recipe for rainy day resourcefulness

house sitting during the holidays puts you out of your usual routine and environment and into new pathways of adventure in all things, including cooking.  here's my post-holiday recipe for a rainy day between christmas and new years born out of necessity of being in someone else's place. you will need:  new flannel lounge wear, fuzzy socks, candles, an oversized mug for tea or hot chocolate plus any book from the maisie dobbs mystery series by jacqueline winspear. (i just finished book four, "messenger of truth").  put your laptop pandora station on "Sting" with added variety "holiday" and it's pretty much a perfect day.

as for the recipe...the nearest grocery store to me right now is a high-end one (the kind wherein i muse to myself, 'i could buy a small home OR i could purchase this wheel of french cheese'.  cheese invariably wins out, which is why, i suppose, i still rent). already purchased from said fancy store:  chicken broth and udon noodles.  so i said to myself, "self, time for some cozy soup...hmm". 

so, without a plan, here's what i did and how it turned out.  i grabbed seven or so fresh winter kale leaves from their raised beds, found and chopped an onion from the back of the fridge and started those in the skillet along with olive oil and salt (pretty much any good thing can be started with these two basic ingredients), broth and a good cup's worth of homemade salsa (that i received at yesterday's after-christmas party, perfect timing thankyouverymuch). because i can never get too much spice, i added a generous sprinkle of red chili peppers from a shaker i discovered at the back of a random kitchen cupboard (thankfully these never go bad because i have no idea how long they've been there).  then i shredded leftover turkey from dinner with mom and dad on the 24th and threw in the pre-cooked noodles:  hello healthy and delicious!  i love it as much as if i had made it via following a cook book or magazine. 

what's your favorite thing to do with leftovers this time of year no matter where you may find yourself?


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