Thanksgiving Leftover Soup

Do you have any Thanksgiving leftovers left, or have a plethora of turkey sandwiches decimated your turkey supply? Well, if you have some goodies left, you might try this soup. I made it tonight, and Nathan and Daniel loved it. They kept commenting on how hearty it is, and we all went back for seconds. I adapted it slightly from a recipe that's in this month's Cooking Light. As soon as I looked at the recipe, I knew I would make it, because I had everything on hand except the Canadian bacon. I even had the onion and celery pre-chopped from my pre-Thanksgiving prep, so it didn't take me long to make at all, and the Canadian bacon gives the flavors new life and keeps the soup from tasting like round 41 of Thanksgiving.


Turkey and Potato Soup with Canadian Bacon

1 Tbsp. canola or vegetable oil
1/2 Tbsp. butter
1-1/2 cups chopped onion (about one large onion)
1 cup chopped celery
3 carrots, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced (about one cup, or slightly more)
1-1/2 oz. Canadian bacon, chopped
3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
3 cups chopped turkey (about 1 pound)
2-1/2 cups mashed potatoes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Heat oil and butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, celery, carrots, and bacon; cook 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broth, turkey, potatoes, and chopped sage, stirring with a whisk until blended; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in pepper.

*Optional: I threw in one of my frozen kale cubes for a little color and added nutrition. It's the equivalent of 1-2 tablespoons of chopped kale.

Thanksgiving Highlights

Hey peeps.

How was your Thanksgiving? Ours was really nice! Nathan's whole family came, except for Matthew and Emily, for whom a trip across the pond was a little too far to go for turkey. (See the post below for a picture of us pigging out.)

Here are the highlights from this week:

We took a family picture for the Christmas cards I may or may not get to this year. (I am horrible at Christmas cards and photo albums. Hence, we have no photo albums in our house, except for our wedding album, and last year nobody got a Christmas card from us. Of course, last year I had the convenient excuse of being gigantically pregnant....) This picture came out really well of Nathan and me, but not so great of Noah. I think a little Photoshop may be called for here because I really like Nathan and me in this pic.
Noah enjoyed riding on Papa's shoulders.
We all took a walk to the park,

where Noah loved the swing,

Daniel, Papa, and Nathan threw the football,

and Deb played with Noah and stood around looking cute. (Mama B. was there, too, swinging and sliding with Noah, but my camera died before I could take her picture!)

We had a ton of food, and we enjoyed all the after-Thanksgiving snacking. Thanksgiving dinner was pretty darn yummy, although there were a couple of notable mishaps:
- As Nathan was making the caramel for the caramel pumpkin pie, one of the cloths he was using to hold the handles and swirl the caramel in the pot caught on fire. I looked up and saw a flaming washcloth falling to the floor. Oh well. No harm done.
- After extinguishing the washcloth and resuming the caramel making, the heat got a little out of hand, and the caramel turned black. So, at my suggestion, he poured it down the sink. Wrong thing to do. The caramel basically hardened in the sink and down the pipe, like hard-candy hard. Nathan was like, "Lauren, this is BAD." Thankfully, it came off with a little hot water.
- However, the most amazing mishap of the day happened when I added the whiskey to the screamin'-hot pan for the whiskey-glazed carrots. Can anyone say FIVE-FOOT FIREBALL? Yes. I stood there agape, totally silent while this column of fire licked the ceiling. Meanwhile, my mother-in-law had the presence of mind to shout "Help! Help! Help! Help!" The guys ran in just in time to watch it finish burning. I could not believe that there was no black mark on the ceiling or smoke or anything! All the scientist guys informed me, though, that alcohol burns very quickly and cleanly. Anyway, that was an adrenaline moment, let me tell you. The guys were talking to Matthew and Emily over Skype when it happened, so M&E didn't know what was happening, but they did hear all the calls for help and all the guys running into the kitchen. They were like, "What is going on?!" The carrots turned out great, though, and afterward, there was a pleasant smell of whiskey in the kitchen. Ha!

So that was our Thanksgiving! What were the highlights of your turkey day? Leave a comment and tell us about it.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Hope you and yours have had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Story Time

Something funny happened one day while I was working at the College of Biblical Studies in Houston, and it still comes up from time to time, even though it happened like six years ago.

CBS is a pretty multi-cultural organization, with people from all kinds of ethnic backgrounds working there and going to school there. The guy who ran the bookstore at one point was Vietnamese, I believe. His name was Jeff. Although I don't remember him having trouble with the English language, one time there was a funny little episode that has made me laugh ever since. It involves Eric, a friend who was working in the bookstore at the time.

One day, as he was leaving work, Eric said, "See ya, wouldn't want to be ya."
The next day, as Eric was leaving, Jeff said, "See you. Wouldn't want to be like you."

Is that hilarious or what?

So just now, as Nathan was leaving for work, I said, "See you, wouldn't want to be like you."

It lives on.

More Noah

Recent pictures:

Here we are at the mall. We went to have some Chick-fil-A and play at their nifty play area. I'm not sure whether Noah was laughing or whether he was upset that Nathan had walked away momentarily. But either way, he's still pretty cute, isn't he?

And here's the kiddo in his winter wear.

His expression cracks me up.

Noah's Time Out

Please don't call CPS on us.

Just kidding.

That kid is strong! Yesterday, he was really interested in taking a closer look at that window, so Nathan held him up there, and he just grabbed on. We like that first picture because he looks like a little gymnast. His toes are pointed and everything. And he loved hanging--after Nathan took him down, he was trying to climb the wall to get back up there.

I Will Kick You

Remember how I said I'd leave my house and come over and kick you if you didn't brine your turkey? The same holds true if you don't make your own cranberry sauce.

Now, I understand that for some people, can-shaped discs of gelatinous goo may just be a holiday tradition that you can't part with.

But for those of you who are not emotionally attached to gelatinous goo, you should really try making your own cranberry sauce this year. Really, when it comes to cooking, nothing could be easier.

There are different versions of fresh cranberry sauce, some utilizing cinnamon or ginger or brown sugar or any other number of fall flavors. However, I like this one because it's simple, and it's never done me wrong.


Cranberry Sauce

1 cup maple syrup
1 cup orange juice
12-oz. package fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over (get rid of any that are dry and wrinkly)

Combine OJ and maple syrup in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Add cranberries, return to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes. Cover and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate until serving time. Makes 2-1/4 cups.