Thanksgiving leftovers are the best! But if a week’s gone by and your frig still holds turkey bounty, chances are, everyone’s ready to move on.
SATURDAY SOUP is a terrific way to use up leftovers all year round. Make it regularly and you’ll find yourself saving tiny bites of leftovers (sometimes in a designated container in the frig or freezer) that might otherwise go to waste.
As a kid, we threw a batch together for Saturday lunch, cleaning out the frig before Mom headed to the store to pick up the next week’s groceries. Because the leftovers changed every week, two pots rarely tasted the same, except for being both reliably delicious and completely unrepeatable!
Add only enough leftovers as needed for the next meal because leftover leftover soup is strictly forbidden! Experiment: memorable batches have included fruit cocktail and applesauce; one great one used up leftover sauerkraut and sausage.
SATURDAY SOUP
Time to table: 15 – 20 minutes
Serves: You Decide
- 2 slices bacon, chopped, or about 1 tablespoon bacon fat
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 cup liquid – skim milk, chicken broth, tomato juice, broth from cubes, etc, heated in microwave
- Leftover meat, chopped
- Leftover vegetables, chopped
- Leftover pasta, rice, fried or mashed potatoes, etc.
- Leftover fruit, chutney, etc.
- Salt, pepper, hot sauce, etc.
Sauté the bacon, onion and garlic until soft. Stir in the flour and combine well. Slowly add the hot liquid, stirring to avoid lumps. Add leftover meat, vegetables, starches and other leftovers. Stir until hot, about 5 – 10 minutes since the ingredients are already fully cooked.
Add more liquid as needed for volume and to keep soupy. If you’re short on leftover vegetables, add a can or two. Limit the starches; a little is a lot. Once the soup is hot, taste it and add salt and pepper. If the soup tastes flat, add more garlic, Tabasco or other spices.
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Your Comments:
I just made my second batch of soup in 4 days. Friday I made Clean Out The Crisper soup (an abundance of turnips, leftover rutabaga, carrots/celery/onion/garlic combined with frozen Italian sausage and turnip greens). It was pretty good. I shared with a family in need and my parents.
But today-today I made Clean Out The Freezer soup. I had a bag full of frozen Crowder peas put up during the CSA Crowder Pea overload, a hunk of ham, some chicken wingtips leftover from Superbowl hot wings . . . and a freezer bag mysteriously marked "for soup". As it thawed I determined that it contained leftovers from a Swiss chard/potato/bacon dish, and some more Italian sausage.
Man was this soup good. If/when we get Crowder peas again, I won't even try and eat them fresh, I'll just freeze them in anticipation.