My Favorite Turkey Noodle Soup Recipe

  Chicken Noodle Soup is good; of course it is! But Turkey Noodle Soup made from nutritious, homemade stock, on the other hand, is scrumptious! As I started making homemade turkey stock, or bone broth, 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 […] Read more »

Turkey or Chicken Stock; Tasty, Healthy, & Money Saving Recipe

  We cook turkeys for Thanksgiving, Christmas, sometimes Easter, or whenever there are no more turkey leftovers in the freezer. We also eat bone-in chicken throughout the year and other meats with bones. 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 have since learned that not only can you save money by utilizing chicken or turkey bones to make delicious stock or bone broth for soup, and it is also a really nutritious food that will help keep you healthy. Great news for super cheap, tasty food, don’t you think? Just a generation or two ago, people did this all the time, while today it’s almost a lost art. In this post I will show you how I make turkey stock, or bone broth, from a turkey carcass. You can use the same principles to make broth from chicken or other meat bones as well, even fish! If you do try this recipe, I would really appreciate a quick comment with a star rating (option found immediately under each recipe). It helps me out tremendously! Thanks in advance! Did you know there is a lot of nutrition left in the bones of poultry and other meat-bones? For one thing, there is a lot of calcium, which is said to become much more available if you add a little vinegar or lemon juice to […] Read more »

Brining and Slow Roasting for a Wonderfully Juicy Turkey Recipe

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. If you do try this recipe, I would really appreciate a quick comment with a star rating (option found immediately under each recipe). It helps me out tremendously! Thanks in advance! 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, […] Read more »

Aldi Chocolates, Best Hidden Secret!

Do you have an Aldi store in your area? If so, you may be surprised to find that they carry a variety of wonderfully delicious, high quality European chocolate! Growing up in Norway, I was spoiled on great chocolate, and for me, the regular 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. I recently wrote a post on what I like to buy at Aldi, 20 Favorite Aldi Products List, and of course chocolate did make the list! When I first discovered Aldi, I didn’t even realize their chocolates were anything special until I took a closer look and noticed 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 […] Read more »