THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS

What to do with leftovers from Thanksgiving.
Now is the time to stock the freezer with some pre-made meals. This is especially good for Winter Vacation when the kids are out of school and think you should make things as fast as McDonalds.
I froze the leftover stuffing and will use that on top of a baked macaroni and cheese or another casserole type dish.
Boost your immune system this cold season with leftover turkey vegetable soup!

LEFTOVER TURKEY VEGETABLE SOUP

Ingredients

• 1 leftover turkey carcass
• 3 medium onions, chopped
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 celery ribs, diced
• 1 cup butter, cubed
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups half-and-half cream
• 1 cup uncooked long grain rice
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
• 3/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Place turkey carcass in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour. Remove carcass; cool. Set aside 3 qt. broth. Remove turkey from bones and cut into bite-size pieces; set aside.
2. In a soup kettle or Dutch oven, saute the onions, carrots and celery in butter until tender. Reduce heat; stir in flour until blended. Gradually add 1 qt. of reserved broth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
3. Add cream, rice, salt, bouillon, pepper, remaining broth and reserved turkey. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30-35 minutes or until rice is tender.

I used this recipe as a guide and added changes of my own and you can customize it to your leftovers:

Instead of half-half cream I added leftover sour cream.
I didn't have carrots but had leftover potatoes, green bean casserole, cream cheese corn and homemade noodles in place of the rice. You could also use canned vegetables from your pantry.

You could also add cans of cream soup. (chicken, celery, mushroom)
I found mine in the scratch and dent bin from the store with coupons for
.23 cents each! Name brand at that!

I already had other vegetables on hand such as celery and onions.
I buy a bag or stalk, chop them up, blanch with hot water and pack into ziploc freezer bags. These are great to have on hand to use in soups or other recipes.
Buy when on sale and stock the freezer up with them!