We had a HUGE Christmas "Feast" on Christmas Eve . Then on Christmas Day we reheated everything and had another Feast to enjoy.

Then for the next few days following Christmas we had lots of turkey or ham sandwiches, or various plates of leftovers. But eventually we ran low on leftovers -- the ham was finally finished last night, most of the veggies and sides were finished, as was nearly all of the turkey. Actually, after dinner last night we had mashed potatoes, a bit of gravy, and a huge turkey carcass left with a tiny bit of turkey on it.

So early this morning the children and I made a GIANT batch of turkey stock. Then we gathered the remaining turkey ... there is actually a whole bowl of it after the broth-making. We gathered some pre-purchased bags of frozen veggies plus the leftover mashed potatoes and gravy, herbs and spices, onions, celery, garlic ... and TA DA !! Another feast in the making ....

THREE HUGE BATCHES OF TURKEY SOUP:

(1) Turkey Gumbo

standard thin broth with veggies, turkey, red beans, barley, and lots of spices to jazz it up. SPICY !

(2) Cream of Turkey Noodle

mashed-potato-VERY-thickened broth with minced garlic, onion, celery, and turkey served with noodles.

(3) Turkey Stew

slightly thickened broth with big chunks of stew veggies and big chunks of turkey.

The house smells wonderful !! Our older 3 children learned to make broth FROM SCRATCH, and then to make a variety of nutritious simple soups from it with a variety of ingredients and seasonings. And HOORAY nothing went to waste from our enormous Feast. We have NO leftovers anymore (except cookies, but that is another story).

We will be eating these delicious soups and stews for the next few days while we enjoy the last of this holiday season and also when we begin to UN-decorate, so meals will be simple and healthy.

We all highly recommend making homemade soup -- it is very easy, and if there is a crockpot to be used these soups can be made while you are not home. Another benefit of homemade soups --- if there seem to be a lot of colds and flus going around, it is my personal opinion that homemade soups help keep immune systems up and strong.

All we need now is some freshly baked biscuits and maybe a small side salad tonight ... this soup will be WONDERFUL with the cloudy rainy dreary day that has persisted all day (NOT that we are complaining abotu rain - we are thankful for the rain !!).