Chicken Noodle Soup is good, of course it is! But Turkey Noodle Soup made from homemade stock, on the other hand, is scrumptious! As I started making homemade turkey stock a few years back, I went on a search for stock based soup recipes. I found a couple of recipes that I adapted into a soup recipe that is quick, easy, but delicious non-the-less, once you have stock and meat leftovers ready made in the freezer.  When cooking up a turkey, I usually cook a much larger bird than we need for our dinner, in order to have lots of leftovers in the freezer for meals like my much-loved soup. This recipe is adapted mostly from Paula Deen’s Chicken Noodle Soup, with a couple of changes. For one thing, I use a bag of frozen soup veggies from the store, to save time. You really can use any vegetables you want, though some vegetables tend to fall apart more easily than others, such as broccoli, so I try to avoid those. Root vegetables often work well. If using potatoes, use white, red-skin or Yukon potatoes as they keep their shape better than baking potatoes. Two important ingredients added toward the very end that I kept in this recipe, as per Paula Deen, are heavy cream and Parmesan cheese. These ingredients make the soup extra luscious. But still, it all starts with rich, homemade turkey stock (here’s a link to [...] Read more »

We cook turkeys for Thanksgiving, for Christmas, sometimes for Easter, or whenever we are out of freezer turkey-leftovers. We also eat bone-in chicken throughout the year. I always used to throw away all those precious bones and carcasses, thinking they were worthless now that the meat was eaten. NOT SO!!! I once saw a cooking show on TV (so sorry to not remember which show that was!), where the chef showed us just what can be done with the leftovers that I used to think of as trash. She grabbed all the yucky stuff, everything from the carcass to skin, blubber, even bones off of people’s plates after having company over, and boiled it all for hours on end to make soup stock. She pointed out that YES! it’s safe and fine to do; it’s going to cook “forever”, so germs will not survive anyway. I decided to give it a try, and the stock that I’ve ended up with has been to die for! It makes soups so unbelievably tasty, especially Turkey Noodle Soup, and aside from some herbs and spices, it’s all from stuff I used to throw away. Free food, very nutritious, and simply scrumptious! What could be better than that? I mean, really??? Clean nutrition that tastes like heaven, from trash? What a money saver! Obviously the flavor of the stock will depend much on what you put in it, and also very much on what [...] Read more »

I have cooked turkeys for years now; for Thanksgiving, for Christmas, and anytime we run out of leftovers in the freezer. I always used to roast our turkeys on 325 degrees F, until fairly recently. After hearing about slow cooking at 200 degrees, I decided to try it and was very happy with the results. So this past Christmas my husband and I decided ahead of time that we should continue to roast at low temperatures.  A couple of important things to be aware of is never to add stuffing or anything else to the cavity of a slow cooking turkey. With temperatures as low as 200 degrees, the stuffing simply won’t cook all the way through to reach the necessary, safe temperatures. Additionally, USDA states that cooking a turkey at temperatures less than 325 is unsafe, so if you do want to try this method, do it at your own risk. Personally I have read enough about it to feel comfortable doing this for my own family, but please do your own research before attempting this method. Slow roasting is baking at temperatures between 200-325°F  (93-160°C). Meat baked at low temperatures does not shrink nearly as much, a lot more of the juice is retained in the meat, and it won’t burn easily even if left in the oven a little longer than necessary. Though slow roasting a turkey is often done in a regular oven, the one change [...] Read more »

Do you have an Aldi store in your area? If so, you may be surprised to find that they carry a variety of wonderful, high quality chocolate. Growing up in Norway, I was spoiled on great chocolate, and for me, the ol’ Hershey’s bar will never measure up. It doesn’t melt well, and I find the flavor to be harsh. And before I go on; No, I do not work for Aldi’s and I do not get paid for advertisement. I simply want to share my find with others. Aldi is a discount supermarket based in Germany, and their stores have a bit of that European feel to them. When an Aldi store opened up close to where we live, I was excited because many of their groceries are sold at lower prices, and for the most part we’ve been happy with the quality of their products. We frequently purchase their produce, and frozen fish as well. I didn’t even realize their chocolates were anything special until I took a closer look, and discovered that they are made in Europe, which instantly intrigued me. I decided to purchase a bar to try, and found the quality to be excellent! I really couldn’t believe it; outstanding quality chocolate at lower prices than other, comparable brands. It is still more expensive than a regular Hershey’s bar, but flavor wise there is no comparison. The chocolates from Aldi are smooth and creamy, rich, [...] Read more »