Not Your Normal Thanksgiving Leftovers

Nary a bit of turkey nor green bean casserole could you find lurking in my refrigerator after Thanksgiving. But, boy howdy, did I ever make too many snicky-snackies for three people to eat. (Or as my husband said when he saw everything I made for us to munch on Thanksgiving Day, "So who are the other ten people you've invited?")

First of all, we didn't have a full day to spend relaxing, eating, visiting, eating, and sitting in front of the fire as we had planned. The unexpectedly high amount of snowfall kept our daughter from arriving at our house until a little after 3 in the afternoon.

Secondly, I just plain made too much. So last Friday with a very large container of cauliflower and broccoli flowerettes left over from the raw veggie tray, I decided to make a Broccoli/Cauliflower Cream Soup.

With the vegetables already prepped, it was an easy soup to throw together.

BROCCOLI/CAULIFLOWER CREAM SOUP

4 cups of mixed broccoli and cauliflower flowerettes
1 cup chopped onion
3 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour 3/4 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a large covered saucepan, heat the 4 cups veggies, chopped onion and chicken broth until veggies are tender.

Meanwhile, make a roux by melting the butter and mixing in the flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Slowly add the 2 cups of milk and cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Then mix in the cheese until it's melted.

Next stir the milk mixture into the saucepan of veggies and broth. Heat to serving temperature being careful not to boil. Even better the second day!

(You'll note by the above picture that I went wild and crazy and threw in some chunked up sweet red pepper that was also left on the veggie tray. The color value really added something to the soup if nothing else.)

Sadly, I still have some broccoli and cauliflower left in the refrig. And pickled herring, smoked fish, onion dip, Dill Pickle Roll-Ups, Smoked Turkey Canapes, and what does one do with about half a gallon (slight exaggeration) of spinach dip? There's an assortment of beer, wine and egg nog. (Oh, never mind, we can take care of that.) I also have a chunk of pricey specialty horseradish and garlic cheese that I'm afraid the chickens are going to get. Why did it taste so good this summer when I first bought some of it, yet nothing much but bitter when purchased for Thanksgiving? Hubby doesn't care for crackers so I don't normally buy many of them. (He doesn't even like my homemade ones! He must have been badly frightened by a cracker when very small.) Now I have three different varieties in boxes that have been opened and will probably go stale. (Crackers, anyone?)

Totally my error in making too much. I like variety so fixed quite an assortment. Just too much for three people. I've made my notes to myself so if we do this again next year, I'll be smarter about it.

At least we got a big pot of really good soup out of the leftovers. Would have been nice to have had a turkey sandwich to go with a bowl of the soup . . . but we won't go there.