Have you ever tasted homemade peanut butter? Ooooh, it is so good!

For homemade peanut butter, you of course need peanuts. Sometimes you can get them farm fresh or at farmer’s markets. Otherwise, they  can be purchased at your local health food store in bulk (25-50 lb. bags). Usually, they must be ordered but normally do not take much more than a week to be delivered. I compared prices between the roasted and raw nuts. If the cost difference is not too great, my preference is the roasted since it saves me the time to roast them. When bought in bulk, the peanuts can be stored directly in a clean, sealable bucket or bagged and in your freezer. We usually start with full 5 gal. buckets and break down one bucket at a time into freezer bags to save space in our freezer. When we need peanut butter, I thaw and grind a bag.

• There are no preservatives
• You can salt to taste – or not
• There is no added oil
• No added sugar – unless you want to
• Fresh taste
• Normally less expense for better quality

I use the above pictured Champion Juicer, but I understand that homemade peanut butter can also be ground with a Vita Mix or other powerful blender.

To roast peanuts:
  Spread a thin layer of nuts in a pan and roast in oven at 300F for approximately  2 hours.
  Mix up the nuts frequently – do not allow to brown.
  Taste and continue to bake until the nuts are crisp.

Homemade Peanut Butter:

∙ My Champion Juicer has a solid shield attachment for the bottom. (Where the grate is which usually allows the juice to come through.)
∙ Pour 1/4 c peanuts at a time into the shaft.
∙ Push down gently with the plunger.
∙ Peanut butter extrudes into a bowl.
∙ Continue until the desired amount of peanut butter is ground.
∙ The peanut butter can be re-ground to achieve a very smooth texture if you like.
∙ Salt to taste.
∙ Cover and store in cool place.

Turkey Soup – have you tried it?

What do you do with your Thanksgiving turkey after you have carved as much meat off  as possible? You know there is still some on it. Do you give it to the dogs? Do you toss it? Before you do either – try this recipe. Served with bread, rolls, or muffins, it is an after Thanksgiving tradition for our family.

For my turkey soup recipe, I normally just put the carcass in the stockpot and cover it with water. It is a recipe which takes very little preparation time. I usually simmer this soup most of the day – it helps warm the house and smells so good!When I am not planning on using the carcass immediately, I have placed it  in a gallon freezer bag and frozen it for use in this recipe at a  later date.

NOTE: This recipe is very flexible, just add a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Just experiment with your favorite spices and ingredients. The basics are the carcass, onions, and rice. I usually throw in what I have on hand and it has turned out great every time. It is a real fool proof recipe!

VARIATION:  Make it with your Christmas turkey!

Turkey Soup

  1 turkey carcass (with a little meat left on)
  several onions, chopped
  a few cups of rice
  celery (optional)
  carrots, chopped (optional)
  salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in stock pot. Add enough water to cover plus several cups. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Cook until rice is done. Stir frequently and check water level . Add more water as necessary. As stated earlier, I normally will simmer this recipe most if not all day. A slow cooking seems to release more flavor from the carcass and the meat left just falls off.