Next, I headed to the produce section, but there was no fresh celery at all! (how odd) So, I settled on carrots, onions, fresh mushrooms, parsley and then picked up 2 fresh parsnips (oh, what the heck ~ might as well try those instead of celery). I saw package of dried mushrooms on sale, so grabbed those ~ and then my favorite package of vegetable mushroom soup mix (if you can't find it, a bean soup mix will work too). This is going to be a TRIPLE MUSHROOM soup tonight! ... might add that I also got a loaf of day-old French bread ($.50) to make some garlic bread too.
SMOKED TURKEY, MUSHROOM and VEGETABLE SOUP
1-1/2 to 2 lbs. smoked turkey wings (the meat is easier to remove from the wings than the drumsticks)
7-8 cups of water...……………………………………… 1/2 white or yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 package dried mushrooms (usually where the Asian food is)
1 package vegetable mushroom soup mix (Manischevitz ~ usually on the International aisle), can substitute a bean soup mix if you want...………………………………...1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and sliced...………………………..2 parsnips, peeled & chopped (or 2-3 stalks of celery)
1 8-oz. box button mushrooms, thickly sliced
start with 1 tsp. Kosher salt & 1 tsp. black pepper, adjust to taste later
2 tsp. dried thyme leaves, crushed...……………..2 tsp. dried sage leaves, crushed
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (plus more, if you want to put some on top to serve later)
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Put everything (except the flavor packet in the soup mix) into a large soup kettle and bring to a boil. Then lower to a simmer; cover and let it go about 2-4 hours (until the turkey is coming off the bone).
Take the turkey out of the pot (easiest to use tongs, because it will fall off a fork). Discard the fatty skin and shred/cut the meat; put the meat back into the pot. Add the flavor packet from the soup mix now too. Stir it all up. Taste and adjust the salt & pepper, if necessary. (I added more pepper. The smoky skin has enough salt in it, but I used more pepper to counter-act the extra salt in the skin.) Cover and let it simmer at least another 1/2 hour (or several hours, if you want).
Serve with crusty or garlic bread. I like chopped fresh parsley on top (but my husband doesn't). I'll make this on Thursday or Friday night, so we have leftovers for the weekend. It should serve about 6 for dinner (especially if you have a green salad with it.)