Turkey Soup

When life hands you a big ol' turkey, make soup!  In my last post, Schmambs made us a post Schmanksgiving turkey weighing in at 18 pounds.  The intention was so that we would have enough leftovers to make other turkey goodies and keep our bellies full for at least a week.  The white meat was sliced and saved for sandwiches.  That lasted about 3 days after Will and the kido were done with it.  But what to do with the rest of the turkey?


Schmambs improvised a turkey soup using ingredients she already had in her kitchen.  Fresh turkey stock from our turkey went into the pot.  While we waited for the stock to return to a liquid form, Schmambs browned some sausage, which she added to the soup for some extra flavor.




I feel like I have to preface why we chose the next ingredient over many other similar ingredients.  In Schmambs' Zuppa Toscana, we use onions.  However, due to an ongoing battle with insomnia, I had been watching Good Eats in marathon fashion and one of the episodes featured leeks.  I had heard about leeks, but had never cooked with them nor was I sure that I had ever tried them.  So thanks to my curiosity and questions to Schmambs about leeks, she included them in the soup.  They gave the soup a delicate onion-like flavor, but there wasn't enough umph.  I love onions, so I was looking for a bit more from the leeks and unfortunately, they did not live up to my expectations.  After discussion, it was decided we would try leeks somewhere else and use onions next time instead.

We also tossed in some cubed potatoes and some kale to give the soup more texture as well as a veggie element, which is important in a balanced meal.  Before Schmambs started cooking for me, the only veggies that ever crossed my path was iceberg lettuce and carrots, and occasionally, broccoli...in cheese sauce.  Iceberg lettuce doesn't provide a high nutritional value.  I can't see any better in the dark (even with my glasses on).  And c'mon.  Broccoli in cheese sauce?  The only good that'll do me is give me a bigger derrière.  However, I am a huge fan of kale ever since trying it in the Zuppa Toscana and particularly enjoy it in soups.  To finish the soup off, Schmambs tosses in a bunch of leftover turkey, which, immersed in the soup, took on a shredded-like texture.  

  

Even with all the turkey that we used in the soup, we hardly made a dent in what was left of the dark meat.  What else could we make?