Monthly Archives: November 2012

After Thanksgiving Leftover Turkey Soup

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Well, it is the eve of Thanksgiving, so I thought it would be appropriate to share one way I like to work with my leftovers. Don’t get me wrong, I love turkey sandwiches as much as the next person (with leftover gravy, cranberry sauce, and stuffing too) but sometimes you want something warm and filling. These are actually pictures from last year that I’ve been holding onto for precisely this occasion.

It does take a bit of time to make this turkey soup, which calls on you to make stock from the bones of your roasted turkey. So you’ll want to get started early, and maybe have a piece of pie for breakfast, or make one of those leftover sandwiches to tide you over.

And yeah, a great way to use up those bones, and this approach to leftovers really appeals to my holistic approach to using ingredients and stuff in the kitchen.

This won’t precisely be a recipe, but more of guidelines really.

Leftover Turkey Soup Recipe 001

Man, I’ve really been stuck on soup lately haven’t I? Don’t worry, I’ll make other things soon.

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Curried Lentil Soup

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A hearty vegetarian soup that’ll satisfy even the stoutest of adventurers

This last weekend I  had the pleasure of catering a Dungeons and Dragons Meet & Greet which happened to have a rather large portion of vegetarian adventurers. Among my other offerings, I knew I needed to have a really great soup as a bridge between the appetizers and the exciting mains.

Something simple, yet exciting. Enter Curried Lentil Soup. I looked for a base recipe to  modify and epicurious definitely delivered with this one.

I upped the quantity of various items to serve a larger party, and replaced the chicken broth with vegetable broth. Had I more time I would have loved to have made my own veggie stock, but it was not meant to be. Still, absolutely no complaints about how this dish turned out.

Curried Lentil Soup Cook Geek 000

 

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Balsamic Vinegar Chocolate Truffles Recipe

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Add a touch of class to a gaming night with these elegant and rich bites of chocolate, with the fruity finish of balsamic vinegar and cherries.

Balsamic Vinegar Chocolate Truffle Recipe Cook Geek 000

At the request from the splendid and wonderful Tiffany Simmons, writer of the soon to be published +5 Food of Eating, I have boldly completed a quest on her behalf, testing a new recipe for some chocolate truffles!

These chocolate truffles are great for both geeky and nongeeky affairs. Why? Well it’s chocolate! And most people like chocolate. Unless you’re a supertaster perhaps, in which case other options need to be explored.

As for the straight gaming applications there are at least a few ways they could add immersion to a game.  Given their origin they fit in quite well with settings placed in the late 19th or 20th century, or perhaps in a French inspired setting as well. Their rich sweetness lend themselves to the image of high society balls and intrigues. And the small but generous portions of chocolate truffles make fantastic dessert finger food.

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Cinnamon Mocha for Cinnamon Week

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A splendid sweet drink for the morning

With this year’s sudden onslaught of projects, classes, and all the like, one of those things which has unfortunately fallen by the wayside was my participation on the 52 Weeks of Cooking subreddit challenge.

Cinnamon Mocha Recipe Cook Geek 001

While I’m not going to be able to make up all the weeks that I’ve missed, I’ll do my best to jog along with the more diligent posters until the end of the year. Thankfully this week’s theme, cinnamon, requires a bit less planning and grand productions!

Cinnamon has been quite a versatile spice that has found its way into so many different cuisines for uses both savory and sweet.

Growing up, cinnamon was primarily featured in my mother’s pho broth along with star anise and black cardamom. As I grew older I discovered it has its place in things like hot cider, cake, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch (I preferred Golden Grahams though.) One of the more exotic things I’ve done with cinnamon was actually making a cinnamon ice cream.

This morning I decided to go the hot drink route however, and found that a cinnamon mocha would be a splendid way to start the morning, quite a bit different than my usual black coffee.

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