Leftover Turkey, Butternut Squash, and Zucchini Soup

After the Thanksgiving I’m pretty sure that almost every (small) family (like mine) will have some leftover turkey in the refrigerator waiting to be eaten. And the hubby and I have been eating leftover turkey sandwich and leftover turkey salad for a few days now. It’s time to make some leftover turkey soup, and today is such a perfect day to make soup because it’s a little chilly…and it’s definitely a time to get back on a healthy track.

Making soup, any soup, is the easiest and most fun when it comes to cooking for my opinion. Because you can use anything, whatever you have in your refrigerator or pantry to make soup, seriously! Just use your imagination. And I don’t mean like just a can of beer and Sriracha hot sauce! But that is all you have, a can of beer and hot sauce can become a pot of soup easily if you can find some sausage and any green of your choice to add into it. And I’m not joking!

I use butternut squash for my soup because it has been sitting in my kitchen waiting to be eaten since last year! Yes, you heard me right, last year, imagine that?! Now it’s time for a good use. And also, I love eating butternut squash, in the soup, with its creamy texture that make the soup more enjoyable when left them in chunks. With the additional of zucchini and baby spinach and, voila, I have the simplest leftover soup ever in no time.  There is nothing could be more perfect than a hot soup in a cold day.  Right?

 

What you need:  serve 4-6

6 cups chicken broth

2 tbsp olive oil

3 cups butternut squash chopped

2 cups zucchini chopped

1 cup celery chopped

1/4 cup onion finely chopped

3 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 tbsp fresh oregano finely chopped

1 tsp fresh thyme chopped  

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp sugar (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups packs baby spinach

2 cups cooked turkey chopped

How to:
- Bring chicken broth to a boil over medium heat
- On the sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat, cook garlic and onion until they are soften.
- Then add butternut squash and celery, seasoning with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook another 5-7 minutes.
- Add the cooked vegetables into the broth pot, add chopped turkey, bay leaf, sugar, chopped oregano, thyme, and let it cook for another 10 minutes.
- Add zucchini and cook for another 3 minutes, and add baby spinach and turn off the heat immediately.

Enjoy!

J

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

The hubby wished for carrot cake for his birthday and he’s been reminding as he afraid that I would forget about his request.   So yesterday (Nov. 17th ) was his birthday and his wish was granted with these Carrot Cake Cupcakes with the Cream Cheese Frosting.

At first, I was telling him that I would do a “healthier” version using whole wheat flour, Greek yogurt, and low-fat cream cheese.   And his reaction to my idea was “Ughhh!” and “Nooo!” to the low-fat cream cheese. “I want a real thing, please.”   He convinced. Well, how could I say no since it’s his birthday, right?

I got the original recipe of carrot cake from myrecipes.com But I’ve modified and added something else in to the recipe for my liking and just to satisfy my curiosity of “why not add this or reduce that” kind of thing!

The cupcakes turned out pretty moist and tasted yummy-licious and the cream cheese frosting was the hubby favorite.   Well, his crazy about carrot cake is only the cream cheese frosting.   As he claimed, "it isn’t a carrot cake if there is no cream cheese frosting, lots of it and not just splash of thin layer."    For me, I just gave him the frosting and I happily only ate the cupcake!

What you need: make 20 cupcakes

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 cups grated carrot
2 large eggs
3 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup milk
1 cup crushed or puree pineapple – fresh or can

How to:

- Preheat the oven to 350’F. Line the muffin liners into a muffin pan and set aside. 

- in a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, chopped walnut, and mix well with a whisk. Set aside. 

- In another medium bowl, beat together eggs, canola oil, and milk until it’s creamy. 

- Add the grated carrot, coconut flaked, pineapple puree, and egg mixture into the dry ingredients bowl and stir to mix well. 

- Fill the mixture into each muffin liners about 3/4 cup full and bake for 26-30 minutes or until the toothpick insert comes out clean. - Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

Cream cheese Frosting:

8 oz Philadelphia cream cheese

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

6 tbsp salted or unsalted butter, softened in room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

- Beat together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract with a hand electric mixture with a medium speed until it’s creamy

- Add powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time and beat until smooth.

- Start to frost your cupcakes as whatever you wish.  

***Topping - optional

chopped toasted walnuts

or 
Candied carrot

Enjoy!

J

Mini Blueberry Tea Cakes

You know? I haven’t had pancakes for breakfast for a while but when I woke up this morning, I was craving for pancakes, blueberry pancakes to be specifically.    Lucky that the hubby brought home a package of fresh blueberry yesterday for my smoothie, but I kept hearing the rebellious side of me saying, “blueberry pancakes, blueberry pancakes, blueberry pancakes!”    So, I decided to whip up some batter with a touch of Greek yogurt to make pancakes! 

BUT…………………………….here I go again! My “other side of me” said, “let’s put in the oven!” Instead of making pancakes, I suddenly found myself turning on the oven, brushing up and filling the mini muffin pan with the pancake batter, and here they went, in the oven! 

 

I was anxiously waiting for them to cook by setting the time of the oven for 30 minutes.   But when the 30 minutes has gone, the mini cakes were still plainly white and barely cooked, but the berries started to breeding out a little.  So I decided to give it another 12 minutes and I just literally stood there and stared at them to turn golden brown. Oh goodness! Those mini cakes looked just lovely! 

The taste test? The mini cakes were fluffy, nice and light, just as the pancakes usually are, with the gorgeous sweet tart of blueberries. Though they were not as sweet as other cakes because the batter was made for pancakes supposedly to be eaten with syrup or honey, but they were absolutely perfect companion for a cup of hot green tea and hot brew coffee.  So I called them "Mini Blueberry Tea Cakes."  What could go wrong with that, right?

What you need: make 26 mini muffins 

Dry:

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar (add more if you like sweet)

: Mix all dry ingredients with fork and set aside

* 5 oz. fresh blueberries

Wet:

1/2 c low-fat Greek yogurt
2/3 c milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 large egg

: Beat together all wet ingredients, and stir into the dry mixture just to blend well, do not over mixed and then gently toss in fresh blueberries

How to:

- Preheat the oven at 400’ F
- Brush or spray mini muffin pan with coconut oil or butter or cooking spray or use muffin liners
- Fill the muffin minis with the batter to full
- Bake for 40-45 minutes until the top turn lightly golden brown and the toothpick insert in center comes out clean
- serve warm with coffee or tea

Enjoy!

J