Happy Thanksgiving!!! I hope your turkey's come out wonderful! Don't throw anything away because you can use it to make some amazing Turkey Soup...just what you need on a cool Black Friday! Enjoy!

Keep all the scraps from the turkey i.e. juices, gravy, bones, turkey insides, onions, apples, etc. The steps to preparing a good soup are:

• Prepare the stock (broth)
• Prepare the soup

Turkey Stock (Broth) The nice thing about a stock is that anything can be used; the ends and skins of vegetables, bones, etc. You don’t want to use old rotten stuff, just stuff that you would normally throw away like the skin of an onion or the end of a carrot. Here are the basic ingredients for preparing a stock.

• Carrots
• Onions
• Garlic
• Celery
• Turkey Bones
• Left over gravy
• Any of the left over vegetables
• Whole Peppercorn
• 2 cups of turkey or chicken broth
• Water
• Olive Oil

Pull all the good meat off the turkey bones and set aside. (The good turkey meat will be used for the soup.) Rough cut the onions, garlic, celery, and carrots. Keep all the ends and peels in a separate bowl. Throw in the olive oil and let it get hot. Throw in the onions and let them cook until they are slightly caramelized. Then throw in the garlic. After the onions and garlic and caramelized, throw in the celery and carrots. Let those cook for a few minutes. Once those have cook for just 2 or 3 minutes, throw in about ½ cup of chicken/turkey broth. Stir together and then add the bones, peels, ends, leftover gravy, and leftover vegetables. Stir and let those cook for just a few minutes. Then, add the remainder of chicken/turkey broth and enough water to completely cover everything. Let that comes to a boil and then add a half handful of peppercorn. Turn the heat down so that is at a slight simmer. Let the stock simmer for atleast 3 to 4 hours, if not more. The idea is to reduce the stock by a 1/4 . So if the liquid comes up to the top, you want to let it simmer until the liquid only comes 3/4 of the way up. Once the stock is finish, you will want to strain the liquid through a fine strainer or china cap if you have one. A regular strainer will work. You may have to fish out little pieces if they slip though the holes. Set the liquid aside and discard all the bones, vegetables, etc. Turkey Soup This soup is not based on measurements. If you like an ingredient, add a little more or less. But I will put some quantities just for guidance. It also depends on how much you want to make. Here is what you will need for the soup:

• 3 Cloves of Garlic
• 2 small shallots
• 2 cups of chicken (or of the Turkey Stock)
• Vegetables of your liking, cooked (I usually use carrots, peas, corn, and onions; You can use fresh veggies which is always better or you can cheat like I do since I am lazy and use half of a family size of frozen mixed vegetables)
• Leftover turkey
• Egg noodles or bowtie pasta
• ½ cup of Heavy Cream
• Turkey Stock
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a little olive oil in the bottom of the pot. Chop garlic and shallots and throw them in. Let them caramelize so that the bottom of the pan has a few little brown spots (don’t burn them). Then throw in a cup or so of your chicken broth or turkey stock and scrape the bottom so the brown spots come up. Now throw in the cooked veggies and stir them around. Add the turkey and mix it well letting it get nice and hot. Now pour enough of the Turkey stock so there is atleast 2 parts turkey stock to one part ingredients. Let all this come to a boil. When it reaches a boil, add in the heavy cream and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve and enjoy.

*There are 2 secrets to making this soup taste really good. Number 1 is ‘Turkey preparation.” If the turkey is juicy and flavorful, the soup will also be flavorful. Number 2 is the Stock preparation. This is the base of the soup. If you take time to make a good stock, then the soup will taste very good. If the stock is done well, sometimes you won’t even have to add salt and pepper to taste when finishing the soup.

Here we are enjoying turkey soup with some friends last year. This is good comfort food that you will want to share with friends and family!

We want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. Last year, we made a Turkey that came out wonderfully and we wanted to share it with you. This recipe is not for the faint of heart. It is not difficult, but there is a process. Make sure you allot enough time to carry out each step. However, in the end, it is well worth it. So have fun and enjoy it. Tomorrow, I will post my famous Turkey Soup recipe so make sure you save all the leftovers, bones and all! :)

The first thing you want to do is ‘Brine’ the Turkey. This is done one day in advance of Thanksgiving Day. You are going to brine the Turkey for at least 6 hours up to 24 hours. Brine is much like marinating meat, i.e. steak, pork, chicken, etc.

