Thanksgiving Leftovers: Simple Turkey Soup

Here is the second recipe in my Thanksgiving series, and will likely be the final one unless I come up with something else awesome. This one is pretty quick and simple as long as you have the stock ready. This would make the ideal quick lunch, at home or to-go.

Simple Turkey Soup

4 cups turkey stock (click here for recipe)

2 cups water

2 cups chunks of roast turkey

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

3 celery stalks, sliced

1 small or medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, diced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Saute the onion and garlic with the seasonings in the olive oil until fragrant for about 5 minutes. Add the turkey and veggies and stir around until coated with the aromatics for about 1 minute then add the stock and water. Boil until carrots are softened. Add seasoning to your liking. Ready to serve or store! Great with crackers and cheese or rolls fresh out of the oven.

This is super easy. You can even make it per bowl if you have everything right on hand; in fact, that’s what I did when I made a version of this with just the turkey, veggies and a little seasoning in broth. I simply boiled the stock then threw in all the ingredients, cooking for 5 minutes on high. Even easier!

I neglected to talk about the health benefits of turkey in my last post, so here’s that info now if you were wondering. First of all, not only is turkey particularly high in protein, but- as we all know –it contains a significant amount of tryptophan, which is notoriously known to promote sleepiness, when in fact there is no research that proves this. It also contains, selenium, B6 and B12, and is a good choice if you are on a low fat diet as it is not associated with the health risks that eating red meat is.

Now I want to talk about celery, which is actually a pretty amazing detoxifier. It contains a large amount of vitamin K as most green veggies do, and a fair share of folate, and vitamins A and C. Celery has cholesterol and blood pressure lowering benefits and acts as a strong diuretic making it the perfect addition to your detoxifying fresh-squeezed juice. In fact, here’s a really good recipe for your juicer if you happen to have one.

Detoxifier

1 apple

2 regular size carrots or 1 large one

2 celery stalks

1 small piece of ginger, approximately the size of your thumb

Squirt of lemon juice

Throw it all in the juicer according to instructions and top off with a squirt of lemon before drinking. Very refreshing!

I also just found out, according to WHFoods.com, that celery contains “coumarins that help prevent free radicals from damaging cells, thus decreasing the mutations that increase the potential for cells to become cancerous.” Pretty interesting! This is a vegetable that is often over looked and merely thought of as a “diet food” or filler for soups and stews, when in fact it is good for you in a number of ways. Makes a great snack with some peanut butter or pimento spread on top!

Lily loves celery with peanut butter on it; it’s the only way she’ll eat it actually! Celery is very good for your little one who has trouble eliminating due to it’s diuretic properties and large amount of fiber. If your young child or toddler (with teeth) has tummy troubles, give them a piece of celery to chew on.

Here’s a classic you may already know that your kids will enjoy:

Frogs on a Log

2-4 celery stalks cut into quarters

Cream cheese

2-4 green olives, sliced

Spread some cream cheese onto each celery section enough so that the little cavern is filled. Top with 4-6 olive slices as shown in the picture below. Serve as an afternoon snack.

Image courtesy delish.com

Kids will like the name and you will like that it’s healthy and easy to make. You could also use peanut butter and raisins instead!

Do you have any interesting celery recipes to share? Share in the comments!

Thanksgiving Leftovers: Spicy Shepherd's Pie with Turkey

So, since I hosted Thanksgiving this year, obviously I had plenty of leftovers. Especially turkey since I thought it was a good idea to get a 17.7 lb bird for 6 people (at least it was free from Shop Rite!).  But, no worries- I love leftovers! I made some yummy stuff with them, and here’s the first one!

Spicy Turkey Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients

2 cups shredded roast turkey

2 cups mashed poatatoes

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

3 stalks celery, sliced

1 cup turkey stock

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, diced

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp flour

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp thyme

1 bay leaf

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

¾ cup grated shredded cheese

Chopped fresh parsley for topping

Preheat oven to 400. Saute the carrot, onion and celery in olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat until carrot is softened. Add the garlic and other seasonings and cook for about 1 minute more. Add the turkey and then flour until well mixed. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Cook over medium-low heat until mixture thickens for about 5-7 minutes more. Adjust seasonings to taste. Add half of the amount of seasoning suggested above if you do not like it to be too spicy. 

Cookin'

About to go into the oven

Once mixture is ready, grease casserole dish and cover the bottom with the turkey mixture. Layer the top with the mashed potatoes, followed by the shredded cheese and parsley (or you could add the parsley after it’s out of the oven). Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until cheese starts to bubble. Let stand for at least 5 minutes before serving. Went great with leftover green bean casserole!

Fresh out the oven

Delish

This was extremely tasty, I liked it even better than the traditional shepherd’s pie with beef. Using turkey makes it much healthier since it’s a lean meat (unless you use mostly dark meat, but it’s still better for you than beef!). The mixture of seasonings is super aromatic and your taste buds will be dancing! The day after once the seasonings had settled even more, it tasted even better!

Lily found this a bit too spicy for her taste, although she dug the mashed potatoes with cheese. She opted for the leftover beets with broccoli and queso blanco (a new favorite) instead. If you have children who do like spicy food, try this! They will love it! Otherwise, just make it less spicy by starting with a ¼ tsp of the cayenne and go from there according to taste.

Enjoying her beets with broccoli (and actually offering me a bite with the hand you don't see extended towards the camera)

You could also use chicken stock if you did not think to make stock out of the leftover turkey bones. If you happen to still have some bones left, here’s a super simple recipe for turkey stock:

Ingredients

A pot full of turkey bones with some meat left on them

6-8 cups water (depending on how many bones there are)

1 tbsp olive oil (optional)

1 tbsp thyme

1 tbsp parsley

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Throw everything in a large pot and boil for 30 minutes. Cook for an additional 1-2 hours over a simmer, enough so that it is still a bit bubbly. Drain broth and store in fridge for later use.

Check back tomorrow for an other leftover turkey recipe using the stock (can you guess what that might be?). Next week I should be back to my normally scheduled programming, including Meatless Monday, featured blog of the month, and a Friday Family Favorite! Thanks for reading!