{ Turkey Zupa }

When my son was in the PICU, we were able to get lunch and dinner at the Ronald McDonald Room there at the hospital. It was so comforting to have a place to eat without worrying about being gone too long or spending a lot of money on food while worrying about medical bills. Since then, my husband's company has provided several lunches there for families of patients. They plan the meal, purchase ingredients and then go prepare the meal in the kitchen there and serve it over about a two hour window. One of my husband's coworkers came up with this recipe, and it was such a hit that we continually make it and never have any leftovers. Served with breadsticks and a salad, this is a tasty lunch.

To get started, I browned 3 pounds of ground turkey in a large stockpot. Then I added 3 quarts of chicken stock. Meanwhile chopped:
1 very large onion
1 pound red potatoes
1 pound carrots, peeled
6 cloves garlic, crushed.

Added them to the stock along with:
1 TBS oregano
1 TBS garlic powder
2-3 TBS salt, to taste

Seriously, you should always taste for spice and don't just blindly follow the recipe. My chicken stock had salt in it, so I went more on the 2 TBS side. One time I think we used unsalted stock and I ended up adding more salt to get the flavor right.

I cooked it until the potatoes and carrots were soft, then I mixed 6 TBS corn starch into 3 cups cream (evaporated milk works as well.) Add to soup and stir until it thickens. Yummy comfort food.