Turkey Soup

I couldn't let all that good broth and leftover turkey go to waste after Thanksgiving, so I made Turkey Soup.  You do this just like you would chicken soup.

First take all the meat off of the bones and set it aside.

Pour any broth from where you cooked your turkey into a large stainless steel pot.  Add your turkey bones to this and fill on up with more water.

Throw in some chopped onions, celery and pepper corns.  Let this all simmer for 30 minutes to an hour.  Remove all bones and veggies from stock.  Strain your broth.  I use a very small wire strainer for  mine.  Let this sit and cool so that you can remove alot of the excess fat.  You will have a lot of fat and want to remove as much as you can.  It will rise to the top as it cools and you can ladle it off easily.

Now that you have your stock ready, let's make some soup!

Ingredients

Turkey Stock (I use a large 16 quart stainless steel pot and fill it up)

Turkey Meat (as much as you want)

2 cups of chopped celery

2 cups of chopped carrots

2 cups of chopped onions

Salt & Pepper

Add all your ingredients to your turkey stock and bring to a boil.  Boil gently for about 30 minutes.

Ladle into clean jars making sure to evenly distribute your meat and veggies among the jars. 

Leave one inch headspace

Wipe rims of jars with a paper towel dipped in vinegar to ensure a good seal

Put on lids and rings and tighten down finger tight

Place jars in canner and process at 10 pounds pressure

Pints:  75 minutes

Quarts:  90 minutes

Adjust for your elevation.  Here's a link to elevation charts.

Elevation Charts

Allow pressure to drop naturally

Remove lid from canner and let cool for 10 minutes

Place jars on counter to cool for 24 hours

Remove bands, Wash, Lable, and Store for a cold winter day!!

When the craving for soup hits you, cook some noodles or rice,  drain and add a jar of your soup for a delicious meal...

Chicken Soup

There is nothing like a bowl of chicken soup on a cold winter day.  I figured I better get busy and make a few jars.  This is a basic chicken soup that you can add your noodles or rice to once opened. 

Ingredients yields approximately 8 pints or 4 quarts

• 4 quarts of chicken stock
• 3 cups of diced cooked chicken
• 1 1/2 cups celery
• 1 1/2 cups carrots
• 1 cup onions
• salt and pepper

To make stock:
Cut up a 3 or 4 pound chicken, put in large stainless steel pot and cover with 4 quarts of water.  When chicken is done, remove from bones and save for using in soup.  Put bones back in the pot.
Add  cut veggies to the pot:  2 carrots, 2 medium onions, 2 stalks of celery, 10 pepper corns, 2 bay leaves and a tbsp of salt.
Skim foam as needed.  To get a nice, rich broth I allow mine to cook overnight in a roaster.
Strain through a sieve or cheesecloth.  Allow to cool and remove fat.

To can just the Chicken Stock:  Fill jars leaving 1 inch head-space.  Process pints jars 20 minutes or quart jars 25 minutes at 10 pounds pressure.  Adjust for elevations.

To Make Soup:

Wash and clean your veggies.  Chop your celery and  onions and slice your carrots.  Combine Chicken Stock, Chicken and Vegetables in a large stainless steel pot.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  

This soup has very little solids.  It works great with noodles for making homemade chicken noodle soup.  We also like opening a jar and adding home canned chicken to it, thicken the broth a little and serving it over a plate of rice.  

Ladle your  hot soup into jars making sure to evenly distribute the meat and veggies leaving one inch head-space.  Use a chop stick and stir to remove air bubbles.  Adjust head-space if needed by adding more broth.  Wipe rims of jars with a paper towel dipped in vinegar to ensure a good seal.  Put on lids and rings and tighten down finger tight. Place jars in canner.  Put on the lid and vent the steam for 10 minutes. Process at 10 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes for quarts. If you make pints, then process for 75 minutes.

Let the pressure drop naturally and once it reaches zero, wait 10 minutes and then remove the canner lid, Wait 10 more minutes for jars to cool and adjust to the rooms temperature.

Allow to cool at least 12 hours and check your seals.

Label and Store

Jars need washed, I forgot to put vinegar in my canner water.

Reference:  Ball Blue Book guide to Preserving 2014 Edition

Sweet Potato Pie

I love sweet potatoes just about any way I can get them...I made Sweet Potato Pie for Thanksgiving.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup drained sweet potatoes (I use the one I can myself)
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2  cup brown sugar firmly packed
1/2 cup butter or 1 stick (melted)
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp of flour
1/2 tsp of nutmeg or allspice
1 tsp of cinnamon
1  9- inch pie crust

First thing you want to do is make your pie crust.  Here's How.  Double this if you are making a pie that needs a top crust.

SINGLE CRUST
1 1/3 cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick well-chilled Crisco Baking Sticks or Butter Flavored Shortening
3 to 6 tbsp of ice cold water

Using a fork or pastry blender cut the shortening into the flour/salt mixture until it looks like crumbled balls.  Start adding water on tablespoon at a time while stirring with a fork.  Test for moistness by forming a small ball.  If it holds together it is enough.  

Roll your crust as thick as you like and make it bigger than your pie plate.

Place crust into the pie plate letting edges overlap the plate.

Take a knife and trim away the excess dough.  Using a fork you can crimp the edges or use your fingers.  

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees

• Mix flour, nutmeg and cinnamon and set aside
• Puree sweet pototoes, add the sugars and butter and blend until creamy
• Add vanilla, eggs and milk.  Beat until srmooth
• Add flour and spices to the sweet potato mixture and blend well
• Pour into pie crust
• Bake at 425 for 15 to 20 minutes and then turn oven down to 350.  Bake an additional 35 to 40 minutes or until a knife in center comes out clean.

Cool and Serve with a whipped cream topping or meringue made from egg whites.