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Family Favorites · Holidays · My Roots

Thanksgiving Leftovers…Yummy Turkey Vegetable Soup…

cathysmaha3 Comments

My Mother grew up in the depression and had a knack for making the most out of everything.  Every year, she would make a large pot of Turkey Vegetable Soup after the big day.  The aroma of the soup allowed us to relive Thanksgiving Day all over again.  I love to add caraway seed (if you are Czech…it’s a true passion).  Yum!

Turkey Vegetable Soup
Turkey Vegetable Soup

TURKEY VEGETABLE SOUP

1 Turkey Carcass (leftover from holiday meal)
Diced Potatoes
Pearl Barley
Corn
Green Beans
Green Peas
Diced Onion
Diced Celery
Diced Carrots
Diced Red or Green Peppers
Bits of leftover dressing
(Whatever you feel like throwing in the pot!)
Pinch of oregano, parley, thyme, dill, caraway seed
Salt & pepper to taste

  • Remove carcass/meat/skin from broth.  Strain broth.  Return bits of turkey to the broth.  Chill overnight.
  • Skim fat from broth.  Bring broth to slight boil.
  • Add vegetables, herbs, and seasoning.  Simmer until vegetables are tender.
Fresh Vegetables and Barley chopped and ready

The soup freezes so well and provides you with a taste of Thanksgiving long into the winter.

Do you have a favorite turkey soup that is tradition in your family?

Family Favorites · My Roots

Pumpkin Bread … an Autumn Tradition

cathysmaha2 Comments

November is not complete without Pumpkin Bread. When I was growing up, Pumpkin Bread was often baked in tall tin cans so that the finished product of round slices was pretty for women’s clubs and gatherings.  I am fine with the traditional loaf and it tastes equally as yummy.  The bread freezes so well.  I like to freeze several loaves to share during the season with friends and family.  It’s tradition!

PUMPKIN BREAD

3 cups sugar
1 cup salad oil
4 eggs beaten
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2/3 cup water
2 cups canned pumpkin
chopped nuts (optional)

  • Combine sugar and oil in a large bowl. Add 4 eggs and beat until completely mixed.
  • Sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg. Add dry ingredients alternately with water. Mix well. Add pumpkin and mix well again.

  • Pour into greased loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 65 to 75 minutes.  Enjoy!

My Roots

Cooking from the heart

cathysmaha2 Comments

Once upon a time, a little girl named Cathy sat in her Mother’s kitchen in rural Iowa, watching her Mother make amazing dinners every night with items from the garden or raised on their farm.  The smell of baking bread, when walking through the door after school, is forever engrained in my memory.  My Mother would tell stories about the food she was preparing and memories of her childhood and my Grandmother’s cooking.

I come from a long line of great cooks who cooked from the heart.  A pinch of this. A pinch of that.  My Mother was one of six children raised in a 5 room home.  Grandma Susie cooked all of her meals over a wood cookstove with all water coming from a water pump.  Just think what she could do with today’s conveniences.

Recipes and sharing of recipes is truly a gift for our families.  It brings us together to create memories and traditions.  Even in the hustle bustle of career and family commitments, this is a tradition I hold dear.

After several years, I compiled a cookbook for my family and close friends including my favorite recipes and short memories of many dishes.  Little did I know that my daughters would cherish these comments. The picture below is the cover of my cookbook and captures daughters Megan and Sarah helping to make a cake when they were little girls.  They loved to be a part of the process, especially when it came to a dessert and licking the bowl.

In addition, I started a family Christmas newsletter several years ago that always included a special recipe.  Friends and family have commented each year about how much they look forward to the newsletter and have adopted recipes shared as some of their favorites.

After retiring last year from a corporate sales leadership position, my daughters encouraged me to take my stories and recipes to the web.  I hope that you will join me on this journey and become an active part of this website and discussion.  What stories can you recall from wonderful aromas and occasions in your family?  What stories and traditions is your family weaving?