By Greg B.  Turkey is one of those meats that I thoroughly enjoy when it comes out of the oven, but they are very large birds.  And after Thanksgiving, eating turkey can get rather monotonous.  And like everyone, I’ve tried everything to spice up the meal.  We’ve all done the turkey sandwich with mayo, lettuce and tomato.  Turkey omelets, turkey and sauteed red onions, turkey salad… but none of these really hit me as something that was a really good and flavorful way to get rid of the turkey.  The best way, I’ve found, is to make some kind of stock from the meat and bones, or make turkey and barley soup.  However, this year I’ve begun the Paleo diet, and so my intake of barley is on the slide (beer, being the exception of course).  And while beans may not be as ‘paleo’ as the 100% paleolithic diet demands, I still think they’re a great source of protein and fiber.  So this year I made a Thanksgiving bean & turkey soup, and it was (is… the leftovers are great!) damn good.

I realize that I basically turned one, large plate of leftover turkey into a large pot of leftover Thanksgiving bean & turkey soup, but at least the soup has a lot of flavor!  I used a crock pot for this, and just let it cook away for a good 10 hours on high.  I also apologize for my lack of photos with this, but I had left my camera in the lab while away on Thanksgiving break!  So with all this in mind, try to imagine how colorful and still delicious this meal would be, given the following ingredients.

• Leftover turkey, sliced or cut into spoon-sized portions
• 3 beers, I used 3 Ommegang Witte.
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 2 sticks of celery, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, pressed and chopped
• 4 tablespoons dried black beans
• 4 tablespoons dried pinto beans
• 4 tablespoons navy beans
• 4 tablespoons green lentils
• 4 tablespoons yellow lentils
• 4 tablespoons brown lentils
• 1/2 cup of large white kidney beans (the really large kind!)
• 4 tablespoons split peas
• 4 tablespoons dried great northern beans
• 4 tablespoons dried red kidney beans
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• salt/pepper to taste
• dash of lemon juice
• a few pinches of Thyme and Marjoram

I know that’s a heck of a list, but it turns out to be a great soup.  Simply wash the beans (make sure there are no rocks in with them), chop up the meat and vegetables and combine everything with the beer (and add some water if you want more volume) in the crock pot.  Set to high and let cook for 10 hours, stirring occasionally and checking to see if the liquid needs seasoning.  After about 10hrs, the beans will be soft enough to easily eat and enjoy!  For the more meticulous chef, you can add the beans at different intervals.  Since the large kidney beans and things like the black beans will take 10 hrs to soften, but the lentils and split peas will only require 2-3 hours in the crock pot (it all comes down to surface area and diffusion of water), you can add them later.  Just be aware when you do add them, add some extra water, as they’ll absorb a good amount of your soup!  I did not spice this soup very heavily, but you really get the flavor of the beans, while the turkey cooks down to a soft and juicy poultry.  It’s a good cold weather dish and an easy way to get rid of that leftover turkey, after a few days of eating it in all sorts of other concoctions!