Turkey Okra OMG Good Soup

Gobble Gobble Gobble everyone! I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving. I got to spend time with my husband's family up in Tahoe, they are all so amazing. It's always a treat to spend time in the snow with the nephews and niece. After all that heavy holiday eating I wanted to make a simple comfort meal to end the weekend and get me ready for the next work week.

     Okay a little side story - they had bags of frozen Okra at the Bargain Market for only 99 cents so I threw a bag in the cart not knowing what I would ever do with it - seeing how I've never eaten let alone cooked with Okra before. Hey I couldn't pass up a great deal on a veggie product. I've heard Okra being used on lots of Food Network programs before so hey - there had to be a recipe for me to follow - right???

     Well come to find out there aren't too many recipes I got excited about. So I just started to defrost them in a bowl with salt and pepper and EVOO and I would figure the rest out later. After letting them defrost I came back to my kitchen drawing board and thought - soup!!! Well what a great way to end my holiday weekend especially on such a cold and wintry Sunday. Nothing better to settle an over stuffed stomach like a bowl of hearty home made soup. It's sooooo easy you have to try this on your next wintry Sunday.

TURKEY OKRA OMG GOOD SOUP

1 T. butter
2 T. EVOO (or whatever oil you have)
1/2 white onion
2 large or 8-10 baby carrots
5 garlic cloves smashed
12-15 okra spears
*you can eyeball the following - I did
1 T. garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 T. celery salt
1 T. blackening seasoning
1/4 C. white, red or apple vinegar - I used white wine vinegar, it's what I had
1 - 1/2 C. cubed or shredded turkey or chicken meat
2-3 C. chicken stock - I used 1 box which is 946 ml
Salt and pepper - always eyeball to taste

In a medium to large pot start to heat butter and oil over medium-low - don't let the oil burn

Meanwhile chop onion, carrots and okra into bite sized pieces and add to heated pot

Smash garlic and roughly chop and add to soup pot

Dust veggies with all seasonings

Turn heat to medium and let veggies sweat for 12-15 minutes - make sure to stir with a wooden spoon or spatula occasionally so the veggies don't burn and cook evenly

De-glaze pot by adding vinegar and scrapping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon or spatula - the vinegar will get rid of the "sliminess" that is created by the okra, you wont really taste it

Add meat and chicken stock and turn heat to medium until soup starts to bubble, make sure to stir every 5-8 minutes

Once you see it start to bubble turn heat to low and let simmer for 25 + minutes

Serve with toast and your good to go. If you don't want any spice just omit the cayenne - happy wifey recipes!

Chipotle BBQ Blue Cheese Chicken

Okay - so don't judge me but I LOVE to save take out sauces. I know full of sodium and preservatives, but they taste so good. Especially from Wing Stop, Quizno's and Domino's (hey don't judge on the Domino's either - it's good on a Friday night)

     This recipes I used left over BBQ sauce and Blue Cheese Dressing from Wing Stop. I'm not sure if Wing Stop is everywhere but it's everywhere in the East Bay Area. If you don't have a Wing Stop you can just use BBQ sauce and Blue Cheese Dressing from the market.

     If you are serving this to kids you can leave out the Chipotle peppers if you think it will be too spicy for them. You can make them more mild by taking out the seeds. It adds a good smokey flavor that will start to open up your kids pallets to new tastes.

     This is an easy dish you can whip up after work in no time. Also a great way not to waste left over take out sauces - hey you paid for it, you might as well use it - right!

CHIPOTLE BBQ BLUE CHEESE CHICKEN - for two

2-3 chipotle peppers (in adobo sauce)
1 Tbls adobo sauce
2 large chicken breast
1/4-1/2 C. BBQ sauce (seriously the best is from Wing Stop)
1/4-1/2 C. blue cheese dressing (I gotta go with Wing Stop's)
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Blend together the chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, BBQ sauce, and blue cheese dressing in a small mixer or I LOVE my Magic Bullet - it does everything!

Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken and place in an oven safe dish.

Coat with sauce and drizzle a little extra blue dress dressing on top is you want - I had fun with it as you can see in the picture

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked through

**I'm new at this whole recipe writing thing so let me know if something isn't clear and I'll do my best to fix it - happy wifey recipes!

Connie's Carrots

We all know and love Bugs Bunny, and I can honestly say he is the reason I wanted to eat carrots as a kid. I mean they are crunchy, sweet and you get to dip them in ranch dressing - who wouldn't want that.

     I still remember when they started selling baby carrots at the market. I thought they were made just for kids - kids only carrots! Now that am "a little" older I enjoy them small, large, raw, boiled, BBQed and roasted. 

     Seriously next time you BBQ throw a couple peeled raw carrots on there, char on all sides, salt and pepper and it's the perfect appetizer. Anyways that is not what we are talking about here. Like I said, now that I am "a little" older I like carrots all kinds of ways. Last week I made some AMAZING roasted carrots. The flavors complement the sweetness of the carrots with the perfect savory seasonings. I called them Connie's Carrots because my new cousin (as in cousin-in-law, not newly born) Connie was over helping us with our heater and giving us some home improvement estimates while I made these - so she inspired the name :)

     I served these carrots with roasted sausage and garlic bread. They would be great with just about anything. If you have left overs store them in an air tight container and add them to your lunch salad the next day. They are so easy, and will make your whole house smell of delicious roasting vegetables. Here is what you do:

CONNIE'S CARROTS

4-5 large carrots
1/4 C. EVOO
1/4 - 1/2 cup soy sauce
1 Tbs. garlic powder
1 Tbs. parsley
1 Tbs. Italian seasoning
1 Tbs. oregano
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 400

Peel and cut carrots into bite sized pieces

In a square glass baking dish add carrots and coat with EVOO and soy sauce. Spread out evenly and make sure they are not laying on top of each other

Dust carrots with garlic powder, parsley, Italian seasoning, oregano, salt and pepper

Place in the middle of the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. The longer you roast them the sweeter they will get. If you want to add them to a salad only roast them for 15 minutes so they don't get too soggy in the salad

Try it and let me know how yours turn out - happy wifey recipes!!