Day After Thanksgiving Soup

Total Time: 3 hrs 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons margarine
• 1 cooked turkey carcass, chopped in big pieces in order to fit in the soup pot
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 2 -3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 pinch dried thyme or 1 pinch subsitute dried sage
• 6 -12 cups water
• 3 chicken bouillon cubes (optional for added flavor)
• 1 tomato, chopped (or add 1 six-ounce pan tomato paste or 1 can tomato juice, depending on what is on hand)
• turkey gravy (optional)
• pan juices (optional)
• 6 -8 ounces pasta (small shapes or egg noodles) or 1/2 cup uncooked rice
• 1 stalk celery, sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup mushroom, sliced (or subsitute another vegetable-green beans is also good)
• 3 tablespoons parsley, minced
• salt and pepper, to taste

Recipe

• 1 melt butter in a large dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. add turkey carcass and brown lightly, stirring occassionally (8-10 minutes).
• 2 add onion, carrot, celery, garlic and thyme (or sage) to pan and cook for 10 minutes.
• 3 add water (enough to cover turkey carcass), bouillion cubes, tomato, gravy (if available) and pan juices (if available). bring to a boil.
• 4 reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 hours.
• 5 strain broth, reserving turkey pieces (i usually get 1-3 cups turkey pieces).
• 6 return broth to pan (i use a clean pan). bring to a boil and add pasta (or rice), celery, carrots, and mushrooms (or other vegetables). bring to a boil and cook for 10-20 minutes or until pasta and vegetables are done.
• 7 stir in parsley and salt and pepper.