After a large holiday dinner there is usually a lot of leftovers. If you had a turkey dinner with all the trimmings and have turkey, gravy, vegetables, and stuffing left I hope you wrapped it good and stored it in the freezer. Winter is the best time for homemade soups and a good old fashioned turkey soup will warm up the kitchen and put smiles on faces.

Make sure you have your favorite homemade bread on hand or buy a large loaf of french bread to accompany this delicious soup.

I always make extra gravy for the dinner so I will have enough left over to flavor and thicken the soup. I prefer a soup with a little more gusto than just plain broth. If I did not have enough vegetables left over, I buy a package of frozen mixed vegetables. Carrots, peas, green beans, corn, and broccoli are all good choices.

You may ask why I saved and froze the stuffing from the dinner. Well, I like to heat it thoroughly and put a spoonful or two of it in my soup bowl then spoon soup over it. It really tastes good and adds a lot of flavor.

Dad's Homemade Turkey Soup

Ingredients:

Turkey meat, carcass, wings, drumsticks
leftover gravy (or 2-3 envelopes turkey gravy mix)
vegetables of choice (fresh, frozen, or leftovers)
Onion
Celery
Mushrooms
Egg Noodles
Seasonings of choice (salt, pepper, parsley, garlic powder, rosemary, sage, any or all)

Now, Dad and I never measured anything for this recipe. We just added what we had and made a guess on how many noodles the soup would take. For seasonings, he just seasoned to taste as I do.

First of all, you are going to need all that turkey meat that is left on drumsticks, wings, and the carcass, plus any pieces of meat already sliced off the turkey. Place all this in a large pot. If you have a pot with a pasta drainer insert in it, this will be perfect for this step of the preparation. Place all the turkey parts (not the already sliced turkey - set that aside for now) in the insert, put that in the pot then fill the pot with water to cover all the turkey.

Bring to a boil, turn heat down and simmer till all meat has dropped off the bones and skin can be easily pulled off. Leaving the skin on pieces like the drumstick will add flavor to the soup.

With hot pads lift the insert up, let all the broth drain back into the pot, then set the insert on a large plate. Have a good sized bowl ready to place all the meat in. Remove all the meat from the bones and skin and place that in the bowl. Discard bones and skin.

Cut up any large pieces of turkey, chop up the already sliced turkey and add that to the bowl. Put all meat back into the large pot with the broth.

Add to pot:

vegetables
gravy
chopped onions
chopped celery
sliced mushrooms

Bring all to a low boil, turn heat down, cover and let soup simmer till vegetables are done and soup is hot throughout, about 30 - 40 minutes. Stir often while heating.

If you like a thicker soup, more like a stew, add some cornstarch paste (2 or 3 tablespoons of cornstarch mixed with enough broth from the pot to make a thin paste). Add the paste and stir to distribute the thickener.

When soup is really hot, add egg noodles and seasonings. When noodles are tender, serve soup piping hot with lots of bread and butter. If you want to try the soup over the stuffing, make sure the stuffing is heated throughly.

Enjoy the soup and the compliments.
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