Well, in the interest of keeping it real and revealing our eating habits, I have to say this week was lighter on the cooking side than normal. I think possibly cooking fatigue from Thanksgiving and trying to use up leftovers (plus I was a bit under the weather).
We did manage to make turkey, kale, & rice soup using mostly our leftovers; so that was a win for the week.
For this recipe, you could use pre-cooked chicken instead of turkey.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 stalks celery, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1 large white onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 cups kale, chopped
- 1 tablespoon, fresh rosemary, chopped
- 1 tablespoon, fresh sage, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
- 48 oz chicken stock
- 2 cups water
- 1 ½ cups to 2 cups chopped cooked turkey or chicken meat (we used dark and white)
- 4 cups cooked rice (we used brown)
Start cooking your rice according to directions in separate pot, when finished set aside. Heat olive oil in large pot over medium high heat. Saute celery, carrot, and onion until they begin to soften (about 10-12 minutes). Add salt and pepper, garlic, kale, rosemary, and sage; saute for another 5 minutes. Add chicken stock, water, and turkey; bring to a boil. Once at a boil, reduce heat to simmer for 45 minutes to an 1 hour. When ready to serve, place rice in individual bowls and ladle soup over rice. I like to keep the rice separate so that it does not absorb all the liquid in the soup.
This recipe is very adaptable. You could use noodles in place of rice. Also if you want to only use 32 oz of chicken stock that would be fine (I had extra laying around), I would suggest increasing the water to 3 cups and making sure to let simmer a little extra to get the flavor from the meat.
Since this week was so light for meals from us, I pinned a couple of my favorite cookie and appetizer recipes instead. I know during this time of year there tends to be plenty of opportunities to need a dessert or appetizer.
Old Fashion Iced Oatmeal Cookies
Dark Chocolate, Pistachio, and Smoked Sea Salt Cookies
*This cookie is unbelievably good; threats have been involved over who gets the last one and everyone who has one wants the recipe. I actually like to buy dark chocolate bars for this and chop them instead of using chips. Also do not be afraid of the smoked salt…I use Frontier Alder Smoked Salt (grinder) found at Whole Foods and it smells crazy smokey. The first time I made these I was super light handed with the salt but there is no need to be, after they bake the smell is not as intense; so salt it up. I use salted pistachios, and you can find pre-shelled ones at Whole Foods but they are a bit pricey…I just make P do the manual labor. 🙂
