Creamy Turkey Wild Rice Soup - Gluten Free

Sunday afternoon I prepared our 15lb turkey I had just bought the day before from a local farmer at the farmers market. I buy a turkey every year, no matter if we are celebrating Thanksgiving at home or not. That's because this is the only time of year I can buy my free-range, organic, heirloom turkey from the farmer who provides us with the majority of our meat. I have been buying our meat from Farm On Wheels for probably 5 years now, and continue to love what they have to offer. Their beef is from grass-fed cows, their chickens really do run outside and get to eat worms and other grub and are never fed soy, plus they have pork, goose and duck to choose from too. If you live in the Twin Cities area you can check out Farm On Wheels at the year-round St. Paul Farmers market.

We are heading to four families' home this year, so I won't need our turkey. Normally I'd freeze the beautiful bird, but it looked like it was going to taste so good that we decided to go ahead and make it and freeze the cooked meat instead of the whole uncooked bird. I used an adaption of an Alton Brown recipe on Food Network,  which turned out excellent. I did change the brine just a bit and lowered my cooking temperature for the second part to 325°F, taking into consideration that this heirloom bread of turkey was going to be leaner than the standard turkeys at the grocery store.

It only made natural sense to go ahead and make my family's favorite soup on Monday night. With snow on the ground and the 50 degree days gone for the moment, a warm bowl of soup was perfect for a healthy, filling dinner. I have about 12 more pounds of cooked turkey now in my deep freeze and I think I can safely say that this soup will be gracing our evening table quite a bit this winter.

 Note on the lemon juice and arrowroot in this recipe.

In this soup I add, when I have it, the juice of one lemon. This makes the soup a little brighter which can be a nice contrast to the cream. Normally lemon will make milk curdle, but I haven't had a problem with that in this soup. I also use arrowroot for the thickener, instead of flour. If you wanted to add flour instead you can, but you would want to do it differently. How I'd add flour is by making a roux. First melt 4 tbsp. of butter in a small frying pan. Add 1/4 cup flour (or up to 1/2 cup if you want a very thick soup, although you may want to add more butter) and cook the flour and butter for a couple of minutes over medium heat stirring constantly. You don't want the butter/flour to brown at all. You want to be getting rid of the raw flour taste. Then thin the roux with a couple tablespoons of broth from your soup. Add it to the soup at the same time you'd add the arrowroot. Arrowroot has a very different nature than flour. You want to be careful to not overcook it or it will actually lose its thickening capability. It adds very little flavor and no color, even though it's white. I don't make this soup extremely thick and creamy. If you like a really creamy soup, double the arrowroot and water.

Burmese Chicken Noodle Soup (Ohno kwautskwe) - Gluten Free

Both of my children are napping... this never happens... I almost don't know what to do with myself... I could finish the huge unpacking/reorganizing project I started in my kitchen area today... I could take a nap (which isn't normal for me, but I've been very tired lately)... or... how about I write a post for you all. You know it's not like it's been a while since I've shared a recipe or anything! :-)

It's rainy outside and on the cool side, so it seems like the perfect time to share this recipe for Burmese chicken noodle soup. I think most Americans know how to make a basic chicken noodle soup at home. If your first thought is "get the can opener out and dump soup in pot", well then you need to email me and I will share with you how to make homemade chicken soup or perhaps that will be for a post on another day. Canned chicken soup just doesn't cut it for nutritious value or taste, especially when the homemade stuff is about as easy as it gets to make a homemade meal.

What's For Dinner: Vietnamese hot pot with beef, prawns & Squid

 
I love seafood, but for the most I don't eat it too often anymore. Tear... With the oceans becoming contaminated it's difficult to find affordable and healthy choices for seafood. I personally try to avoid most large fish like tuna, swordfish and so forth because of the potential mercury contamination. I also watch where the seafood is coming from. If it's from China or even Mexico it's not high on my "I want to eat this" list.

Roasted Vegetable Beef Stew

It's January, it's freezing cold here and we have a lot of snow, no really A LOT. Snow count is about 55" now. So, it's only natural to be wanting some rich, hearty food. That is exactly what this full flavor stew is. Instead of simply throwing the fresh vegetables in to the pot along with the meat, I decided to roast them in the oven first, to add an extra depth of flavor and I'm glad I did. This stew was wonderful.

Vietnamese Beef Pho - Phở Bò

There is a pleasant aroma floating through the air, filling my home with the enticing feeling of warmth and comfort often enjoyed as the days grow shorter and cooler, as fall knocks at the front door. It's a wonderful soup, slowly cooking, allowing all the flavors of each ingredient to mingle together... 

Creamy Leek Soup with a Hint of Blue Cheese

Have you ever wondered what to do with leeks? I have. If you do a quick search for leek recipes, the most popular one seems to be leek and potato soup. These two ingredients work great together, however I made this soup the evening my husband and I were having a cook-off for our anniversary. For my meal I made peppered crusted steak with a blue cheese sauce, oven baked potato chips and then this soup. Since I was already have the chips, I really didn't want potatoes in my soup too.