Brining the Turkey

Use a very large pot, bowl, bucket, etc. whatever will allow you to submerge the Turkey in liquid. I used a mop bucket. (Don’t worry, I bought it brand new just for this use.)

• Add 2 cups of cooled vegetable stock (broth) and enough water to your apparatus so the Turkey will be submerged (Don’t add Turkey yet)
  
• Add 2 or 3 cups of Salt, Kosher, regular, or sea salt. (I used sea salt)
  
• Add 1 to 2 cups of sugar; regular or brown (I used regular) Now you want to stir in the salt and sugar until it is dissolved. Then:
  
• Add 2 purple onions; quartered
  
• Add 1 whole garlic bulb (probably 7 to 10 cloves)
  
• Add approx. 1/8 cup of whole peppercorns
  
• Add a handful of garlic pepper
  
• Add 2 tbls. cummin
  
• Add several sprigs of rosemary (fresh)
  
• Add several sprigs of thyme (fresh)
  
• Add several sprigs of Basil (fresh) If you can’t get these fresh, you can use the dry stuff. 

Make sure that mixture is completely cooled before you submerge the turkey, or else the turkey will begin to cook. Stir mixture and then submerge turkey in the mixture. Make sure the turkey stays fully submerged. So if it floats, you can put cans or coke bottles on top to keep it submerged. Keep submerged for at least 6 hours, up to 24 hrs. Overnight is the best. If you don’t have room in the refrigerator, you can substitute the water with ice water and place it in a cool place; covered.

Roasting the Turkey

You want to start preparing your turkey, depending on the size, 3 to 4 hrs. in advance. A 14 lb. turkey should take between 2 and 2 ½ hrs. total cooking time. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. You want to take your turkey out of the brine and wash it off. After the turkey has been thoroughly rinsed off, place in a shallow baking pan, on a rack. Now you want to prepare the aromatic mixture that will go in the cavity of the turkey. Here is what you will need:

• 1 apple; quartered
  
• ½ purple onion; quartered
  
• 5 -6 garlic cloves
  
• ½ lemon
  
• 2 sprigs rosemary
  
• 2 sprigs thyme
  
• 2 basil leaves
  
• 1 ½ cups water
  

Take rosemary, thyme and basil and stuff them in the turkey cavity. Take remainder of ingredients and place them in a dish, along with the water, and microwave for 5 min. While these are cooking in the microwave, coat turkey with canola or vegetable oil. When the 5 minutes are up, take the dish out of the microwave and stuff the ingredients that are in the bowl into the cavity of the turkey. Before you place the turkey in the oven, you need to make a triangle out of tin foil, that will cover only the breast area of the turkey. This is so that the breast does not dry out before the dark meat is done. Form the tin foil onto the breast and then take it off and lay it to the side. This is done so that you do not have to later fold the foil over the turkey when it is hot. Go ahead and add 2 cups of chicken broth to the shallow pan to prevent burning. Now place turkey in the oven that is set at 500 degrees and cook for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, pull turkey out of the oven and turn oven down to 350 degrees. If you have a digital thermometer that will alert you when it reaches a certain temperature, you want to stick this into the fattest part of the breast and set the thermometer to alert you when it reaches a temperature of 161 degrees. If you do not have this kind of thermometer, then for a 14-16 lb. turkey, you want to let it cook for approx. 1 ½ -2 hours. Be sure to check with a regular thermometer, to see if the meat has reached an internal temperature of 161 degrees, making sure you are placing the thermometer in the fattest part of the breast. Once your turkey reaches 161 degrees, you will want to pull the turkey from the oven and set it someplace where you can let it rest, fully covered with tin foil, for 15 – 20 minutes. This is because the turkey will continue to cook and if you immediately cut into it, all the juices will pour out. So if your turkey came with a pop-up thermometer, first of all, don’t pay any attention to it and secondly, don’t pull it out before or after the turkey is done. Wait until you go to carve the turkey to pull it out. You want to be sure the turkey rests for 15-20 minutes.

