Mmm, mmm, home cookin'! I haven't added a new recipe in a LONG time so I thought I would.

My mom visited me in Victoria this past weekend and we had Thanksgiving dinner (a little late for us Canadians, but much too early for the Americans). I had said that I missed turkey soup so after dinner was done she got me started on my very first turkey soup! After every holiday, my family usually fights (lovingly, but still fights) over the turkey carcass so we can make soup!

After you're done eating the turkey, boil the carcass until all the little attached meat bits are pretty much falling off. A slow boil or simmer is acceptable for this task, but definitely not a full roiling boil. Put some salt & pepper, OXO cubes (or other chicken bouillion), bay, parsley, and my grandmother told me to add pickling spices for "zing" but I don't know what those are and she told me I probably didn't have any anyways, so I skipped those. Take the carcass out and pick off all the meat bits still clinging to it and put them back in your soup. Toss the carcass.

At this point, I didn't feel like finishing the soup so I just stored it in the fridge until I had a chance to finish it (not too long though!) but you can do it right away if you feel like it.

Next step, the good stuff! In my family, it's traditional to put potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion in our soup for vegetables, and also some pasta (usually macaroni). You have to simmer this for about 40 minutes or at least till the potatoes and carrots and nice and tender. It helps if you cut them up fairly small. In my family, we also add tomato paste or ketchup for colour and a bit of flavour, but when I tell this to people they look at me like I've sprouted horns and I'm running around naked screaming "Eat your children!" If you are open to new things, just make the soup without it and put some ketchup in a small bowl of it to try it. Then next time you can add in in when you're cooking it.

Make sure to taste it often to see how the flavour is developing. Add more spices if it needs it!

Also, make sure that you've got enough broth at all times... I added WAY too many vegetables tonight, so I boiled a kettle and added that in, then put more spices in. If the broth gets too low stuff can sometimes burn to the bottom of the pot, which can ruin your soup pretty easily.

After you're done, either invite everyone you know over to try it, or, if you're living alone and semi-reclusive like me, just freeze it in individual servings for later. Nothing like a really fast home-cooked meal after a long day at work.

Good luck with yours!

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