(Leftover) Turkey Lentil Soup

Oh boy.  Who's still full from yesterday?  And who ate way too much dessert and not enough veggies?  Just me?  I suppose that's not terribly surprising :)

This recipe is a yum-yummy way to use up some leftover turkey (or roast chicken) while getting in a bunch of vegetables and lentils for antioxidants and fiber.  It leaves you feeling nice and cozy, but not heavy or sleepy.  And doesn't it feel so good to scoop up all those brightly colored veggies after a day of Thanksgiving feasting?

Spending Today in My Fleeze PJ Pants (Not Shopping),

Turkey Lentil Soup
adapted from Allrecipes

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 c. lentils, rinsed
16 oz. salsa
2 c. cooked turkey, diced
6 c. low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
5 oz. spinach or collards or kale
salt & pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large saucepot or Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add onion, carrots, and celery and saute until celery is tender, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are tender, about another 3 minutes.  Add lentils, salsa, turkey, and broth and bring to a boil.  Turn heat to medium-low and simmer for 60 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Season with salt and pepper.  Stir in spinach or collards and simmer 5-10 more minutes, until greens are softened.

         

        

Ingredient Lineup:

Favorite Roast Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving ten days early! :)

This recipe is my absolute faaaaavorite for turkey.  I first brine the turkey overnight and then I roast it, based on Marcella Hazan's chicken method - starting out breast side down and then flipping it over partway through roasting.  You would not believe how juicy this makes the white meat.  Seriously.  It's unreal.

As you follow through the recipe below, at first it looks like there are a lot of steps.  But nothing is complicated and there's zero guesswork - which I love.  I've been roasting turkey for ten years now, but I still always get a little nervous, and there's something reassuring about having a list of steps to follow.

If you have questions, definitely ask them!  Next up - Sage Stuffing.  AKA Sage Dressing.  What does your family call it - stuffing or dressing??

Turkey Coma!

Brined turkeys don't generate as much drippings as you might be used to, but oh my lands, it makes for incredible gravy.  It's so flavor-packed that you can add broth and it still tastes just amazing.

Roast Turkey

brine:
32 oz. vegetable stock, unsalted
56 oz. vegetable broth
1 c. kosher salt
1/4 c. Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute
(or 1 Tbsp. each: dried rosemary, sage, thyme, savory)
1 gallon ice water

aromatics:
1/2 onion
1 carrot
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 leaves fresh sage

Brining the turkey:
In a large saucepan, combine the stock, broth, salt, and spice(s).  Bring to a boil, stirring frequently to ensure the salt is completely dissolved.  Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.  When cooled, pour the brine into a clean 5 gallon bucket lined with a brining bag. Stir in the ice water.

Remove the giblets from the turkey's cavity and reserve in a container in the fridge (to use for making stuffing).  Rinse and pat dry the turkey.  Place the turkey - breast side down - into the brine, making sure the cavity is filled with brine.  Place the bucket in the fridge (or equally cold place) overnight, 8-16 hours.

Roasting the turkey:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, with the rack on the lowest level of the oven.

Remove the turkey from the brine and rinse completely with cold water, including the cavity.  Place turkey onto roasting rack in a large roasting pan and pat dry.  Put the aromatics into the cavity.

Roast the turkey, breast side down, for:
2 hours if it weighs < 18 lbs.
2.5 hours if it weighs 18-21 lbs.
3 hours if it weighs > 21 lbs.

Then, using silicone pot holders, flip the turkey over.  Insert probe thermometer into the thickest part of the breast, and return the turkey to the oven until it reaches 155 degrees, about another hour.

Open oven door and quickly rub butter over the skin and raise oven temperature to 400 degrees.  Finish roasting until the probe thermometer reaches 161 degrees, about another 15 minutes.

Remove turkey and roasting rack from pan and loosely cover with foil and let rest for 15-30 minutes before carving.  Note: While turkey is resting, use roasting pan and its drippings to make gravy.

         

        

Brine Ingredients:

Allow brine to cool completely.

Pour brine into a brining bag, submerge turkey - breast side down, 

and top off with additional ice water, if necessary.

(There is no brining bag in this photo.  In my rush to get turkey done 2 weeks early, I forgot to buy a bag.  Next year!)

To tuck the wings under:

Fold wing tip upward:

And tuck the tip under the bulk of the turkey:

Aromatics:

Put the aromatics into the cavity and first roast the turkey breast side down:

Then, lift the roasting rack up out of the pan, and use silicone pot holders to flip the turkey.

Insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast:

Probe thermometers are super handy.  Just magnet to your oven door and set the beeper for

your desired temp.  No need to open the oven door until it beeps.

(Note: the 187 is leftover from something else.  Don't roast your turkey to that temp!)

Quickly rub skin with butter and raise oven temperature to 400 degrees.

When turkey reaches 161 degrees, remove from oven and loosely tent with foil for 15-30 minutes.

Then, carve and eat!

Thai Basil Meatballs

These puppies are freaking amazing.  You'll have to take my word for it and make them.  Make them tonight.  And then make them tomorrow night too, because you'll be sad that you didn't save any leftovers.  Plus, you've got that chili paste and fish sauce sitting in your fridge, and you were wondering what you'd do with them, right?  Make Thai meatballs!

Normally, I don't cook with ground turkey, because I prefer super lean ground beef so that I can get more iron in my diet.  But beef in these meatballs would just be too much.  It would overpower the basil and the chili paste and the fish sauce, and then these meatballs just wouldn't be so heavenly.

Enjoy!




