Turkey Dinner Leftovers - Soup

Turkey soup is fantastic, and is really a must-do after Thanksgiving, in order to get the most out of the turkey you cooked. Making the stock is easy, and should be done the next day. Because it does take a bit of time (between simmering the stock for hours and then letting it rest in the fridge for several more hours) - I recommend making the soup a couple of days after Thanksgiving. Remember to hide a couple of cups of cooked turkey in the fridge somewhere or it will end up being eaten before you have time to make the soup!

There are so many variations to turkey soup. I love it with rice or barley, but decided to do an old-fashioned turkey noodle soup this time. I'd say it was a hit, and there was even enough to freeze a couple of portions.

Ready for tomorrow's lunch!

Turkey Noodle Soup
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 4 mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp dried thyme (or 1 tbsp fresh)
- salt and pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 8 cups homemade turkey stock
- 2 cups diced turkey
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 2 cups egg noodles

In dutch oven or other fabulous soup pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Saute onion, carrots, celery, mushrooms, garlic and thyme until softened, 5-8 minutes. Add turkey stock, salt and pepper and bay leaves. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer about 20 minutes. Add turkey and peas, and heat through for about 5 minutes.

In separate pot, cook pasta noodles. Drain and add to soup, setting aside any soup you want to freeze and freeze without noodles.