Turkey Soup from scratch

Well, mostly from scratch. And sorry in advance for the lack of pictures.

We had some lovely carrots in three colors from our CSA that I wanted to use, but we had a busy day doing stuff, so I went with default plan: coarsely chop, roast at 425 in olive oil and roasting salt, checking every 10 minutes until they were done.

While that was going on I chopped some small onions and sautéed them in the soup pot in some bacon drippings.
When the carrots were done (about 20 minutes, though they could have gone a little longer if I wasn't so hungry),
I added them to the pot.
Then some chopped turkey breast.
Then some chopped oven-cooked-then-frozen bacon.
Once that got all nicely up to temp, I added some almond meal and a little bit of mashed potatoes (because I had them and need to eat them and don't really want to sit down to a giant pile of mashed potatoes).
Then I tossed in some frozen squash. Wasn't planning to do it. I just did. That's how I roll.
Over it all I poured in one 28 oz jar of homemade chicken broth that I had heated in the microwave.
Once that got good and steamy I added another 28 oz of hot water.
Turned it down to low, covered, and let simmer.

Later, I put half of the soup into the Cuisinart food processor with a TBS of Herbs de Provence.
Added this back in and served over 1 TBS of sour cream.
Made six hearty servings.

I've been trying to figure out how to cost out a dish like this. I'm not sure what to do about the carrots, which were part of our CSA basket. Or what to do for the chicken stock, which was made from the bones and leftovers from a roast chicken we had a couple days ago (and more veggies from the CSA). I think it worked out to less than $1.50 per serving all told. Which doesn't seem fantastically cheap for homemade soup, but seems reasonable considering the quality of the ingredients and that it tasted really good. ;-)

In particular, I'm glad I added the potato and almond meal. Neither came through as a distinct element in the final soup, but I think they added to the richness of the broth.

Winter veggie wrap

I've been cooking so much "brown food" lately that I thought it would be good to show something green. We chose our CSA in no small part because we wanted one that continued through the winter. This time of year that means lots of root veggies and cooking greens.

I sautéed some leeks, tossed in some roasted carrots, some oven-cooked bacon, and finally some coarsely chopped greens.

Once the greens just started to wilt I added a quarter cup of almond meal, a Tbs each of lemon juice and soy sauce, tossed and covered for a minute to steam a little.

Then I served it up on a tortilla.

Purple carrots

Purple through and through. 

Our CSA basket included some carrots of various colors:

Part of this week's CSA basket

Featuring purple food

Sharon and I are big fans of "purple food", but so often purple veggies only have the pigment skin deep. In this case the purple went all the way through. I was so excited and I had to make a special salad just to show them off.

Pot Roast -- What's up Chuck

Browned chuck after salt and peppered

Had a nice piece of chuck roast that I decided to use to make a pot roast based on this recipe.
This was almost the last piece of meat from our first of two shares from our meat CSA.

Canned Tomatoes

I've been suffering from a bit of insomnia, so it totally wiped out my energy this week; I hardly managed to do anything productive. Today, however, I finally had some energy and I decided I wanted to deal with our growing pile of tomatoes. Between our CSA and our tomato plants, we had a pretty large backlog.

I first made a batch of tomato sauce. Since I mostly used cherry tomatoes, I used the easy method where you just throw the clean tomatoes into the food processor and turn them into juice then cook them down until they're sauce. (I found the method at this website.) I turned five heaped pint baskets of tomatoes into three small jars of sauce.

Then I did a second batch of diced tomatoes from the larger tomatoes. (I used the method from this website.) I peeled the tomatoes and Jeff cut them into small pieces for me and added a bit of basil from the garden. Then we added lemon juice and put the cut tomatoes into the jars. Though, I don't think we smashed the tomatoes down enough in the jars, so there's a big gap now at the top. So, I don't really know if they worked or not. They all sealed, so perhaps they're OK. I may pop them into the refrigerator just in case.

I have finally gotten the hang of using the reusable canning lids. It's best not to put the rubber seal part into the hot water bath because it expands and then doesn't fit jar properly. I just keep them at the side and add them as I put on the plastic lid. The rubber ring doesn't come in contact with the food.

What to do with a CSA basket

Here is what I did with my latest CSA basket from Pumpkin Ridge.

Each week we get a basket and a page of recipes that relate to the week's contents. 

A while ago I developed a pretty routine way of processing my veggies by default. This helps when I am not inspired to do something specific, nor feeling adventurous on the day the basket arrives. One of the keys is to get everything into a state where it will last until it is to be used, and processed to the point where it can be used as an ingredient. 

Some things just need to get bagged and put in the fridge (zucchini, cucumbers, fresh onions, peppers). 

Potatoes can get put in a basket or roasted. 

This week I didn't get much that needed blanching (broccoli, chard, spinach, ...). If I did, I'd blanch or steam, drain, chop, and freeze. 

Lettuce gets washed, spun dry and put into a vacuum canister, and a couple of storage containers for use in the next day or two. 

Many veggies get my basic roasting treatment: cut into similar thickness pieces, toss with olive oil, and roasting salt. Roast in a 425 degree oven, turning every 10 minutes until done. 

Beets in olive oil and spices ready for heat

Beets roasted

Carrots ready to go

Carrots roasted

Then freeze or use. Think about how you put them in your freezer container so you get get out enough for one recipe without having to defrost the whole container.
Use in salads, sauces, stews, soups, .... Actually I go about it the other way around. I ask myself, is there any reason not to add some roasted veggies?

Signing up for a Meat CSA

I'm defrosting the freezer right now so we can stock up on the summer harvest. And so we can get some more meat.

We are soon going to get our first box from Deck Family Farms with:

• 10lbs of Grass fed beef; 50% ground, 12% steaks, 38% everything else; ribs, roasts, stir-fry, & stew
• 5lbs of Pasture Raised Pork; bacon, sausages, shoulder, chops, ham.
• 2lbs of Pasture Raised Spring Lamb
• 8lbs of Pasture Raised No Soy! Roasters
• 1 dozen eggs

Looking forward to the variety.
Need to figure out what to do with lamb...