Glass Turkey

Rummaging around at an estate sale last month, I cam across this vintage turkey-shaped candy or nut dish. I do not buy clear glass of any kind for resale, as it just does not sell. But I, personally, love unique, vintage, clear glass. This little guy has a lot of "flea bite" chips around the base of the top, that sits inside the bottom. I figure that just means it has had a full life and was well used. He now lives in my china cabinet.

Using my nifty Google Lens, I did look him up after I got home. I want to show you what I mean by clear glass just not being considered of much value. Look at the amber turkey!

Turkey Noodle Soup

If you baked your own turkey and throw out the turkey carcass that Thursday night, you are missing out on one of the most comforting of all Thanksgiving traditions! We spend the day with my daughter and her family. She used to give me the turkey carcass after our big meal. But now she has discovered that this is not as hard as it sounds, and her family loves the final product, so I have to get my own turkey. Usually, I just get a nice bon-in breast and roast it in Grandma's old, lidded Dutch Kettle in the oven.

After dinner, I slice the turkey for sandwiches and clean off the larger pieces of meat and set them aside. I put everything else, including the skin (there is not much on a breast, and it has lots of

I add water to about 1" from the top of the pot, 3-4 bay leaves, 3-4 whole allspice, and a tsp of whole peppercorns. Let this simmer for about 4 hours. (Add more water as the broth concentrates.) Then, let it cool for about 4 hours.

Strain the broth into a large bowl.

Clean the bits of nice meat from the bones (be sure to get all the bits of bone out). Put the meat back into the pot and then pour the broth back into the pot. (Toss out the bones).

While the soup is coming to a simmer,

gather the rest of your soup ingredients.

I chop 1 1/2 cups celery and onion, and slice 1 1/2 cups of carrot. I saved about 1 cup of the small pieces of turkey left after I sliced the turkey (we like lots of turkey pieces). When the soup is hot, add the turkey and carrots.

In a large frying pan, saute the onion, celery, and 3 cloves of minced garlic, in about 1/2 cube of butter until the onions are translucent. Add to the broth. Add 2 tsp. of salt.

Let all of this simmer for about an hour.

Add a cup of water if the broth has concentrated, and 1/2 tsp of pepper. Taste. Adjust salt and pepper if needed. Now add 1 1/2 cups egg noodles and turn off the heat but leave the pot on the burner. The noodles will soften without getting mushy. When cool, divide into quart jars, which will keep well in the fridge until you eat it all up. Share with friends! Yumm!

Salted Caramel Yams

My Grandma, and her oldest daughter, Aunt Pat, were amazing cooks. But they both had a terrible habit of not writing anything down! At some point, in my early 30s, I realized I had better watch how they made my favorite dishes and learn how to make them. Naively, I thought I would remember what I saw and failed to write down many of the "simple" recipes. My memory has failed me in the nuances of some of these dishes.

Fortunately, I mastered Aunt Pat's Salted Caramel Yams that she made for Thanksgiving Dinners (she did not call them that--she only called them "My Yams"). Just for you, my few dear followers, I got up this morning and made Before-Thanksgiving Yams, so I could figure out an actual recipe (until today, I made them just like Aunt Pat...a little of this and a little of that)...

Salted Caramel Yams

Aprox. 6 Cups cooked yams, peeled and cut into chunks.

1/3 Cup butter

1 Cup brown sugar

1/2 Cup maple syrup

1 tsp salt

1/2 Cup heavy Cream

I have found that baked yams taste better than boiled yams, and boiled yams taste better than canned yams.

But yams in any cooked form will do.

Gather all your ingredients together, as this happens fast and requires you to stir constantly.

In a large, deep pan, melt the butter, syrup and sugar. Cooking at medium heat, bring this to a boil, add the salt.

Keep stirring until it begins to thicken (about 5 minutes). The sauce will begin to pull away from the pan a bit as you stir and you will know that this is thick enough.

Remove from the heat.

It won't take but a few seconds, after you remove the sauce from the heat, for it to stop boiling. Slowly add the cream with one hand and stir with the other. You do not want to add the cream to the boiling sugar, as it will curdle!

*Right here, if you want caramel sauce for ice cream, set this aside to cool and put into a glass jar--very yummy!!

Now add your pieces of yams a few at at a time and gently fold into the sauce.

I kind of chop the large pieces up. Some will turn mushy, some will maintain their form. This is how it should be.

As the yams still need to be heated, I usually put them into a glass baking dish and heat them in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes.

I cannot begin to tell you how good these are...let me just say that I never liked sweetened yams until I tasted these!

Oh! And do not throw out your turkey carcass! The day after Thanksgiving, I will post the recipe for yummy Turkey Noodle Soup! Stay tuned...