Turkey Soup

This post is for Tiffany...

Our small group had a big dinner last Tuesday night, and the girl who made the turkey offered the "remains" to me.

So that evening, I dumped everything into my 8-qt stock pot - bones, skin and all the other scary stuff left over after carefully picking the carcass. Then I covered it all with hot water, put on the lid and brought it to a boil. Ben wanted me to turn it off overnight, so after simmering on medium heat for about two hours, I turned it off and went to bed.

Next morning, the pot was still hot. I added more hot water, 2 Tbls salt plus 5 bay leaves and a Tbl of dried parsley then brought it back to a boil. It simmered on medium heat for 8 more hours. I added water periodically, bringing it back to a full boil then returning it to a simmer throughout the day. I had to run an errand, so around 2 p.m., I added more water, brought it to a rolling boil then turned it down to low and headed out the door. When I came home at 5 p.m., I turned it back up to full boil for a short bit while I started cutting vegetables. Next I strained the stock and returned all but 2 quarts of the liquid to the stove. (I froze those 2 quarts in quart-sized freezer bags.)

I added chopped carrots (1 1/2 cups), celery (3 stalks) and a red pepper along with 1 1/2 cups of chopped broccoli stems (which I find quite flavorful!). After they simmered on medium for a bit and softened, I added a bag of mixed vegetables and a chopped sweet potato. I also added a small bit (maybe 2/3 cup) of leftover cooked brown rice. After seasoning a bit more with salt, I added 3 cups of chopped/shredded turkey meat. Then I served it piping hot. Store-bought rolls & butter accompanied - regular yeast rollls for the gluten-tolerant and gluten-free for my Ben.

(If I could have let it cook all night, I would have turned it down to low overnight and let it cook one more day. But since I'd had to turn it off, I thought it best to serve the soup that day.)