Rubbishy Cookery

  Wow—today is not only the 50th rubbishy post, but also the Winter Solstice, and where I live, the first winter storm (a nor’ easter, no less!) of the year! Let’s get cosy and make a warm pot of Tuscan soup! Ingredients: What you’ll notice in the photo above is the great deal on ground turkey—enjoy today, 50% off! What a deal! What you may not notice in the photo above is that the fresh kale was harvested from my backyard garden just hours before the storm started.  Imagine—a December harvest of kale! And half price ground turkey! I feel hashtag blessed. Directions: Start by mixing ingredients for the turkey meatballs: ground turkey, a generous handful or two of quick cook rolled oats, 1-2 tablespoons-ish each of garlic powder, onion powder, dried thyme, dried basil, not pictured but assumed S&P, and a really good amount of finely grated Parmesan cheese. Mix it all up with your hands and add more oats if necessary to get a good texture, i.e., one in which to form meatball...

  There’s a chill in the air! Let’s make split pea soup! Ingredients: Missing from the above photo but added later: a parsnip. And: Note that the pink object in the baggie is a defrosted chicken breast, not the typical meat in split pea soup. But that’s what was in the house so it will work. Nice, more traditional options would be ham or bacon, or I’ve also used smoked turkey drumsticks. I’ve also left out the meat and had a completely vegetarian/vegan soup that was still excellent. So you have options galore! Directions: If, like me, you’re working with a defrosted chicken breast, prepare it as in Recipe #14 with S&P, a little oil, and bake for about 30 minutes until fully cooked and browned: Meanwhile, in a big soup pot, add two cups of rinsed split peas and a lot of water and bring to a boil: Spooning off and discarding the foam as it develops: Once it reaches a full boil and all the foam has been removed, let it simmer for a while, maybe 45 minutes or so, give or take. It w...