Thai Basil Meatballs
adapted from Can You Stay for Dinner

Meatballs:

1/2 c. panko breadcrumbs

2 Tbsp. finely chopped green onions

2 Tbsp. finely chopped basil (or equal amount of basil paste)

2 tsp. hot chili sauce

2 tsp. minced fresh ginger (or 1 tsp. chopped crystallized ginger)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 ½ tsp. fish sauce

1 lb ground turkey

2 egg whites

2 tsp. oil, for brushing

Sauce:

1/4 c. low-sodium soy sauce  

2 tsp. fish sauce

2 tsp. sugar

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger (or 1 tsp. chopped crystallized ginger)

1 Tbsp. chopped green onions

2 tsp. hot chili sauce

2 tsp. cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients, except for the oil, with your hands. Roll the mixture into balls roughly 1” in diameter. Place them on a baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray, brush the tops with the oil, and bake them for 12 minutes, or until cooked through.


While the meatballs are cooking, whisk all sauce ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 2-3 minutes, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Set aside.  Note:  If your sauce becomes too thick, you can thin it with low-sodium chicken broth.

Serve the meatballs with sauce and additional chopped basil and green onion, if desired.  Makes approx 20 meatballs.

Meatballs - Ingredient Lineup:

Sauce - Ingredient Lineup:

Stir and squish the meat mixture until combined.

Then scoop it out and roll into balls in your hands.

Give the meatballs a light brush of oil before baking.

The sauce will be lumpy looking and will thicken upon cooling.

 Yummmmmmmmmmmmm.

Ground Turkey Larb

Larb:  a type of meat salad in Laotian and Thai cuisine, most often made with chicken, beef, duck, turkey, pork or even fish, flavored with fish sauce, lime juice and fresh herbs.

Note from Sara:  This week's recipe is the last of the uber-generous substitute cooks and is from my old roommate, Kye.  Now, Kye is the sole reason that I own and cook with oyster sauce, fish sauce, and hoisin.  She taught us a lot about Asian cooking when we all lived together, and her "Hmong Beans" is still my most favorite way of cooking fresh green beans (Serious Yum City, folks).  I was so excited that she sent me this recipe because 1) I already knew that it would taste amazing, 2) I'm mildly obsessed with lemongrass anything, and 3) Not one day after she emailed me this recipe, the foodie book I was reading started waxing poetic about Larb.  I was destined to try it out, don't you agree?  Thank you, Kye!!



Ground Turkey Larb
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 half small onion, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
1 stick Lemon grass, cut finely
4 Hmong (Fresno/Thai) Chili
5 Crimini mushrooms, chopped finely
1 package of Lean Ground Turkey Breast (Usually 20 oz, can substitute or mix chicken and pork)


Sauce
3 limes, juiced
1 lemon, juiced
2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. Honey
1 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 tsp. hot chili ground
Finely chopped mint to taste

Directions:

Heat wok/large skillet to medium-high heat, add olive oil. Add finely chopped onions, garlic, lemon grass, hmong chilis, & mushrooms into the pan to sweat for 5 minutes. Add ground meat to the pan and break up meat to ensure small pieces. Cook for another 5 minutes until lightly browned. Add sauce of 3 limes, 1 lemon, salt, honey, fish sauce, and hot chili ground. Depending on how juicy the limes are, you may need 4, but use only three to begin with. Cook for another 3-5 minutes and you are finished.

Add finely chopped mint at the end after turning off the heat and stir. You can serve hot or at room temperature. Pair with rice, cabbage or lettuce cups.

Tips:

When chopping lemon grass, cut off the top of the stem and the bottom. Then take the outer layer of the lemon grass off. Make a cut vertically down the middle and finely chop horizontally.

Hmong chilies are generally found in the Mid West and in the Central Valley of California. You can use Thai chilis which are similar and can be found at any Asian market.

Hot Chili Ground- This is dried ground chilis mixed with garlic powder. You should be able to find this at the Asian market, but if you can’t, you can use red hot pepper flakes instead.

Mint- If you don’t like mint, you can substitute with Thai Basil that can be found at the Asian market or leave out completely.

Chopping the lemongrass:

The chopped crimini, onion, garlic, lemongrass, and chili:

Sauce ingredients:

The meat mixture, steaming hot:

 Adding the sauce:

   

Free Turkey Bacon?

I recently got a chance to try out Oscar Mayer Turkey Bacon free thanks to being a member of Kraft First Taste - anyone can sign up and every so often there will be a new offer to sign up for...it's a great way to try out Kraft products for free.

While shopping for rice this week - My youngest son wanted to know what beans were...he thought that they only came in a can...so I made it my mission to show him how to make them...only I didn't know either. Gasp.

So I read the package directions - developed my plan of action - and then called my Mom to ask her what she thought...and then proceeded to ignore her. :)

Since I didn't give it enough fore thought to soak my beans over night...I picked through them, put them in a pot of water that I brought to a quick boil and let them sit there for an hour...then rinsed and drained them. (this was against my Mother's wishes) she said that the skins of the beans would come off - she was right - but only a few did.

While the beans were draining...I cut up the entire package of turkey bacon into small pieces and fried it in a little bit of canola oil.

If you have never tried turkey bacon - I would really recommend it! It doesn't taste anything like pork bacon...so you can't really use it to replace bacon - but it does have a good flavor and makes a really mean Turkey BLT.




I reserved most of it for topping beans and Jiffy Muffins.

Then I put the beans back into the bacon grease and left over bacon, added a full box of chicken stock and a little bit of water.

Cook for about an hour and a half at medium heat with the lid slightly offset.





Prepare Jiffy Muffins according to package directions...I just threw in some of the turkey bacon.




To serve...top bowl of beans with a little bit of cheese and crispy turkey bacon.

While this may not seem so TA-DAA - it was a welcome change. It was a recipe that I have never tried...and we loved it.




This is definitely a 5 spooner with everyone at my house - Even Hubby who turned his nose up when he figured out what I was making. In fact - he went back for seconds.

also blogs at