitely worth the wait. Steel cut oats to me are nuttier and more filling than your standard rolled oats.

Cinnamon Raisin PB Banana Bread Oats

I topped a bowl of creamy banana-y goodness with a spoonful of PB&Co. Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter <- definitely a must try! And 1/2 a slice of leftover whole wheat banana bread and was in pure HEAVEN!

Peanut Butter Banana Bread Oats

By: Heather @ Kiss My Broccoli

Prep Time: 3-5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Keywords: stovetop breakfast steel-cut oats

Ingredients (Serves 1)

1/4 cup steel cut oats
2 Tbsp flax meal
1/2 cup milk of choice
1/4 cup water
1/2 banana, sliced thin
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Toppings: peanut butter and crumbled banana bread (optional)

Instructions

1. Combine oats, flax, milk and water in a small pot over medium-low heat and cook for 3-5 minutes (it will thicken a little).
2. Add banana slices and whisk vigorously for about 30 seconds. This is the key to super creamy oats!
3. Add vanilla and cinnamon and continue cooking for 12-15 minutes until it reaches desired consistency.
4. Top with peanut butter and crumbled banana bread (if using).

Lunch was a quesadilla using more leftovers! Turkey, green bean casserole, a little dressing and some good ol’ sweet taters and later topped with goat cheese:

Grilling it up!

The combo of the creamy mix of leftovers and the goat cheese with the crispy grilled tortilla…Mmm…mmm…mmm!

And then there was turkey sweet potato casserole! Green bean casserole topped with turkey and dressing topped with sweet potato/sunflower butter mash. I told you that the sweet potato casserole was a hit so needless to say I was rather sad after lunch when I realized that it was all gone. 🙁 But then I remembered that I had bought a few extra potatoes…you know, just in case!

I baked two sweet potatoes in the oven at 400 degrees for about an hour, removed the skin and mashed them up with 2 tablespoons of sunflower butter, about 1/4 cup honey, 1 egg, and a good splash of half and half. And don’t knock the sunflower butter/potato combo till you try it! It will change your life!…well, not really, but it will give you a super creamy sweet potato! 😉

Leftovers turned Casserole

And on the side a spinach salad topped with leftover cranberry pomegranate “dressing”!

No boring turkey sandwiches for me! Though I’m thinking some turkey soup might be in order for tomorrow! Hope everyone has a great rest of the night! I’m gonna try NOT to sneak in the kitchen for some pie…course it would be all in the name of using up the leftovers, right?? 😉

Posted in Breakfast, Entree, Holiday | Tagged leftovers, oats, PB&Co., sweet potatoes, turkey | 8 Comments

My First Post

Posted on November 28, 2010 by kissmybroccoli

Hello! Hope everyone is having a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Thanksgiving is my all time favorite holiday! This year I volunteered to host dinner at my house for my dad, mom, sis, and myself. It was an interesting adventure…garbage disposal backed up and halfway into cooking, the microwave quit heating! Oh well, I had a lot of fun and would definitely do it all over again!

When planning the menu, I knew I wanted to do the traditional Thanksgiving Day dishes but, well…healthified. I’m not against cooking with real butter or cream but I do think that every dish doesn’t have to be saturated in fat (no pun intended) for it to taste good. My mom and I both had to work on the actual holiday so we decided to have dinner on Friday evening.

I started by making the pumpkin pie on Thursday trying out a new recipe that I found on the Eating Well website: Pumpkin Rum Pie

I followed the recipe exactly and it came out ok. You could definitely taste the rum in it! It seemed to need more pumpkin-y spice so if I make it again, I will be sure to add more cinnamon and ginger.

Appetizer: Crudites with red pepper onion dip (White Willow brand mixed with cream cheese) and crock-pot apple cider

I made Whole Food’s Easy Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls and basted them with a garlic butter sauce halfway through cooking and again when they came out.

I decided I wanted to make a sourdough dressing after I had some from the Whole Foods hot bar a few weeks ago. It was delicious! I chose to make Figgy Wild Rice, Mushroom Sourdough Dressing that I had ~~drooled over~~ seen on www.katheats.com

Next up was the green bean casserole. It seemed like it took me forever to decide how I wanted to go with this one. I wanted it to be more “fresh” tasting so I decided this recipe was pretty close but instead of the pre-made fried onions, I made my own with breadcrumbs left over from the dressing and about 1/4 Vidalia onion sauteed in butter.

Then there was the bird! My first time ever to cook a turkey (eek!) Originally, I was super nervous about cooking it, but then I just thought about it like a chicken only uh…bigger and so I pushed up my sleeves and went at it! I cut up two lemons, putting one inside the turkey and the other I slid under the skin of the bird. I also chopped up some fresh parsley and put that inside the cavity along with one whole garlic clove (split in half). Then I sprinkled spices till my heart’s content: s&p, dried rosemary, onion powder, sage. Covered with foil and cooked at 350 for 2 1/2 hours and then uncovered for 30 minutes. Came out juicy and PERFECT!