Soup Recipe for Anna Maria Horner (and all you Americans)

Fabulous designer Anna Maria Horner is having a giveaway on her blog right now . All you have to do is give her a soup recipe and she will put you in a draw to win some of her new textiles. Well, how could I resist giving you all my favorite soup recipe?

This is my post-Thanksgiving or turkey-is-on-sale after the holidays soup recipe. I also make it with whole chickens when I'm having company arriving sometime during the afternoon or evening in the winter. I can put it in the crock pot in the morning and have a home cooked meal ready for the guests whenever they arrive, while also getting my house in some semblance of order.

It is a bit labour intensive, but I always feel virtuous when I make it because I"m getting all the goodness out of the turkey, and its delicious too.

Stock:
1 turkey carcass or small - med. whole chicken
2 onions
3 cloves garlic
5 - 6 middle stalks of celery, or tops of a whole bunch of celery
2 Tbsp salt
Water to cover

Chop all veggies coarsely. Add all ingredients to a large stock pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 2 hrs. Or put all ingredients in a crock pot on high and leave overnight.

Get a large bowl and a colander. Pour contents of pot through colander, so stock goes in bowl and everything else goes in the colander. Let chicken or turkey cool and pull meat off. Throw out veggies and bones.

If you are not making soup right away, you can put the stock in the fridge or freezer. I often fill one ice cube tray with stock cubes while I"m at it.

Soup

Chicken or Turkey stock from above recipe (about 10 cups -- add water if you need to)
Meat from above recipe, or leftover chicken or turkey chopped into spoon-sized pieces
6 - 8 carrots, sliced
3 - 4 celery stalks, chopped
4 - 5 potatos, peeled and chopped into 1" chunks
1/2 head of broccoli, chopped into spoon-sized pieces
1/2 head of cauliflower chopped into spoon-sized pieces
1/2 c rice or elbow maccaroni
whatever else you feel like throwing in.

In pot: Chop up all vegetables and put them in a soup pot with the stock and meat. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 45 min - 1 hr. Add rice or maccaroni in the last 15 min. Taste before serving. Add salt and pepper if needed.

In crock pot: Put all ingredients except rice or macaroini in a crock pot. Let cook 4 hrs on high, or until you are ready to eat it. I usually don't add an extra grain with this one with this one. Taste before serving and add salt and pepper if needed.

Right now my 4 year old is very anti-vegetables, so I cook the celery, broccoli and cauliflower seperately, blend them up and pour them back into the soup at the end so there are no telltale green bits floating in the soup.

By the way, Anna Maria, you need to tell your Garden Party fabric to behave. I have a bunch I am saving to make myself a quilt, which I can't do until after all the Christmas crafting is done. I had all the fat quarters folded and displayed in my "Happy fabric tins"on my ironing and general mess table, and they just kept teasing me all the time. I had to put them away in my big plastic bins so I could concentrate on my present project.