Cream of Turkey Soup with Brown Rice

Leftovers are awesome! Who doesn't like Thanksgiving dinner transformed into sandwiches, curry, salad, and yup, soup. Here soup is hands down the favorite especially when it's homemade. (My mother's soups have spoiled us horribly..............hell her cooking, in general, has spoiled us.) Now that the ham is pretty much gone we have pulled out the turkey leftovers. Of course, the pie was gone the next day. Today though there were absolutely no leftover leftovers. (Ha! I made a funny!) This is NOT a low-fat soup by any stretch of the imagination. I needed to use up the leftover heavy cream and we still had a decent amount of butter. It made for a hearty thick and comforting bowl of yummy goodness that made us forget that today was almost cold........................I miss snow, but that's another post. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this soup as much as we did.

Cream of Turkey Soup with Brown Rice
Serves 6-8 (depending on how many teenagers you have)

1-2 tbsp. cooking oil
3 medium carrots, medium diced
3 stalks celery, medium diced
1 medium onion, medium diced
1/2 stick butter
1 1/2 heaping tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 qt. reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 pt. heavy cream
2 - 3 c. chopped turkey (we had smoked turkey)
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dill
1/2 tsp. crushed rosemary
1/2 tsp. sage
salt and pepper to taste
2 c. cooked brown rice

In the bottom of a large dutch oven or a stockpot heat the oil over medium heat. Once the oil spits a little when a sprinkle of water hits it dump in the chopped veggies. Cook the vegetables until soft. Add the butter and melt it. Next, add the flour and cook it for a few minutes. Mix it well with the butter giving enough time to make sure the raw flour taste is cooked out. When that is done add the stock/broth, heavy cream, turkey and all the spices. Make sure to stir routinely as it will thicken and potentially burn on the bottom if you don't. Add the brown rice when it's nice and thick. Serve immediately.