A Quiet, Snowy Sunday

An odd weather day here. Fits of grey skies and heavy snow punctuated with sun and blue skies. It made for an interesting day! The first of a new series :)

A step out of the door and a click of the camera

It will be interesting to see how many doors I can step out of and take an original photo. I may have to rename this "series" later.

My cold frame, which held parsley and cilantro through the second week of January, is mounded with snow. I wonder if, when it all melts, the snow would have insulated the interior of the cold frame enough to allow me to have a few fresh herbs. Probably not. I decided that today I would clean out my deep freeze a bit and make stock. I bought a whole turkey to roast for New Year's Day dinner. It was a great price, 49 cents a pound, so I bought a big one. A 20-pounder for Jack and me! After a couple of days we became tired of leftovers so I separated the remaining breast meat and wrapped and froze it, then did the same with the carcass and the dark meat. The carcass I defrosted today, along with the dark meat, giblets and extra gravy, and made my favorite soup stock.


Jane's Brody's Turkey Carcass Soup Stock

• Turkey carcass from a 20-24 lb turkey that has not been picked too clean; broken into pieces
• Any defatted pan juices or leftover gravy
• 16 - 20 cups of water, to cover the carcass completely
• 2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
• 2 ribs of celery with leaves, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup carrots, chopped
• 1/2 cup well-washed leek, chopped (optional)
• 1/2 cup parsnip or turnip, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, if desired
• Bouquet garni

Combine all the ingredients in a large stock pot, bring the stock to a boil and simmer it, partially covered for two to three hours. (It tastes better the longer it simmers, as long as you don't cook away the liquid.) Add more water as necessary. Allow stock to cool. May be chilled to remove additional fat. Skim the fat and strain the stock, reserving any turkey meat to use in the soup. Stock may be frozen at this time.


Since the stock pot is so large I have it on the back porch and will skim off the solidified fat tomorrow when I will make soup and freeze the extra stock.


For dinner this evening I made our usual Sunday Night Pizza. Every other week I make a batch of dough, then split it in two and freeze one piece for the following Sunday night. The other half is made into the Pizza Du Jour. Which tonight was a red sauce, the recipe I posted on February 5, reduced-fat mozzarella, sliced green and yellow bell peppers, sweet onion slices, mushrooms, and Parmesan cheese.

And for dessert, assorted Valentine's Day goodies. I just love the camouflaging ability of heavy, bulky sweaters...