Homemade Turkey Soup

This healthy, satisfying soup is an excellent way to use your Thanksgiving leftovers.

Making Stock

1) Remove all the usable turkey meat from the turkey carcass to save for making salads later or for adding to the soup.

2) Break up the leftover bones of the carcass a bit, so they don't take up as much room in the pot. Put the leftover bones and skin into a large stockpot and cover with water by an inch.

3) Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat to bring the stock to a bare simmer or just below a simmer. Skim off any foamy crud that may float to the surface of the stock.

4) Add salt and pepper, about 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp of pepper. It sort of depends on how big your turkey is. You can always add salt to the soup later.

5) Cook for at least 4 hours, uncovered or partially uncovered (so the stock reduces), occasionally skimming off any foam that comes to the surface

6) In the last hour of cooking add a yellow onion that has been quartered, some chopped carrots, parsley, thyme, a bay leaf, celery tops, and some peppercorns.

7) Remove the bones and strain the stock, ideally through a very fine mesh strainer.

8) Put stock in the refrigerator overnight and remove any fat that forms.

Making the Turkey Soup

1) With your stock already made, add chopped carrots, onions, and celery in equal parts.

2) Add some parsley, a couple of cloves of garlic. Add seasonings that you like- poultry seasoning, sage, thyme, marjoram and/or a bouillon cube.

3) Cook at a bare simmer until the vegetables are cooked through.

4) Take some of the remaining turkey meat you reserved earlier, shred it into bite sized pieces and add to the soup.

5) You may also want to add some chopped tomatoes, either fresh or canned. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you like your soup hot you could add a dash or two of Tabasco to give the soup a nice kick.

Notes

Exchanges

The turkey stock is free

Count as 1 restricted vegetable (Group 2)

Estimate amount of meat and count as appropriate amount of protein (1oz = 1 protein/Group 6)

Recipe and picture courtesy of www.simplyrecipes.com