Christmas Leftovers-Homemade Turkey Broth

One of the best things about leftover turkey carcasses from Thanksgiving/Christmas?? Pure, amazing, homemade, turkey stock without all the crap on the back of the box that no one can pronounce! Great to use in soups, stews, and many other recipes.

Depending on the size of your turkey you might be able to fit the whole thing on your slow cooker. If not, break it apart into big enough pieces that they won't be super hard to fish out when your broth is done. Keep in mind that cooking in the slow cooker for so long will have any meat/cartilage literally falling off the bones when you pick them out at the end, so I try to keep the bones as big as possible so I don't lose any. 

Ingredients: 

4 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
2 large carrots, coarsely chopped
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

Directions: 

-Add all ingredients to your slow cooker and fill it with water. 

-Cook on high for 1 hour, then low for 12-15 hours. 

-Use a colander to strain the liquid to remove any bones, meat and veggies.

-Discard any bones and veggies; save meat for future soups/stews-watch out for tiny bones. 

-Cool in refrigerator; once cool skim the fat off the top. 

Note: While cooling in the fridge your stock may become very congealed and have a "jelly-like" appearance when you remove it - this is good! It's not at all appetizing, but it will be! This "jello" just means you have a well-concentrated stock that is packed with flavor! Once heated it will become watery again and it will be delicious to be used to make soups! (recipes for those to follow)

Store in air-tight containers in freezer. I use a few different containers (2-4 cups per container) so I can grab what I want to use instead of having to thaw the whole batch and waste what I don't use. To store, I put plastic wrap over the container, then put the lid on to seal it. 

Good luck!