Turkey Soup!

The turkey's been stuffed and now so am I! One of the best things I've ever done is buy a pressure canner and conquer my fears of pressure canning. When I was young and my mother would can green beans she put the fear of God into me by throwing her arm across the kitchen door and yelling "don't come in here! It might explode!". Well goodness! If that doesn't scare you, nothing will. But my desire to preserve leftover soups and sauces prevailed. This marks my second year of preserving my Thanksgiving Turkey Soup! I am having fun working over that carcass for any spare piece of delectable meat to put into soup. It starts on Thanksgiving day. After the gravy drippings, I pour any additional drippings into a jar or two and refrigerate. I wrap the turkey up in plastic to for my stock pot the next day. I boil the turkey and man does it smell great for the second time in a week. I pull it out and let it cool just enough to handle. Then, with clean bare hands, I peel every savory bite off of it and put it back into that stock pot. Then I go for the any other leftover turkey and those drippings I saved. I skim the fat off of the top and drop it into my pot. What flavor! Then I add chopped onion, celery, garlic, carrots and parsley to the pot and simmer. I like to add my homemade noodles to it later so sometimes I add potatoes and sometimes I don't. I did this year. But in doing so, I allowed for potato absorbtion of the broth. Meaning, make sure you have plenty of broth in your soup if you do decide on potatoes. Simmer simmer simmer! Prep your jars and when ready, add your delicious soup! This year I got 13 qts of soup. Pressure can for an hour and 15 minutes. Where I live its for 10lbs of pressure. Nothing like hearing that satisfying pop once they are sealed. Now I have the wonderful flavors of Thanksgiving for the rest of the year. Homemade noodles added to this are the best! What are your recipes for your leftovers?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well here we are! It's Thanksgiving! I had every intention of blogging so much in November! One of my favorite months of the year and my favorite holiday, I felt like I would have so much to share with you and I did! But...work and life hung me up. A good problem to have. But....I missed you. For the first time in my Thanksgiving life, I am away from home and yet right at home. I am at the sweetest little town that smells like pine trees and fresh rain. I've been in heaven cooking all day for my kids and just now enjoying the fruits of my labor. And having a cocktail.

I love this holiday for so many reason. From my front room window I have watched countless happy travelers leave to see their families and watched many happy reunions of those separated too long. I truly love every minute of the cooking and watching my family enjoy it. Everything is from scratch. The rolls, the stuffing and I have acquired quite a recipe selection of what we love and what we don't. Things I used to not be good at is improving and my recipe's are, as always, options. Now its time to relax, enjoy my family. Tomorrow brings the turkey, more cooking, the best parade, good wine and football. The best part is each other. I miss my daughter terribly but I will be holding her close in my heart until she comes home at Christmas. I wish each one of you a joyous Thanksgiving Day with your nearest and dearest.