Spent another 2 hrs making the actual soup today, after the 4+ hours yesterday. Sheesh! Here we go....

This is based on "Mom's Turkey Soup" but it was very vague (no quantities of anything mentioned), so I took a stab at it after looking at a bunch of different recipes and came up with my own, flying by the seat of my pants:

Day 1: Turkey Stock

• Remove all good turkey meat from the carcass
• Break up bones a bit and place in a roasting pan, with the skin and giblets (except liver) and roast in 350°F oven for 1 hour. [Optional]
• Meanwhile, go through the turkey meat and remove any fat, skin, cartilage and bones. The white meat came out a bit tough for the soup, so use sparingly or use for sandwiches. Place meat in a bowl and cover with chicken stock to keep moist. Cover and refrigerate.
• After bones have roasted, place into large stock pot or dutch oven. Cover with cold water by an inch. I used 64 oz cold spring water + 64 oz Swanson Organic Vegetable Broth (as it would expire in a few weeks). Add about 2 tbsp Cider Vinegar, and any drippings (about a 1/4 cup in my case) not already used for gravy.
• Turn heat to medium and add half a large yellow onion (quartered then separated), coarse chopped carrots (I used 2, could've used 3 or 4), 3/4 bunch of parsley (as is), 5-6 branches of thyme, bay leaf, 8-10 halved celery tops (or a couple celery stalks, cut in large pieces), about a dozen whole peppercorns, pinch dried tarragon, a sprig of fresh sage, sprig of fresh dill, 1-2 smashed cloves of garlic, and a few sprinkles of celery seed, and some Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper (you can always add more later, so don't over do it).
• Heat until it's at a bare simmer (don't boil), skimming off any foamy crud that may float to the top. Check it every 30 minutes for the next 3 hours or so, when the meat falls off the bones.
• Let cool a bit, then remove bones and veggies and strain the stock through a colander (lined with cheese cloth, or use a mesh sieve) over a large bowl or pot. Pick through for good pieces of meat and add to reserved meat in fridge.
• Let stock cool for a while and skim off any crud on top. Pour into quart soup containers (I yielded 3 quarts of stock) and refrigerate.

Day 2: Turkey Soup

• Remove stock from fridge and remove solidified fat from the stock and KEEP. You'll use some in the next step.
• Put some turkey fat in the pot, and heat on medium. Add 2-3 cloves minced garlic, the other half of the onion (finely chopped), and 4-5 chopped carrots. Saute to let sweat until onions are softened and carrots are al dente. [Or you can skip this step and just cook the veggies in the soup itself -- it didn't seem to save any time]
• Add the stock one quart at a time (it will be congealed) and stir until loose. Add 1+ tbsp finely chopped celery leaves (or 1-2 chopped celery stalks), 2+ tsp chopped fresh dill, a sprig each of thyme and sage, 1/4+ cup chopped parsley, pinch or two of dried tarragon, a few grinds of poultry seasoning or a tsp or two of Bell's, and a pinch or two of Kosher salt and ground pepper.
• Cook with a bare simmer, do not boil.
• Meanwhile, prepare 1.5-2 cups of rice. I used Success rice, boiled in the bag for 8 minutes. [Or you can use noodles or Pastina, etc]
• Meanwhile, go through the turkey meat again (don't discard the chicken broth it's been soaking in). Feel and taste as you pull apart bite-sized pieces and place in a separate bowl. As I said, some white pieces may have become tough already, so just eat them now. When finished, strain the broth to be sure no small pieces of bone remain. Put turkey pieces back in broth.
• When the carrots and onions are cooked through (but not mushy), add the rice and stir.
• Turn off burner, and add turkey meat and its soaking liquid into soup.
• Adjust seasoning to taste -- mine was a bit bland, so I adjusted. It should be even better the next day, though.
• If not using immediately, pour into quart soup containers (I yielded 4 quarts of soup) and refrigerate.

I'll know better tomorrow if it's worth it all -- but I'm sure some improvements can be made. For instance, more onion (only had 1 large) and more carrots (only had 5 medium-sized carrots on hand), and possibly more herbs, etc.

It's a work-in-progress, but good, though!