Homemade Turkey Soup

Best thing about the day after Thanksgiving, heck lets face it its more like the WEEK after Thanksgiving, is all the things you can make with TURKEY LEFTOVERS! This week I have a few fun things planned on the menu to use up all our leftovers! First up is the following ...

There is something so soothing about 'homemade soup' and this past weekend I have had a houseful of boys who are all fighting a Fall Cold so find that having a nice homemade soup is a great immunity booster as well as soup just feeds the soul with comfort and love to help them while they are all feeling down with the man cold blues! 

HOMEMADE TURKEY SOUP 

Serves  6 with about 1.5 cup servings

Homemade Grain Free Turkey Soup

What You Need:

•  8-10 cups of stock (make your own using the bones from your Turkey ~ tips below)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 large onion - diced
• 3 cloves garlic - minced
• Fresh Ground Pepper ~ to personal preference
• 3 stalks celery - diced
• 4 carrots - coined
• 6 Tomatoes - diced or 1 can of diced low sodium tomatoes 
• Fresh parsley - chopped
• 1 tablespoon Poultry seasoning (see DIY recipe here) 
• Leftover cooked turkey ... we used about 18 ounces so about 3 ounces cooked per serving but you can add as much as you'd like if you want it 'meatier'

What You Do: 

• Saute the onion, garlic, celery and pepper in the coconut oil until the onion starts to caramelize. 
• Add in carrots and tomato, parsley and poultry seasoning and broth bring to a boil.
• Turn down heat and simmer on low for an hour to allow the flavors to combine  
• For the grain lovers in your home you can serve over a cup of rice or noodles but for me I had it plain with a dash of red chili peppers to give it a kick of spice for me!

Simmer Soup

Homemade Poultry Stock Tips

What You Need:

• Bones from your meat picked clean of most meat ... turkey or chicken 
• Any leftover drippings from your pan that you did not use to make gravy ~ do not want to waste any of the amazing flavor!
• 20 cups of water or whatever your largest stockpot will hold
• 1 large onion - leave in large chunks
• 3 cloves garlic - whole
• Fresh Ground Pepper ~ to personal preference
• 2-3 stalks celery - great way to use up the 'leafy' part of the stalk
• Carrot - again stock is a great way to use up the 'ends' of carrots including the leafy
• Handful of Fresh parsley and Rosemary - leave whole
• Splash of Apple Cider Vinegar ~ about 1 tablespoon I use the acidity in this instead of salt to encourage the bones to let loose their flavor and keeping my broth low sodium.

What You Do: 

•  Add all ingredients to large stock pot and bring to a boil.
• Turn down heat and simmer on low for several hours to allow the flavors to combine and 'reduce' your stock to about 8-10 cups.
• Cool ... strain away the chunks of veggies
• I like to freeze small portions in ice cube trays to use in sauces as well as a couple containers for making my homemade soup.

Have an amazing day!

Margaret

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

Totallyawake4-life

Grain Free Turkey and Trimmings

Happy Thanksgiving Monday all ~ we enjoyed our feast last evening and as my first totally 'grain free' Thanksgiving I was totally pleased with how everything turned out! Lots of flavor, very filling and I did not even miss the traditional 'stuffing' and sweet potato casserole we have had in years past that likely adding 1000's of calories to my meal and contributed to the 'turkey coma' I would experience afterward. 

So as promised yesterday here are the recipes I was too full to upload last night!

Grain Free Turkey

What You Need:

• Turkey - you need approximately 2 pounds per person with a small bird with a big bird 1.5 pounds per person should do.
• 1 Granny Smith Apple
• 1 small onion
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 carrot 
• 1 handful of fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil 
• Poultry seasoning ~ as desired as always Epicure has an amazing blend or you can DIY below

What You Do

• Rinse your bird and remove the giblets and neck. We do not eat these personally so no point in cooking them but if they are a family favorite at your house by all means.
• Chop the apple, onion, celery and carrot into large chunks and stuff into the bird cavity along with the Rosemary - this will help to add flavor, keep moisture in the bird and make a nice rich stock for your gravy later.
• Gentle rub the entire bird surface with coconut oil and massage in the poultry seasoning.
• Place into a roasting pan breast side up.
• Bake in the oven at 300 F .... it will take approximately 30-40 minutes per every 2.2 pounds of turkey. So an 11 pound turkey will take approximately 3 - 3.5 hours to cook. You want an internal temperature of at least 165 F 
• We like a juicy turkey with crispy skin so we baste the bird every hour or so.
• Once cooked remove to a cutting board and allow to 'sit' for 20 minutes or so and remove the 'veggies' from cavity before carving.

DIY Poultry seasoning

 As mentioned I prefer the 'ready made' Epicure cause no guess work but if you do not have access to an amazing Epicure representative like I do the following DIY works too ...

What You Need:

•  2 teaspoon ground sage
• 1.5 teaspoons ground thyme
• 3/4 teaspoon ground rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon finely ground pepper

What You Do"

• Mix all ingredients together in a bowl ~ store any leftover in an air tight container! 
  

Grain Free Gravy

What You Need:

•  Drippings from roasted turkey ~ amount is going to vary per turkey I got about 2 cups out of ours. If your drippings are low simply add a bit of water to the pan.
• Xanthan gum - again amount is going to vary depending on how thick you like start with 1 tablespoon for every cup of broth and add more as required.
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream, optional. This just helps to create that visual look of traditional 'floured' gravy and is not necessary for taste factor just to fool the eyes.

