Recipes- Holiday Leftovers Turkey Noodle Soup

By now you're tossing or freezing your leftover Holiday dinner (if you haven't eaten it all!).  Tonight my husband reluctantly deboned our turkey (NOT his favorite job) and we decided to toss together a quick, easy soup.

Holiday Leftovers Turkey Noodle Soup

Leftover turkey - still on the bone (we brined ours so was super moist!)
salt and pepper to taste
3 cloves of garlic
2 Bay leaves
Lemon juice
Left over from our Thanksgiving dinner stuffing ingredients:
Cup of real bacon bits cut into small pieces
3 stalks of chopped celery
1/2 large onion diced
3 carrots chopped

Remove as much turkey as you can while you break down the carcass- set dark meat aside but soak the white meat pieces in a little bit of lemon juice (this will make it more tender).  Boil the bones in about 2 quarts water (depending on size of turkey) for 10 minutes or so and let simmer for an hour on medium heat.  While that is cooking, using olive oil, saute onions, carrots, celery and 3 cloves of garlic.  Add about 3/4 cup water and let it cook on low until al dente.
Strain bones from broth and put the broth back onto stove.  Add the sauted mix and the bacon pieces with a couple of bay leaves and bring to a boil (add additional water if necessary).  Add flat egg noodles (or in this case, shells since that's what we had!) and cook according to package directions.  During the last two minutes, add in the turkey pieces you had removed from bone earlier including the lemon juice. Salt and pepper to taste- if flavor is too strong, add more water.
Serve with those leftover dinner rolls!