As usual, we had a much larger turkey this year for Christmas than we needed (could't find a smaller one). I decided to make turkey soup and it came out great. I just wish I'd tried it after Thanksgiving too!

I roasted the turkey carcass in a 400 degree oven for about half an hour, then I put the pieces into a large stock pot and covered it with water. I added chopped carrots, celery, onions and garlic and let it simmer for about 4 hours. Then I drained it into another pot and saved the solids. I added back in the bits of turkey from the solids and extra turkey that we had sliced from the bird. I also added more carrots, some fresh thyme, a bay leaf and bunch of chopped cilantro (use can use parsley if you don't like cilantro). I boiled the stock until it reduced by about half, added a bunch of salt and pepper, removed the bay leaf and thyme sprigs, then served it over egg noodles with some crusty sourdough bread. Totally delicious! You can try your own variations of this... but it is surely a great way to use up some of that leftover turkey!

Happy holidays, everyone.