Christmas Leftovers

I was saddened to hear that so many people throw away the remains of their Christmas turkey after the big day even when there is still plenty of meat left on the bone. I have spent some time today shopping for fresh vegetables to make a turkey soup which I prepare every year. It usually tastes lovely and makes a great lunch for over the Christmas and New Year holidays. 

As a family we had a turkey crown this year but it did come on the bone, so I took off most of the meat and put this aside. I have then covered the turkey bone in water in a large pan, added some salt & black peppercorns and then slowly brought to a low simmer. Once it has simmered for about an hour, I have left it to cool down and then removed the bone, pulled the remaining meat off the bone and set this aside.

I have chopped up fresh celery, carrots, and onion and added this to the stock, brought this to a low simmer and then added left over vegetables and turkey from the two Christmas dinners that I had prepared for family on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. There were carrots, parsnips, chestnuts and the turkey meat that I set aside plus some remaining gravy added before I left to simmer for a final 20 minutes. I have then blended the whole soup with a hand blender and this has resulted in a thick hearty soup. The kitchen smelt lovely while this was cooking and I can't wait to have a bowl of this for lunch tomorrow with some fresh bread.

I hate any waste and find this to be an easy way of using any leftovers. I am a real bargain shopper when it comes to buying food. The problem that I have is that I find my cupboards and freezers starting to get overloaded with food that I have bought because I could not resist the offer in the supermarket. So, I am planning on using up the majority of this food over the next few months and will see how long it takes me to use up this food without having to do a large shop in the supermarkets.

I'll keep you posted !