A Devoted Wifey: Turkey Noodle Soup

So since we knew we were spending Thanksgiving at Mel's Mom's house, I wanted to make a turkey a few days before Thanksgiving so we could have our own bird!! **You can do any and all of these recipes with chicken as well** After I finished stripping all the meat off of my turkey, I put all the bones in my crockpot. I added about 8 cups of water, 2 bay leaves, and some salt and put my crockpot on low overnight for 8 hours. In the morning I took all the big bones out, strained, it and then I had amazing Turkey Broth for my soup the next day! I stored it in a tupperware in the fridge.

The first night we had an amazing Turkey dinner... turkey slices, mashed garlic potatoes, and I made a delicious gravy from the turkey drippings. It was easy and came out so full of flavor:

Turkey gravy: In a small saucepan melt 1/4 cup butter or margarine. Add in 1/4 cup flour and stir constantly for about 2 minutes until smooth. Add black pepper, the more the better. Add 2 cups turkey drippings (so obviously you make your gravy when the turkey is done, while it's resting) and stir constantly for a few minutes, it will continue to get thicker and thicker. Taste test and add more black pepper if needed. SOOOOOO GOOOD.

So anyways, the next night we had some delicious turkey sandwiches. It was nice to have such an easy dinner after a night of lots of cooking and dishes with the turkey!! The night after that I was so excited to make my Turkey Noodle Soup. The best part? Homemade NOODLES!! Yum. You will never want storebought noodles again after you try this. Here goes -

Homemade Noodles

2 1/2 cups flour

1/3 cup water

2 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons oil

In a large bowl mix flour and salt. Create a hole in the middle, and add beaten eggs, oil, and water. Mix well with the flour mix.

Form dough into a big ball and on a well floured surface, knead dough for about 8 minutes until smooth. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

Divide dough into 4 parts. Using a rolling pin, flatten each part (on a floured surface) until pretty thin, but not too thin. Let sit out on the counter 2-3 hours.

When soup is pretty much done, start cutting up your flat pieces of dough into small strips. You can make them as fat/skinny, long/short and any shape you want. They will stay the same shape even when cooked in the soup.

Ok while your dough is sitting out for a couple of hours, you can start your soup!

Turkey Noodle Soup (or chicken!)

2 tablespoons oil

1/2 onion, diced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced into little carrott rounds

2 celery stalks

4 garlic cloves, minced

6-8 cups turkey broth (or chicken) depending on how soupy you like your soup. You can add 6 to start off with, and add more later near end of cooking time if you like

2 bay leaves

1/2 tablespoon thyme

1/2 tablespoon sage

3-4 cups cooked, shredded turkey

Salt and pepper to taste. The more pepper, the better.

Ok so using a large dutch oven or big soup pot, heat the oil. Chop up your carrots, onion, garlic, and celery. Put in hot oil and stir fry for about 5 minutes until semi tender.