Turkey Noodle Soup

If you baked your own turkey and throw out the turkey carcass that Thursday night, you are missing out on one of the most comforting of all Thanksgiving traditions! We spend the day with my daughter and her family. She used to give me the turkey carcass after our big meal. But now she has discovered that this is not as hard as it sounds, and her family loves the final product, so I have to get my own turkey. Usually, I just get a nice bon-in breast and roast it in Grandma's old, lidded Dutch Kettle in the oven.

After dinner, I slice the turkey for sandwiches and clean off the larger pieces of meat and set them aside. I put everything else, including the skin (there is not much on a breast, and it has lots of

I add water to about 1" from the top of the pot, 3-4 bay leaves, 3-4 whole allspice, and a tsp of whole peppercorns. Let this simmer for about 4 hours. (Add more water as the broth concentrates.) Then, let it cool for about 4 hours.

Strain the broth into a large bowl.

Clean the bits of nice meat from the bones (be sure to get all the bits of bone out). Put the meat back into the pot and then pour the broth back into the pot. (Toss out the bones).

While the soup is coming to a simmer,

gather the rest of your soup ingredients.

I chop 1 1/2 cups celery and onion, and slice 1 1/2 cups of carrot. I saved about 1 cup of the small pieces of turkey left after I sliced the turkey (we like lots of turkey pieces). When the soup is hot, add the turkey and carrots.

In a large frying pan, saute the onion, celery, and 3 cloves of minced garlic, in about 1/2 cube of butter until the onions are translucent. Add to the broth. Add 2 tsp. of salt.

Let all of this simmer for about an hour.

Add a cup of water if the broth has concentrated, and 1/2 tsp of pepper. Taste. Adjust salt and pepper if needed. Now add 1 1/2 cups egg noodles and turn off the heat but leave the pot on the burner. The noodles will soften without getting mushy. When cool, divide into quart jars, which will keep well in the fridge until you eat it all up. Share with friends! Yumm!