 What You Do

• Transfer drippings into a pan on a medium heat and bring to a boil and allow to 'reduce' for a bit to give a stronger flavor.
• Slowly add the 1 tablespoon xanthum gum while briskly whisking to prevent clumping 
•  Continue whisking as it thickens to your desired consistency. 
• Transfer to your gravy boat ~ you can 'strain' if desired
• Serve over your turkey and trimmings as desired

 Herb and Garlic Mashed Cauliflower

What You Need

• 1 small head of cauliflower (about 3 cups of florets once chopped)
  
• 1 tablespoon Epicure Herb and Garlic seasoning
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1/4 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese (ideally the REAL stuff not the dehydrated stuff)
• 1/4 cup of broth or drippings from the turkey in this case

What You Do

• Steam the cauliflower until tender.
• With either an immersion blender directly in your pot or transfer cauliflower to your Vitamix or Blendtec or other type of blender and blend together cauliflower and remaining ingredients until a 'mashed potato' consistency add more broth or drippings as needed. 

 Roasted Maple Acorn Squash

What You Need

• Medium size acorn squash
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 teaspooon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspooon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons Maple Syrup

What You Do

•  Cut acorn squash in half and remove all the seeds. 
• Poke the flesh with a fork to help flavor seep in as it cooks
• Rub the coconut oil across the flesh part and into the 'well' left by the seeds. Leave any excess oil in the well to melt into the poked holes.
• Place with the 'well' side up on a baking tray.
• Sprinkle with the cinnamon and cayenne pepper.
• Roast in oven at 300 F with the turkey for the last hour until the flesh of the acorn is tender to fork. 
• During last 10 minutes, after you've taken the turkey out to 'sit' add the maple syrup and turn the heat up to 500 F and allow the maple syrup to caramelize a bit in the well. 

Citrus Carrot Coins

What You Need:

• 4 Carrots 
• 1/2 cup of orange juice

What You Do:

•  Peel and coin the carrots
• Cook over medium heat in a pot with the 1/2 cup of orange juice to 'steam and flavor' the carrots ... adds a lovely tender flavor to the carrots!

And that was what we had this year for our tasty Turkey dinner ... I was pleased to see when I recorded my meal into the My Fitness Pal that my entire dinner plate shown had lass than 600 calories including being able to have tasty gravy! So even while celebrating with family and friends and enjoying some tasty treats I was able to stay on plan and goal and am not worried about weighing in and seeing the scale go up on me! 

Also was a good girl and while we did not go to the gym yesterday I did press play on one of my yoga videos after supper while the boys cleaned up the kitchen for me!

Have an amazing day!

Margaret

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

Totallyawake4-life

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

This is my first thanksgiving trying to be strong and stick to my 'grain free and clean eating' even when preparing for a big social gathering with family and friends .... normally in the past I would bring a big ole gluten free stuffing full of nuts and dried fruit a total mouth orgasm along side my turkey with a side of candied pecan sweet potato casserole to go with all the other trimmings and for dessert my old evil pumpkin pie recipe .... my whole meal likely topped my recommended calorie intake for a WEEK and would send my glucose readings into next week along with it! 

So this weekend I am having a roasted turkey with a side of mashed cauliflower, sweet potato in its natural clean glory with home made low sodium gravy and for desert the following grain free, dairy free, sugar free but totally tasty pumpkin pie ... I made myself some crust-less ones cause I wont have any containers left at dessert for crust but my family is getting a grain free version crust to enjoy cause they are not worrying about their calories this Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Pie filling

Serves 

• 2 pies OR 1 pie and  4 mini crust-less casserole dishes

 What You Need

• 27 ounce can pure pureed pumpkin ~ not pumpkin pie mix 
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 4 teaspoon Epicure pumpkin pie spice OR make your own recipe below
• 2/3 cup unsweetened Almond milk

What You Do

• Whisk the eggs in a bowl and fold in the remaining ingredients
• Mix until well blended
• Pour into your pie crusts until it is just below the 'edge' of the crust wall or add 1 cup of mix to greased mini casserole dishes.
• Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes until fork comes clean in middle ~ the crustless might cook quicker depending on the size of your casserole dish.

 DIY Pumpkin Pie spice

 What You Need

• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 3 drops of Clove Bud Essential oils

 What you Do

• Mix all ingredients in a bowl and add to your recipe above

Coconut Flour Pie Crust

Coconut Pie Crust recipe sourced from Coconut Mama

What You Need

• 1/2 cup coconut oil or   Butter, Melted
• 2 Eggs
• 1/4 Teaspoon Sea Salt
• 3/4 Cup coconut flour 
• 3 Tablespoons Raw Honey - omit if you want a savory pie crust for something like quiche or chicken pot pie

What You Do

• Preheat oven to 400 F.
• In a medium bowl beat butter, eggs, honey and salt together with a fork.
• Then add coconut flour. Stir until dough holds together.
• Gather the dough into a ball, then pat into a 9″ greased pie pan.
• Prick the dough with a fork.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly brown. Let cool.
• Add your filling and bake as required

This year I am so determined NOT to have this scale trick need to  happen to me! If you are 'fixing' like I am than your crust-less pumpkin pie would be either a 1 purple and 0.5 red and as your 'free' maple syrups for the day ... if you have a piece with the crust as well I would count it as 1 yellow swap 'treat' cause now you are having maple syrup AND the honey in the crust plus the coconut flour.

Hope you are having an amazing Thanksgiving! 

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much
Margaret 
Totallyawake4-life