Use it or Lose it Soup

Friday. You look in the fridge and find tomatoes, zucchini, cabbage, celery, bell peppers, carrots and squash. You had every good intention of using all of it this week. You've minced, choppped, boiled, seared, braised, broiled, fried, roasted, sauted, grilled, stewed, brined, mocrowaved, steamed and poached.

But on Friday, there they are. Limp zucchini, cabbage with spots, mushy tomatoes... you get the picture.

Really. I can't be the only one who opens the fridge door on Friday and has food tumble to the floor. I can't be the only one who picks it up and tosses it toward the back of the fridge, hoping it will lodge somewhere between the package of tortillas and the dill pickles.

Tell me I'm not the only one.

You got to use this stuff or lose it. I mean, it won't last forever (thank goodness). Time to make soup!

Start with a Ziploc bag with frozen turkey broth. This is a good way to store soups and broth by the way... put it in a Ziploc, let the air out and freeze it flat. It takes up zero room in your freezer!

Limp celery and carrots; garlic and onion. Fry it up in some olive oil.

Add some cubed Butternut squash, zucchini, half a head of cabbage and a frozen smoked turkey leg.
Simmer it for a few hours. Take out the turkey leg and remove the meat.

Look at all that meat you get from ONE turkey leg! Add that back into the soup.

Cube some stale bread, put it in a frying pan with a little olive oil, dried parsley and that canned parm cheese stuff. Fry until crisp and you have homemade croutons.

Ladle some soup into a bowl. Top with croutons. Eat.

Go shopping.... there's nothing worse than an empty refrigerator!