Canadian Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, we were just us. No road trip, no visitor or extra mouths to feed. I made a simple meal of roast beef, roast potatoes and baby carrots with green and wax beans. I decided to make soup as a starter. I love homemade soup. Every time I make chicken or turkey, I make stock so when I feel like making soup, I have some on hand. The key to really good soup is simple. Homemade stock. It has much more flavor and layers of tastes that make any soup great.
Today I made a creamy broccoli soup with a chicken base. If you want to make it vegetarian, you could easily use vegetable stock and it would be just as good.

Creamy Broccoli Soup

1 medium sweet onion, finely chopped
1 rib of celery, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
I head of broccoli, stem chopped
2 tablespoon of butter
3 cups of water

2 tablespoon of butter
2 tablespoon of all purpose flour
4 cups of chicken stock

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup of light cream or whole milk

In a large saucepan, melt butter. Add onion, celery, and garlic. Cook until onion is soft and translucent. Add water and broccoli. Cook until broccoli stems are tender, about 20 minutes. train, reserve liquid.

In a large soup pot, melt 2 tablespoons of flour and 2 tablespoons of butter. With a whisk, blend until smooth and creamy. Slowly pour in chicken stock. Bring to a low boil and simmer while you puree the vegetables. Slowly add the pureed vegetables to the chicken stock. Simmer 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, add milk by melting 1 tablespoon flour and 1 tablespoon butter in a small saucepan. With a whisk, blend until smooth. Slowly whisk in milk. once all the milk has been added to the flour mixture and it is smooth and creamy, slowly whisk milk mixture into the broccoli mixture. Simmer 20 minutes, until thickened. Serve immediately. Serves 8.

Chicken Tonight!

I love chicken. It's one of my favorite foods. My husband on the other hand, could eat chicken twice a year and have had enough. As a result of his distaste for chicken, I have created a variety of ingenious and delicious recipes over the years. One even my chicken hater likes is this spicy drumstick recipe.

Spicy Chicken Drumsticks

As many drumsticks as you need - I make 24 at a time. (They can have skin or be skinless whatever you prefer)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Montreal Steak Spice

Preheat oven to 400F. I use convection for this recipe. The circulating air in the oven makes the chicken seem barbecued and helps cook it quickly.

Place all the drumsticks in a large bowl, big enough to hold them all. Drizzle oil over them to give them a slightly oil surface. They shouldn't be dripping in oil, just lightly coated.
Now sprinkle them with spice. You can use seasoned salt, garlic - whatever you like. They turn out even better if you can let them marinate in the spices for awhile before you cook them. I prepare the chicken in the morning, cover the bowl and refrigerate then only cook them hours later for supper. If you don't have time to marinate, you can cook them right away also- they still taste great.

Place them on a rack, place the rack in the center of the oven, cook until done. In the convection oven at 400F they cook in about 30 - 35 minutes.

Serve with your favorite sides. We like pilaf rice and broccoli with ours - at least I do!.

Great recipe for a crowd. Can also be served cold.