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Sunday, November 30, 2014

Turkey and Sausage Gumbo



How many different dishes do you make with your Thanksgiving turkey leftovers? Of course you always have turkey sandwiches and sliced breast meat with mashed potatoes and leftover gravy, but have you tried making soup?

One of my favorite turkey recipes is turkey and sausage gumbo. My son Chris first introduced me to gumbo and I must say it is one of my favorite soup recipes. Try this before you decide to toss the turkey.

Ingredients:

1 pound of Polish sausage or Andouille (spicy Cajun sausage) cut into bite size pieces
3-4 cups of skinned chopped turkey from leftovers or roasted chicken
½ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup flour
½ cup chopped sweet pepper
1 medium chopped onion
2 cups chopped celery with leaves
4 pints turkey or chicken broth
3-4 cloves minced garlic
2-3 bay leaves
2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 pinch of thyme
6 drops of hot sauce or to taste
¼ cup chopped green onion (for garnish)

1 cup brown rice cooked according to package directions

Directions:

When your turkey dinner is finished prepare the leftovers by removing skin and bones and separate meat into packages appropriate for your family meals. Freeze all that won’t be used within a couple of days.

1, Prepare turkey for soup by chopping it into bite size pieces and set it aside.

2. Place hot water in medium pot with turkey bones and scraps, some onion and celery.
This will make a flavorful broth. Cook until veggies are tender.

3. Sauté the sausage in a large skillet until brown. Remove most of fat using a paper towel then remove sausage from skillet and set aside.

4. Pour vegetable oil into skillet with remainder of fat. Add the flour and stir constantly on medium heat until roux is the color of chocolate (about 25-30 minutes).
5. Add chopped peppers, onion, and celery to skillet and cook until vegetables are tender (about ten minutes).

6. Pour broth from turkey bones and contents of skillet into soup kettle. Add more water and chicken bullion if needed to make about two quarts of liquid. Stir until soup is slightly thickened.

7. Add sausage, turkey or chicken, garlic and rest of ingredients through hot sauce. Simmer about an hour.

8. While soup simmers prepare brown rice according to package directions. This will take about 40 minutes.

9. Remove bay leaves and sprinkle soup with chopped green onions.

10. Serve this delectable gumbo over the rice. What a wonderful way to serve leftover turkey.

Send your recipes for leftovers to our blog. We’d love to share some of your favorites!

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Ruth's Danish Apple Cake



In my lifetime I have met many people from all over the world who have shared their food and recipes with me. One of those people was a friend named Ruth who was born and raised in Denmark. Through the years we became good friends, and she shared many great meals with our family. I in turn shared many recipes and meals with her and her family.

I attended the World’s Fair in New York City in the early 1960’s. What an unforgettable experience! At the Danish pavilion we ate a fabulous meal which included Danish apple cake.

Later I told Ruth about the cake. She then shared with me a different apple “cake”. She said it was very popular during apple harvest. Since this is apple harvest time I will share it with you. You won’t need an oven. So the next time the electricity goes off you can still have dessert and use up those apples you picked at the orchard.



Ingredients:

Apple layers
4 to 5 large apples peeled and sliced (Granny Smith, Golden Delicious or your favorites)
½ cup water
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter

Combine apples and water in a medium sized stew pot and cook until tender and most water has evaporated. Add sugar, cinnamon, and butter and stir until ingredients are combined. Set aside.

Crumb layers
4 slices of stale bread—grated
5-6 tablespoons melted butter
½ cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine all ingredients for crumb layers in medium mixing bowl. Set aside.

Spread 1/3 of crumb mixture in large clear serving bowl. Cover with half of the apple filling then half of remaining crumbs. Finally spread remaining apple filling on top of crumbs, then sprinkle remaining crumbs. Chill in refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours or overnight. Serve chilled apple cake garnished with whipping cream.

This is a simple and delicious family friendly dessert. Enjoy!