My favorite way to prepare the Thanksgiving bird is to smoke it. As you can see in the picture, she is gorgeous!

After my family, friends, and I have ravaged the smoked turkey, what's left over is a carcass that usually gets tossed in the garbage by most families. This is a waste of food. From my experience there is usually 3 to 4 lb of meat still on the bone. There is also calcium from the bones and collagen from the connective tissue. Collagen is fantastic for the skin, the nails, the hair, and your gut lining.

This is the easiest soup in the world to make because all you need is a leftover bird after you've removed whatever pieces you want, an instantpot, and water. This is also the perfect way to prepare a bird that you've purchased but you feel contains just way too much sodium!

Supplies

For the soup
1 turkey carcass (or other bird)
1 instantpot
Water to cover the bird

For the Bread
1 skillet, air fryer, or panini press
2 slices of sour dough bread
3 different cheeses of your choice
2 tbsp compound garlic butter (see recipe)

For the compound garlic butter
1 stick of butter
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley (optional)

Step 1: Blessed Be the Bird

You can make the soup with any bird. The meat can still be on the bone as well. It doesn't have to be only bone.

A turkey is so big, I usually half the bird before putting it in the instant pot. You will then cover the bird with water. Place the lid and manually set your instant pot to high pressure for an hour. That's it! You don't even have to season it because the bird is already seasoned when you first roasted it.

Step 2: Soup's On!

After the Instantpot has naturally release pressure, I use a spider or colander and tongs to remove what's left of the bones. You will notice what's left of the meat falls right off of the bone. The smaller bones just disintegrate.

You can enjoy the soup just like this or hit it with a stick blender and have a creamy turkey soup that contains absolutely no cream. You will never throw away turkey or chicken bones again! At this point if you want you can also add vegetables but I prefer to add a grilled cheese sandwich. Allow me to share my favorite recipe for grilled cheese sandwich.

Step 3: My Sinful Sandwich

Use the recipe I provided to make a compound garlic butter.

The butter should be room temperature. I like to use a micro planer rasp to grate my garlic so that it's really fine. Mix well.

Spread the butter on the outside of the two pieces of Sourdough bread. Put your three favorite cheeses on the inside of the bread and grill until your sandwich is golden brown and your cheese is melty. From here I usually slice the sandwich in half diagonally so it's easier to dip into the smoked turkey soup. Enjoy!