Lunch was delicious, thanks.

The key to a good soup or stew is a good homemade stock. Canadian Thanksgiving dinner last Monday night was a hit and the students ate everything so there were no leftovers.

I made a turkey stock with the remnants, and then cooked another turkey breast later in the week so Amy and I could enjoy turkey leftovers. What you see (right) is the second batch of stock draining into the stock pot, and a container of the first batch of stock that has cooled in the fridge so the fat has solidified on top. Remove the fat, sauté some garlic, onion, veggies (I use a mixture of frozen and fresh, whatever is around), add some turkey meat, fresh oregano and hot sauce and the stock and it’s turkey soup or stew for lunch.

According to a report to be published in the Oct. 22 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Japanese researchers have found that collagen proteins found in chicken may actually lower blood pressure.

Dr. Byron Lee, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, said,

"As this study suggests, some collagen in chicken may lower blood pressure. But be careful. The salt we put on our chicken and in our chicken soup may offset or even reverse this potential benefit."

I don’t add salt.