Turkey and Rice Soup and How to Make Turkey Stock in a Crockpot

I have been so thankful for leftovers the last couple of days. The day after Thanksgiving my daughter and I (read the two people who know how to cook) came down with another virus. All of the leftovers in the house meant that I did not have to worry about shopping and I already had the base for fast and easy dinners.

On Thanksgiving day my husband cleaned the meat off the turkey and I put the bones in a large crock pot and made stock. I have used the turkey stock along with the other leftovers to make dinner each night. We have had Curried Turkey Salad, Tuscan Turkey Soup, Turkey Vegetable Rice Bake, and my favorite when ill: Turkey and Rice Soup.

In case you still have a turkey carcass in your refrigerator I will share how I make stock. If you have already tossed your turkey, you can follow these instructions to make chicken stock.

How to Make Turkey Stock:

Remove as much of the meat as you can from the turkey and place in a Crockpot. If you don’t have a large oval Crockpot, you will need to break the bones to get them to fit.

Then I add the equivalent of:

4 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
2 large carrots, coarsely chopped
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

I say the equivalent because I save up the carrot peeling, celery tops, and odd pieces of onion from making dinner and use those. All of the veggies are going to end up in your compost bin, they are just used to add nutrients and flavor to the broth, so they don’t need to be pretty:
Fill the Crockpot with water. Cook on high for 1 hour. Then reduce heat and cook on low for 12 – 15 hours: Strain the liquid. Save any bits of meat to use later in soup, but discard the bones and veggies. Refrigerate the stock. After the stock has cooled, you can skim the fat off the top: I save the fat and use it to sauté the veggies in place of oil. If you are trying to go super low fat, you can sauté your veggies in broth instead of fat or oil.

The stock will be somewhat congealed, but it becomes “watery” again once heated.

Turkey and Rice Soup

Ingredients:

2 tablespoon turkey fat, olive oil or broth
6 green onions, sliced (use the tops too)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery
8 cups turkey stock or chicken broth
2 cups sliced carrots
2 cups cooked rice ( I used 1 cup of brown rice and 1 cup of wild rice, both leftover from dishes made earlier in the week).
2 cups cooked turkey, cubed

Directions:

1. In a large soup pot, sauté the onion, garlic, and celery in turkey fat:

2. Add stock, turkey, rice, and carrots. Cook over a medium high heat until it reaches a boil. Lower heat to medium and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes or until carrots are just fork tender.

I hope you had a joyous holiday weekend with your family! Though I was not feeling well, I had a lovely time cuddling with my toddler, reading, resting, and watching movies.

For more delicious recipes, visit Hearth and Soul Hop, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, and Real Food Wednesday.