A Slow Cooker Turkey Soup Recipe

Turkey and Christmas are intimate companions. I grew up with a turkey, peas, mashed potatoes gravy, stuffing and cranberries on the table, either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The family gathered around to enjoy this communal meal.

In 1990, I became a vegetarian, and the turkey was off the table. In 1991 I discovered vegetarian lasagna. This became a traditional dish until about 2008 when we added meat to the menu. Despite going back to eating meat, turkey was still not on th menu. One year it was lobster, another Chinese. Ham was on the New Year’s Eve menu. Turkeywas nowhere on the bill, but that changed when the local Sobeys had a great deal on fresh, grain fed turkeys.

We had our vegetarian lasagna on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day found me cooking a turkey. Now turkey, especially when two people are facing a ten pound bird, has leftovers. Cold and hot turkey sandwiches with cranberries or gravy are great lunches or when hot served with peas and mashed potatoes are fantastic.

Stir fries and soups are spinoffs off the main meal. This year I used a different recipe for the soup; one I created myself.

Slow Cooker Turkey Soup Recipe:

1- Leftover turkey carcass

2- 6 cups water

3- 1 medium cooking onion diced

4- 3 large carrots sliced

5- 1 parsnip thinly sliced

6- 6 small potatoes diced

7- ¼ cup already cooked rice

8- ¼ cup tomato juice

9- 2- bay leaves

10- Herbs, your choice.

Preparation:

This is a long cooking recipe and may be best made on a day when you have time in the morning for step two.

Step One:

1- Place turkey carcass in slow cooker set on low

2- Add six cups water

3- Let cook over night.

Step Two:

1- Strain carcass and put liquid back in slow cooker.

2- Separate any turkey left and either put into soup or, as I did, set aside for stir fry

3- Add remaining ingredients except rice, leave slow cooker set on low and let cook for 6 hours

4- Add rice and cook 30 minutes

5- Add tomato juice cook, 30 minutes.

6- Season to taste.

7- Serve.

Hot sauce adds a dimension to this soup and is one ingredient I like to have on hand when a touch of heat is needed.

The total time for this recipe was 18 hours, but this could be shortened by turning up the setting. However, I do not like to leave the slow cooker on any higher than low, overnight. The long cooking time does deepen the flavour and this soup stood up fine without the hot sauce, although the second bowl was savoured with just a dash.

Turkey, even at full price, can be a good buy for your buck when you can stretch the meals that you can make over from one bird several days