Hi Frogga, et al! Goodness, you have been pretty busy yourself today!!! Your spaghetti sounds very good and HEALTHY with all those fresh veggies!!!

I thought of a very old soup recipe from Pennsylavnia Dutch Country that you all might like, from my Gram. (Although it is quite hearty, Frogga, I am sure that you will figure out a way to make it "doable" for you):

Turkey (or chicken) Noodle "chowder":

NOODLES: you can use either packaged, extra-wide egg noodles, or make homemade ones (easy! and they don't go all mushy):
Mound a few cups of white flour on a pastry board; in the mound, sprinkle a little salt, and crack and egg into it. Mix the dough well, adding a little flour so it doesn't stick to the board. Roll out the dough thin; then use a sharp knife to cut strips of noodles, then cut the other way so the noodles end up being about 3 # long--set aside on paper towels.

Also: Hardboil about 6 eggs; slice them, and set aside

The Stock:
In a large stock pot, add a small turkey or chicken carcass, with LOTS of meat still on it.

Add chopped celery (including thre leaves), onions and carrots, and about 5 cloves of chopped garlic

Add: salt and fresh-cracked pepper AND the following fresh herbs, if you have them; otherwise, dried will do: (remember--fresh herbs are not as potent, so you need more than if you use dried herbs)

Tarragon, rosemary, sage, thyme, amybe a bit of marjoram, and also two or three bay leaves, according to how savoury you like things....(I like it savoury, so I generally use about a BIG tablespoon of Tarragon, a palm-full of rosemary(rub your palms together over the stock-pot to crush the rosemary and release the flavour), a tablespoon or so of sage(if using fresh sage, you need MORE) same re the thyme, etc.. I kind of just taste-test it, until it suits me...

Simmer the stock for several hours and until the meat falls off the bones; cool, skim excess fat off and remove the bones, pick off the meat etc.

Put the meat back into the stock, and bring back up to a simmer.
Add a BIG bag of frozen corn ( i like the white corn, but yellow is just as ok!--in the summer, IF you have the patience, use fresh corn that has been stripped from the cob--about 6 ears. (Now you lnow why I "cheat" and just use the frozen corn)...

Adjust the seasonings, salt and pepper to "taste"

Bring everything back up to a gentle simmer again---drop in the egg noodles and about 6 SLICED hard-boiled eggs, and simmer until the noodles are done.

Very good, especially with hot, buttered crusty French bread for "dipping"!

It tends to thicken up over-nite, so if it is too thick, you can always thin it out with a little canned chicken broth (or even water), and then re-heat it.


Also--if you make a really BIG batch of the stock--you can save some of the broth, and just eat it PLAIN...with Saltines or French bread!

Hope you all like this! I grew up on it!!! (Especially after Thanksgiving/Christmas Turkey...)

Brokenwings