Baby It's Cold Outside, So Let's Make Soup ~ Turkey Veggie Soup

I look out my window in our living room and see it just looks cold.  Have I said I do not like the cold weather? The sun did finally come out but it is still cold.  Brr. Well, it is cold for me.  I went out to feed the rabbits, quail, and turkeys my hands were frozen by the time I came back inside. I was so glad to get back into the warm house. I know when Scott reads this he will laugh at me because he loves the cold weather.  Plus I know he probably does not think it is cold. Today just feels colder than normal to me.  It's not windy so I have no clue why it feels so cold to me. Wonder if there is a scientific reason for why some days feel colder then others when it is the same temperature?  I am so not a winter person. I do not care for cold weather.  I do like snow but here in North Carolina it rarely stays around long. Earlier today I was chatting with a friend who lives in New Jersey and both of us agreed once Christmas is over we anxiously wait for summer.  You know the hot humid heat where your bones can warm up?  The forecast for the next few days has the weather dipping down into the teens.  Now for this southern chick that is COLD!  Scott loves this type of weather.  See how different we are? I think it has to do with the fact he grew up with the cold and has lived half of his life in a colder climate than I.

 So, when it is cold just what do you do?  I mean do you stay inside?  Do you cook? Do you read by the fire?  I tend to cook.  For some unknown reason when it gets cold I want soup.  I do not want the junk from a can.  Not saying canned soup is not good but I normally have the time to at least make what I can semi-homemade soup. My mom always makes a big pot of soup when it turned cold.  I did not really care much for it as a child but boy once I went off to college I wanted anything and everything my mom cooked.  So as an adult, I love my mom's homemade soup.  She always made the same soup, vegetable beef noodle.  So, what am I going to do today?  I am making soup.  Funny thing is, I bet my mom is too.

I really do not have a recipe.  I just kind of dumb whatever into my crockpot.  This soup is not with beef.  I did not have any beef but I did find a pack of ground turkey in the freezer.  I have been trying hard to use foods we already have at hand lately.  With Christmas I feel like I have spent a lot of money so being frugal I want to use what we have and if you saw our freezers and my canning shelves you would understand why I need to use the food we have on hand.  I am lucky and work from home so I have a bit more time then others do.

I browned my turkey in the crockpot and then drained the grease.  I saved the grease for the dog's food.  What a good way to help keep her warm and fat in the winter.  I am allergic to dogs that shed so she is kept outside most of the time.

At this point as you can see I used store bought canned mixed veggies and blackeye peas.

I did use home grown and canned tomatoes, onions and okra and 2 pints of vegetable stock.  Just love the fact that I have some of my own can goods in my soup.

As far as seasoning, I just put in garlic salt, fresh ground pepper, and a bay leaf.  If I had started the soup this morning I would have added some of the ends of Parmigiano Reggiano.  This makes it a tad creamy and well heck how can you go wrong with one of the best type cheese around.

In the crockpot, you can go for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.  It really just depends on the amount of time you have.

I am pretty sure later I will be sitting by the fire eating a bowl of soup with my Kindle on hand to read a good book.

Turkey Vegetable Soup
1 lb of ground turkey-browned
2 15 oz cans of mixed vegetables-drained
1 15 oz can of black eye peas-rinsed and drained
1 quart of tomatoes *
2 pints of vegetable stock **
1 bay leaf

Add all ingredients to your crockpot

* I used a quart of home canned tomatoes, onions and okra.  If you do not have this at hand add a chopped onion.  If you like okra add some frozen okra.

**You do not have to use vegetable stock.  You can use beef, turkey or chicken.

You can also use ground beef, ground venison or even chicken in this recipe.  

The title of this entry was chosen because it is one of my favorite Christmas songs.


Enjoy!!