The Turkey That Keeps On Giving

The day after Thanksgiving the skies opened up and it began to rain.  A slow, soaking rain that nourished the landscape.  In true feast or famine experiences, rain either refuses to fall (this summer) or comes down in refreshing abundance.  We had plenty of leftovers.  There was not much to do outside.  The options were slim.  So we stayed inside and ate.

Around the back of the house, I have water catchment that enables us to catch over 400 gallons of water with a 1 inch rain.  All of our rainwater reservoirs were overflowing.  You can see one below.  Our cup runneth over.

Look at this big ol' turkey wishbone.  I'm not a superstitious person.  I remember as a kid, we would each grab one side of the wishbone and pull until it broke.  If I recall correctly, the person holding the biggest piece of the wishbone was supposed to be able to make a wish and it would come true.  

One thing I was wishing for is to turn the carcasses of the fried turkey, the baked turkey, and the smoked specklebelly goose into stock.  My wife wasn't nearly as enthusiastic about that venture as it makes a big mess in the kitchen.  The results, however, are well worth it, in my opinion.  We make lots of broth and stock, primarily out of our grassfed beef and chickens.

It's a little different with store-bought fowl as you really don't know what's in the bird.  It's surely not near as healthy for you as the animals that come off your land.  At least the specklebelly goose was wild and we could be sure there was no antibiotics in him.  Stock and broth is really good for you.  It's loaded with nutrients, minerals, protein, amino acids.  It's got collagen which is good for your connective tissue.  Broth and stock is a big booster of your immune system, giving you power to fight off sickness!

So I pulled out the big pot and put the carcasses into the pot with some celery, onions, carrots and herbs.  I added water and got it boiling and then turned it down to low and let it cook for hours and hours.  The next day I heated it up again and then let it come to a luke warm temperature.  I poured through a sieve and captured 12 cups of turkey/goose stock!

We froze it in quart-sized ziploc bags.  We'll use it as a base for soups in this winter season.  I like to use it in place of water when cooking rice.  There were a couple more beneficiaries of the stock-making enterprise other than our family.  I completely picked all the remaining meat and fat from what was left of the carcasses, making sure no bones remained.  This was placed in a big bowl.  Belle, our Great Pyrenees, and Ginger, our cat, will get to enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers for a few more days than their humans.  They like it a lot better than their normal diets.  

Though making broth or stock can be a messy ordeal, resulting in a lot of dishes and countertops to clean, the dividends are great!

Making Granola – a healthy snack

We’re always looking for a healthy snack around our house.  I enjoy snacking and likely missed my calling as a professional competitive eater (only slightly joking).  I’ll routinely open our snack drawer and those beneath it searching for something to snack on.   Many times I’m greeted with a snack drawer as barren and sparsely inhabited as the dark side of the moon.  It is my goal to populate this wasteland.

Tricia tore out a page from Southern Living Magazine that had a recipe for Honey-Nut Granola and had it clothes-pinned to her recipe easel.  Imagine my excitement the other day when I came in the door and stopped mid-stride in my bee-line to the snack drawer by two trays of warm homemade granola!  She altered the recipe a little bit.  Here’s what you need:

Homemade Granola

6 cups uncooked oats

2 ½ cups chopped pecans

¼ cup sunflower seeds

2 cups flaked coconut

1 cup butter melted

½ cup honey
¼ cup sugar and molasses

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

1 (6oz) box of raisins

First we assembled all of the dry ingredients:

And then all of the 'wet' ingredients:

It can’t get much easier than this.  Mix together the first four ingredients in a large bowl

Combine the melted butter and the next four ingredients into a container.

Stir it all up to mix it.

Pour it over the oat mixture…

Stir it up real good until the dry ingredients and wet ingredients are evenly coated.

Divide the mixture into two baking pans and place in oven about 6 inches from the top heating element.

Bake the granola mixture at 325 for 25-30 minutes so that the granola toasts.  You’ll want to stir so every 10 minutes or so as you want it to be evenly toasted.  Once done, remove from the oven and allow to cool.  When completely cool, add raisins and stir.

We poured into a zip loc storage bag and put it in the snack drawer.  The directions said that it will stay good at room temperature for 3 days or can be frozen for 6 months.  We didn’t have to worry about the ‘expiration dates’ as the zip loc bag was empty in no time!

The nice thing about this granola is the versatility.  You can add anything you want, depending on your desired level of “healthiness.”  You can add dried cranberries or other types of dried fruit, banana chips, Chocolate chips, M&Ms, etc.  We ate it right out of the bag.  We also made some homemade ice cream and sprinkled plenty of the granola on top of the ice cream.  This received the two thumbs up rating at our house and we will definitely make it again.