Gravy

Some of this you will be able to prepare while your turkey is in the oven. Here is what you will need:

• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 large shallot
  
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 stick butter
  
• ½ cup flour
  
• turkey drippings
  
• 2 tbls. olive oil
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Chop garlic and shallot and set aside. In small sauté pan, melt butter and add flour. Add flour a little bit at a time, till consistency becomes almost like a thick paste. You will also notice a nutty, almond smell. This is called a roux. This is to thicken sauces. In large pot or sauté pan, add 2 tbls. olive oil and sauté garlic and shallots till they begin to caramelize in bottom of pan. One they are caramelized, add 1 cup chicken broth. Let this simmer for a few minutes. Take all of turkey drippings and add to pan. If this is not going to be enough gravy, then add the second cup of chicken broth, or as much as is needed. Bring sauce to a boil. Then add roux, a little bit at a time, (Do not add all of it at once) continually stirring, until you reach the correct thickness. This has been obtained when you place a spoon in the gravy and when you pull it out, the gravy coats the spoon. Put gravy in blender and puree till smooth. If gravy is as thick as you like it, you are ready to serve. If you would like it thicker, return it to the pot, bring to a boil and add any remaining roux, until you reach your desired thickness. Add salt and pepper to taste. Next...pour gravy on turkey and enjoy! We sure did!!

This past Saturday and Sunday we had our missions conference.  This little church supports 12 missionaries at 75 to 100 Euro a month.  They gave over 11,000 Euros to missions for 2008.  On Saturday, we had an international dinner with some great food from many different countries.  Spain, Peru, Columbia, Equador, Paraguay, the USA, and more were represented.  The food was great and Bro. Jack challenged us from the Word of God about our responsibility for missions.  The most exciting part was that we had 8 first-time visitors during the two day conference.

Thank you for praying for the Men's meeting.  We had a great turn out.  Men from different churches from all over Madrid came to be a part of the meeting.  We even had a small group from Toledo come who are starting a new work.  The breakfast was wonderful and all the men had a wonderful time of fellowship.  Vetern Missionary Mario Waters brought a great message on working and being faithful even in the midst of Crisis.  We also had prayer for the country of Spain and specifically for the new work's that are being started.  To finish it off, the men were paired off into groups of 2 or 3 to pray together.  There was a sweet spirit amonst all the men and God was glorfied.  Some of the men from our church mentioned to Bro. Loveday that they would like to do this more often.

Enjoy some pictures from the meeting below.  Roll you mouse over the pictures to see a desciption of each picture.

 

Here he is helping me cook the eggs for the breakfast. " height="331" width="443" />

 

Miguel is a man of God and is now one of the leaders of the church. He is always ready to do anything that is asked of him. Miguel preaches once a month and leads the singing every Sunday evening. He is a very humble man. In many ways, he reminds me a lot of my father-in-law. Here he is helping me cook the eggs for the breakfast. " height="332" width="443" />

 

 

Please be in prayer for this coming Saturday, February 21.  We will be having a Men's Breakfast.  All men are welcome and the goal is to encourage each other in the Lord.  We will be serving a nice big American breakfast starting at 9am and then Bro. Lavon Waters, vetern Missionary in Spain for over 40 years will be bringing a message. 

In America, we are use to our normal 3 meal per day agenda (breakfast, lunch and dinner), however, the Spaniard is accustomed to eating 5 times a day.   Here is a typical schedule of eating here in Spain:

• Breakfast – A normal breakfast would consist of some type of bread or cookie and either juice or coffee.  Something quick and light.  

• Merienda (or Snack) - depending on the person this could be some king of snack cake and beverage, a small sandwich and beverage, or some appetizer like plates.  

• Lunch – Lunchtime normally begins around 2pm.  In a typical restaurant, you will find some sort of “menu” that you can choose from.  They normally have 4 or 5 selections of different plates to make your choice.  A menu normally consists of a first plate, second plate, desert and drink.  Depending on the restaurant, the portions are normally nice sizes and more then enough food to eat.  The first plate (primero) ranges from soups and salads to stews and rice dishes such as paella and pastas.  The second plate (segundo) is the main course.  This can range from chicken or fish to lamb and beef.  There is usually a sufficient selection to meet the taste buds of almost anyone.  Then for dessert, you can usually choose between ice cream, flan, cake or some kind of pudding.  The drink is included and all this makes for a fine meal for around 9 or 10 Euros during the week and 11 to 15 euros on the weekend.  

• Merienda ( or Snack) – once again, a little snack, sandwich, or some kind of appetizer like dish.  

• Dinner – Normally 8:30pm or later.  Many restaurants don’t even open back up until 8:30pm.  We have seen dinner range from a variety of hors d’oeuvre type foods to a full 3 or 4 course meal.  

In my observation, the people eat “healthy” portions.  However, it is hard to tell because on average, the Spaniards aren’t obese type people.  I guess all the walking they do helps keep the pounds off.  Maybe a good lesson for us Gringos!  ☺