Big Ole Pot of Happy

CrealCritter

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With my wife being sick and all - I finally got time to make turkey soup with leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. Must smell good because my wife got up out of bed and said what you got on the stove? A big ole pot of happy? Yep... That's what it is!

I wanted to get an earlier start but both batteries in my in-laws car and truck we're dead. I'm going to simmer my big ole 5 gallon pot of happy all day, have some for doing dinner with dumplings then pressure can the rest tonight.

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Devonviolet

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M-m-m-m! All that soup sure makes my mouth water! LOVE the title, "Big Ole Pot Of Happy! It's so perfect, 'cause a big bowl of hot soup on a cold Winter's day sure does make me happy!

We had a big bowl of goat soup for dinner last night. The day before DH had slow cooked a leg of goat in the crock pot all day, with onion, garlic, celery & carrots.

Last night he heated the broth, including the veggies. Then he used the immersion blender to incorporate the veggies into the broth, which thickened it somewhat. Then, he added salt & a couple Tbsp of Arrowroot to the broth, blended it again and reheated it, stirring until thickened a bit more, making it more like a stew.

Finally he added chunks of goat meat & served. OMG! It was amazing!!!

ETA: OOPS! I forgot a crucial ingredient in this yummy soup! DH also added 2 cups of cooked Black Beans, that I had saved in the freezer. That gave the soup a great flavor & texture.
 
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CrealCritter

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Well after feeding my wife, daughter, daughter in law, two grand kids and me. I ended up with 8 quarts + 11 pints = 3.375 gallons .

7 quarts are in the pressure canner now. Youngest daughter is taking 1 quart home. 11 pints go in the canner in about an hour.

Here is one of the pints un-canned. It's a little thick but nothing a little water can't fix when heating it back up. Still way better than any store bought soup though.
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I don't know who invented the pressure canner originally, but it is one of the best intentions ever:) now that my wife has taught me how to use both the water bather and pressure canner. I prefer canning over freezing because if the electric ever goes out or our two deep freezers quit, canned food won't spoil like freezer food would.
 

Beekissed

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Made a big pot of happy last night...the old standby, tater soup. LOVE a good, creamy, smoky tater soup~putting rendered chicken fat in it makes it unctuous and silky. Lately I've been using my canned chicken stock as the base of our tater soups and LOVE this change.

I need to make some fresh homemade bread to dip into it and it will be bliss.
 

Devonviolet

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Goat soup sounds delish!!
Oh yes! It really is!

Butchering our first 2 wethers was really hard. But, we realized that we couldn't just keep all the kids from freshening our dairy goats every Spring. We also had to remind ourselves that we bought our little homestead, so we could become self-sufficient and raise our own food. So we bit the bullet and took the boys to the butcher.

Having never eaten goat meat, we weren't sure if we were going to like it. The first few bites were a challenge, but what we learned was that we love goat meat. When it is cooked on the rare side it tastes similar to lamb, and when it is cooked well, it tastes like beef.
 
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