Creamy Clam Chowder

I love clam chowder. It's one of those perfect cool/cold weather dishes to enjoy, especially by a cozy fire. When you are chopping your ingredients, try to keep the celery, bacon and potatoes close to the same size and no bigger then about 1/4" - 1/3". This helps everything cook at the same rate and gives you a better end consistency. The onion and parsley can be chopped more finely, since they are there simply to impart flavor and not texture.


What You'll Need - serves 4

• 1/2 cup or about 4 slices of bacon chopped into small pieces
• Medium white onion diced
• 4 tablespoons white flour
• 2 celery stalks, chopped into small pieces
• 3 medium yellow or red potatoes, skins on, that's where the vitamins are
• 2 cups of organic whole milk
• 1 10 ounce can of baby clams with liquid - you could easily do 2 cans of baby clams if you like to have clams in every bite
• 8 ounces of clam juice
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• Salt
• Pepper

• 3 quart pot, preferably with a heavy bottom

Getting Started

Over medium-high heat cook your bacon pieces in your soup pot. Once bacon has browned and most of the fat has been released, add your onions and saute for several minutes until they have softened and are becoming translucent. Stir them often so they don't become overly browned or burnt. Add your chopped celery and saute for a minute or two, then add the flour. Stir and cook the flour consistently for 2-3 minutes.


Next add the liquid from your clams, the clam juice, milk and potatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook until potatoes are soft and the soup has thickened. This should take roughly 20 minutes. During the last 5 minutes of cooking add your parsley, clams and season with salt and pepper.



Serve immediately and enjoy! This is a meal all on it's own or add a delicious piece of warm bread with butter and a salad. The kids will love it too, at least my 2 year old does!



If you save this soup, you'll likely have to thin it some when reheating. Heat it in a pot on the stove and add a couple tablespoons of milk and you should get a nice creamy consistency. Make sure to stir it often when reheating so you don't accidentally burn the bottom.

Butternut Squash Soup

This is one of those perfect wintertime soups. It warms you up on the inside with a little kick from cayenne and finishes off with a bit of sweetness from fresh apples. Two winters ago, my husband and I were on an extremely tight budget and were doing all that we could to cut down our grocery expenses. While at the farmers market one Saturday, we found a vendor selling his winter squash in huge bags for only $15, I think there was over 20 squash in it. It was the end of the season (late fall) and he was trying to get rid of his produce. Lucky us! Hitting the farmers market at the end of the season is always a great time to get some extra good deals, just be prepared to spend time in the kitchen canning and freezing all the delicious foods you are able to find.

I love squash, but by the time we were about halfway through the bag and winter, I had about all I could handle of it! I did some digging on the internet and found this yummy recipe for squash soup. I thought I found it on Foodnetwork.com, but before putting this post together I went to go find it again and was unable to. It was a very easy recipe, so I looked at it once, and it stuck in my brain. I guess you could say this is my version of the soup, since I really don't recall all the specifics of the original recipe, however, it's still delicious!


What You'll Need: 4-6 servings

• 1 2 - 3 lb butternut or acorn squash
• 1 large red onion
• 3-4 small apples, I think in this batch I used Pink Lady, but any firm, mildly-sweet apple will work
• 1/8 teaspoon or less of cayenne pepper
• Chicken broth
• Cream to garnish with
• Olive oil
• Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper

• Large casserole dish or a large jelly roll pan
• sharp knife
• Vegetable peeler
• Regular or submersion blender
• Large pot to warm soup in
• Mixing spoon

Getting Started

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Peel your squash and apples with a vegetable peeler and/or a sharp knife. Cut the squash in half and remove seeds. Core the apples. Chop the squash, onion and apples into similar-sized pieces around 1" cubes. Place them in the casserole dish or jelly roll pan and pour several tablespoons of olive oil on them and toss/stir to make sure they are evenly coated. Sprinkle on a little salt and a dash of cayenne pepper.

Note: If kids are eating this soup and aren't fans of any type of spice, omit the cayenne. A little bit of cayenne goes a very long way in this soup and does add a "kick". Also, go more conservatively on the cayenne your first time making this, no more then an 1/8 teaspoon and probably only half of that. I very lightly sprinkle cayenne over top of the vegetables and have found that it gives it more then enough "kick". The goal isn't to make the soup spicy, but just add extra depth of flavor and a little extra warmth.



Place coated vegetables and fruit into preheated oven and roast for about 30 minutes or until soft. Stir every 10 - 15 minutes to make sure they cook evenly and don't stick.

Once done roasting, remove vegetables/fruit and allow to cool some. Fill your blender about 3/4 of the way with the veggies (you may have to do more than one batch), and pour the chicken broth on top. Add enough broth so you are able to easily process the veggies to a smooth, creamy consistency. Pour the soup into pot and heat to desired eating temperature. Thin with more broth to desired consistency. You can also add a cup of cream at this point to make an extra creamy soup. Season with salt and a bit of fresh cracked pepper.

Pour the soup into bowls and garnish with a little cream!