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!