Stuffing Soup

Ok, for any of you looking at leftovers and really not relishing the thought of eating them one more time in their current state. . . I give you, Stuffing Soup!

The beauty of this soup is that you use almost whatever stuff you have left over from your Thanksgiving meal!  Here is how I made it tonight, with the leftovers we brought home from DH's folks' house:

Stuffing Soup
--in a big pot, saute 1 large onion (any kind will do nicely) in olive oil (I used garlic olive oil)
--chop up and add any leftover crunchy veggies you have, like carrot and celery.  I only had a little red cabbage, so I chopped up that and sauted it, and also opened and chopped one can of water chestnuts, to add a little more crunch.
--when the veggies are to your liking, then add a little bit of water and turn up the heat under the pot.
--at this point I added the leftover gravy I had brought home (real homemade stuff--not sure how a packaged variety would work) and mixed it well with the water so there were no clumps.  Then I added a whole lot of leftover stuffing and turkey bits, which I kinda crumbled in my (clean) hand as I added them to the pot.  I mixed it all up well and added what seemed like a suitable amount of water. 
--add an appropriate amount of bullion (I used 1 heaping tsp "Better Than Bullion") and mix in well
--**key flavor:  add ground cloves and black pepper to taste. (use lots!)
--mix well and warm through.  before serving I snipped a liberal amount of fresh parsley into the pot. 

YUM.

If I wanted to make a creamy version, I would have added milk and leftover corn (or a can of creamed corn!) and leftover green beans too.  But then I would not use cloves, but would instead add dried green herbs like oregano, thyme, rosemary. . . really, there are so many ways you can get creative with this idea.  But the beauty of it is using up leftovers in a way that makes them fresh again!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  I hope to write about our week soon (hmmmm, where have I heard THAT one before?) but my computer time this week is being spent being a seller on eBay!  Hoping to make a little extra Christmas dough this year. . . I'll let you know how it goes!