My Favorite Turkey Vegetable Soup

Every few weeks or so I roast a giant batch of vegetables on sheet trays to have yummy veggies for salads, pastas, stir frys, etc (here’s a recipe for my roasted favorites). Whenever I have vegetable scraps, I keep all of the skins, cores, ends, etc from any and every vegetable and I put them in a gallon Ziploc in the freezer. After a month or so, I’m left with at least one or two hefty bags stuffed with old, frozen veggies that are prime for simmering. I love turning my old vegetable scraps into delicious and rich soup stock for free, which I transform into my favorite comforting turkey and vegetable soup. Vegetable soup is one of my favorite dinner recipes to make because it’s easily customizable by incorporating any veggies you like for a fiber-filled healthy meal (this recipe looks great too!). I make sure to have at least one protein in my soup and turkey matches well with all of the other ingredients in the pot. I hope you like this recipe!

Ingredients:

• For stock:
  • Gallon-sized bags full of veggie scraps (carrot shreds, garlic bulbs, onion skins, broccoli stems, celery leaves, etc)
  • Enough water to cover veggies in a large stock pot
  • Kosher salt, pepper, chili flakes, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, oregano, bay leaves to taste
• For vegetable soup:
  • Homemade veggie stock
  • One pound of ground meat of choice (I like to use turkey or chicken)
  • One large carrot
  • Four stalks of celery
  • One sweet onion
  • Two-three heads of broccoli
  • One large can of corn
  • One bag of frozen peas
  • One can of diced tomatoes

Instructions:

• For stock:

1. Take leftover veggie scraps and place in a large stock pot
2. Cover veggies with water
3. Season water liberally with seasonings of choice
4. Bring mixture to a boil
5. Once rapidly boiling, lower heat to low-medium and simmer mixture for 4-5 hours
6. Strain mixture through a colander and fine mesh sieve to remove all seeds and tiny vegetable bits

• For vegetable soup:

1. Cut vegetables into similar bite-sized pieces and add to pot filled with veggie stock
2. Deposit ground meat and canned diced tomatoes into pot
3. Bring veggie stock to a boil
4. When boiling, skim off and discard any foam from the top
5. Season mixture with extra seasonings above to taste
6. When veggies are softened, serve over hot rice