Sated

My stepmom sent me home with some turkey left overs. Drumsticks and thighs a bit carved up, and some other bits and pieces including a good bit of white meat. I made a three part process. Pull the meat, crack the bones, and brown the skin and fatty bits. I like making soups, but I didn't have the whole carcass or drippings, so I improvised.

It worked out well, and without going into exhaustive details I'll expound this much. Sauteeing the fatty meat bits and skin together didn't create as much of a dripping flavor as I'd hoped, though it did provide a wonderful combo to fry uncooked rice in. I do that for soups once in a while, sort of a Spanish rice mode of adding rice to soups or casseroles. Often works out nicely.

Then I added the first broth extract and stubborn veggies -- carrots and celery, which take a while to cook -- to the faux drippings and rice. The broth came from smashed bones, and was run through a strainer. With the last bit of stock I added the meat and onions. No more to bore you, but it smelt divine, and the last taste had me wishing I could get a bowl of the finished product without delay.

So it is a good holiday weekend so far. It looked like I've only picked up a pound with the feasting, and the meals have been wonderful. Now I'm making a traditional type turkey soup, with a little extra spice and some hominy and fried brown rice for my signature. I think I'll go get a nice whiskey while my soup finishes simmering, and proof this tomorrow.

One other thing. I had dinner with a very good friend last night. Great food and company, and I feel constrained to leave it at that. Unless said dinner guest cuts me loose from these mortal bonds.

Addendum: I had the soup for a late breakfast this morning, and it was as good as when the tastes gave me shivers of yumminess and the bowl I had last night. Pretty standard ingredients, but for the hominy and sauteed brown rice kernels. I badly wanted a second bowl, but realized I was full. Surprising thing this morning. I think overall I've actually taken a pound or two off this week. I thought with the slightly richer foods and feasting, and missing a lot of breakfasts I'd be back in storage mode. I don't think on it much, except when I write here, but my overall diet has radically changed. I think of it as more of a lifestyle change than a diet. I wasn't initially motivated by the desire to lose weight, rather by being tired of digestive problems and discomfort. Well, the weight loss has certainly been a great motivation to stick to the change.