Last Day of Leftovers Mexican Turkey Soup

     ~Along about Sunday, when every one is gravied, sauced, and creamed out, this spicy, tomato-ey soup is a welcome change.

Last Day Mexican Turkey Soup

turkey carcass

2 sweet onions, one peeled and quartered, one peeled and chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup red bell pepper, diced

1 cup zucchini, sliced

2 tbsp cumin

2 tsp chipotle powder

2 cups stewed tomatoes, diced

1 cup roasted green chilies, diced

1 cup cooked corn

1 cup cooked black beans

2 cups cooked turkey leftovers, cubed

sea salt

black pepper

chopped cilantro

cheddar cheese

tortilla chips

diced avocados

Clean the remaining meat from the turkey…don’t worry about the clingy bits, or stuffing scraps…that will all help to make the stock richer.

Place the turkey carcass and the quartered onion into a large soup pot and add water until the bones are all covered.

Allow the water to come to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer.

Continue simmering for one hour.

Remove the turkey carcass, onion and other debris from the soup pot and discard.

Strain the stock through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl or fresh pot. Keep 6 cups for the soup…any extra stock can be frozen for a future use.

Rinse out your soup pot and start fresh.

Add the olive oil, the remaining onions, garlic, red pepper and zucchini to the soup pot and sauté over medium heat until the vegetables are softened.

Stir in the cumin and chipotle powder.

Add the broth, tomatoes, green chilies, corn, black beans and the cooked turkey.

Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for ten minutes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, set out bowls of cilantro, cheese, tortilla chips and the diced avocado, put a ladle in the soup pot and let everyone except for small children serve themselves.

Stuffing Versus Dressing

   

  "Doing a little research, I found “Dressing” or “Stuffing” edges out the baked potato as the most beloved American side dish. I suspect that has something to do with an association with treasured family memories…Grandma’s milk gravy, Aunt B’s pumpkin pie and Mom’s green bean casserole. make better memory mates then a grilled rib-eye. Maybe it’s tryptophan induced brain-washing.  

     Wikipedia unpretentiously describes stuffing as… “often a starch, used to fill a cavity in another food item.”  Hmmm…Factual I guess…but hardly the appealing up-on-a-pedestal prose this prized staple of precious holiday meal memories deserves.

       

     The dressing vs. stuffing debate seems to depend on which side of the Mason-Dixon Line your dining room table is on. In Maryland, I once asked a dinner mate to pass the stuffing and she quickly let me know that, “Southerner’s call it dressing…stuffing is just too rude of a word for the dinner table.” She was very sweet about her correction, but prefaced it with a “bless your heart”…and we all know that is southern slang for “you idiot.” I have also heard that stuffing is what you cook “stuffed” inside the turkey…dressing is cooked in a pan on the side. At our house there was always way more prepared than would fit inside the bird so we ended up with both -in the bird and in the pan…two names for the same dish seems a bit unwieldy and makes asking someone to pass a second helping a bit tricky.

      

     Dressing/stuffing is one of those historic handed-down-for-centuries-family-specific kinds of dishes. I have tried many times to experiment with new styles or recipe, adopting the regional traditions of wherever I was living, cornbread or oysters in Maryland…chorizo in Arizona… only to be met with a painful, slow to come exasperated sigh…“Fine… as long as we make Mom’s too.”

      

     The most memorable thing I remember about my Mother’s dressing is that she always mixed it right in the kitchen sink, so the first person up on Thanksgiving morning got stuck scrubbing and scouring. This was followed by endless chopping of celery and onions.  Maybe it just seemed endless because we kept taking breaks to stop and go watch the Macy’s parade. Actually, the real dressing ritual began on Monday or Tuesday when we would tear up loaves of bread and scatter it on cookie sheets to hang out in the oven and get stale for Thursday.  This was the only time cheap white bread appeared in our house."

From "Warm Hearth: Comforting Love-filled Recipes for Family, Friends and Cozy Fireplace Afternoons" by Mango Dragonfly

www.Mangodragonfly.com

Game Day, Tailgating and Lasagna Cupcakes

“We’re not here for the game. The game is nothing. The game is crap. The game makes me sick. The real reason we Americans put up with sports is for this: Behold, the tailgate party. The pinnacle of human achievement. Since the dawn of parking lots, man has sought to fill his gut with food and alcohol in anticipation of watching others exercise.”

Matt Groening via Homer Simpson

      My parents never bought into the religion of sports, so I didn’t really experience the whole game day phenomenon until later on.  I attended my first pro ball game and first Super bowl party when I was living in Baltimore.   Serendipitously, the Ravens were playing in that bowl game.  I can’t tell you any stats or details about that game or the season, but what I can remember vividly is at night the week before the game, all the skyscrapers downtown were lit with purple spot lights creating a beautiful, magical amethyst city…that and “Purple Haze” played  every other song on the radio.  Mr. Hendrix’s estate must have been ecstatic! 

    

      Now tailgating is something my parents could have embraced. The challenge of hosting a full-blown party on an asphalt island with limited resources would be right up their alley, plus I learned that 35% of all tailgaters never enter the stadium.  In Baltimore, our game host preferred to do his football tailgating at a bar next to the field, which was fine with me since ”outside” at a Raven's game often meant rain freezing on my face, slushy iced beer and me hanging with the guys pretending to be a much better sport than I really am. 

     

      On the other hand…Camden Yards on a beautiful, warm, opening day against the Red Sox was a pretty special place to be.  I don’t think Gandhi, Jesus, and Abraham Lincoln combined could have gotten the same fanatical adoration as when Cal Ripken took the field...pure Norman Rockwell Americana.  

Lasagna Cupcakes

1/2 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
24 wonton wrappers
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 cups Parmesan cheese, grated
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup pasta sauce
 
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Brown the sausage, garlic and Italian seasoning in a small sauté pan over medium heat…stir frequently so the meat is broken up and crumbly…drain off the drippings.
Cut the wontons into muffin tin size circles with a biscuit cutter or trim around a glass.
Prep the muffin tins with cooking spray.
Press a wonton wrapper into the bottom of each muffin cup.
Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese, ricotta cheese, and mozzarella cheese in each.
Top with a little meat and a teaspoonful of pasta sauce.
Repeat the layering again…and finish with a bit of extra parmesan and mozzarella.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until edges are brown.
Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
When you are ready to serve, use a knife to loosen around the edges. 

From "Warm Hearth" by Mango Dragonfly. Available on Amazon.com

www.mangodragonfly.com