Thanksgiving in July: Slow Cooker Stuffing

"Tomorrow, I'm going to make stuffing in the slow cooker."

As a single person, I tend to accumulate a lot of half-loaves of hardened bread in my freezer. It's too stale to make a decent sandwich with, but it's not moldy or bad for me.

So, in the spirit of minimizing food waste, I got to thinking about what to do with hard bread. STUFFING!

Hamilton Beach 4-Quart Oval Slow Cooker

 (Amazon Affiliate Link)

Bought for myself as a reward 

for finishing NaPoWriMo.

Then, in the spirit of being obsessed with my new slow cooker, I did a Pinterest search for slow cooker stuffing, and found out it's totally a thing.

Slow Cooker Stuffing

Ingredients:

12 cups dry bread cubes (The original blogger baked the bread cubes to dry them out, but my bread was already so dry from squatting in my freezer, I skipped that step.)

2 cups celery (about 4 stalks)

1 cup finely chopped onion

1/4 cup dried parsley (or 1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley if you plan ahead better than I did)

2 tsp dried sage

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

14.5 oz can broth (1 3/4 cups)

1/3 cup butter, melted

1. Combine everything except the broth and butter. Pour the broth and butter over the top. Mix well.

2. Transfer mixture to slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours.

It smelled too good, so at hour 3, I broke into it early. The celery and onions were still raw but the flavors had saturated the bread well. I ate it with a turkey breast and side of mashed potatoes I got at a deli. (What am I, supposed to cook 3 things?! Preposterous.) I let the rest of it finish cooking and stored it to make a week's worth of Slow Cooker Stuffing Sandwiches.

Original recipe from The Kitchen is My Playground. With thanks.

Today's art print is "Bread and Butter" by Robo Rat. Just too cute.

Holiday Leftovers: Turkey Kale Soup

“Tomorrow, I am going to use up my leftover holiday turkey.”

Soup is a delicious way to use up a great deal of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving or another holiday feast. Turkey soup is healthy and light, which is a nice counterpoint to the rich meals of this time of year.

I made broth by boiling the turkey carcass and some assorted vegetables.  Apparently bones contain magical substances that combine with water to become pure deliciousness.  Don’t throw away your turkey bones without unleashing their awesome power!

So Christmas-y!

Making broth takes a long time, but you don’t have to pay much attention to it.  It just kind of does its thing.  If you have time, I suggest cooling the broth in the fridge so you can scoop off the congealed fat that floats to the surface.  Its a dirty job, but I’d rather have the fat in the garbage than in my arteries.

For the rest of the soup, I sauteed some onions/celery/carrots, which also happened to be leftovers from Thanksgiving.  Don’t use the veggies from the broth, they’ll be slimy and bland at this point.  I added some turkey and cooked kale and voila!  Soup!

Turkey Kale Soup

Broth: 1 turkey carcass
2 parsley sprigs
2 thyme sprigs
1 carrot, cut into chunks
3 celery sticks, trimmed and cut into chunks
1 small onion or half of a large onion, peeled
1 bay leaf

Soup:
Olive oil
1 small onion or half a large onion, chopped
3 celery sticks, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 head of kale, stems removed
1-2 cups leftover turkey, shredded

Place turkey carcass and all other broth ingredients in a large pot.  Cover (or mostly cover) with water (about 4 quarts).  Simmer for two hours. If you have time, cool and skim off fat.
Bring a pot of water to boiling, and add the kale.  Cook for 3-5 minutes until bright green and tender.  Drain, rinse with cool water and chop.  
Saute onions, celery, and carrots in olive oil until soft.  Add broth, turkey and kale.  Simmer until heated through, about 5 minutes.

Source: The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters