Surprises from the deep freeze

I often freeze leftovers.  In winter, I'll make two batches of chili and freeze some in quantities that would be perfect as a meal for me and Cliff.  I have some chicken dishes that have two cups of cooked chicken listed in the ingredients, so there's almost always some cooked chicken in freezer bags, 2-cup quantities.  I buy those ten-pound bags of chicken leg quarters, boil them, and put all that cooked chicken in the freezer, minus skin and bones, as well as pints of the broth, which has much more flavor and fragrance than the canned stuff.  It's handy for my casseroles, but it's also a nice addition to most any soup.  

I am still trying to tone down some of those efforts at saving food for later, because we don't have as much company at meal times as we once did, and if I freeze things on too big a scale, they end up freezer-burnt by the time I find them.   

I usually begin pondering what I'll have for dinner (noon meal) the day before, but I didn't begin thinking about today's meal until about 9:30 AM this morning.  

My husband isn't picky.  If I'm not in the mood to cook (a rare happening around here), he doesn't mind if we just have a grilled cheese or chicken-salad sandwich, because usually we do have a regular meal, because I enjoy cooking.  

We always have plenty of canned and frozen vegetables available, but I was at a loss for a main course; so I opened the deep freeze, gazed at the bounty therein, stirred things around, moved packages... and found a gallon freezer bag full of broth that had even some poultry meat frozen in there:  Obviously I had frozen it to make noodles, I figured.  

I normally make noodles for holiday meals, but we love them any old time.  Noodles are part of my family history; Grandma Stevens made noodles any time the family got together at her house.  

So noodles, just for Cliff and me, would be a real treat.  It made things easy for me, because we like our noodles over mashed potatoes.  We're not afraid of carbs!  I know, I know... I should hate carbs and whole milk and butter and sugar, but I love fat (not on me, just on my tongue where I can taste it).  So I asked Cliff if it was OK to just have noodles and taters.  Of course, that was fine.  Hey, it can't be any worse for us than french fries and Whoppers (guilty pleasure); we'll just pretend we're eating out, so carbs won't count.

We began eating, and it was delicious, except for... well, the noodles were as tasty as ever, but there was something different (in a good way).  It took about half-a-dozen bites before it hit me:  "Cliff!  This isn't chicken meat and broth.  It's turkey broth and meat from a turkey frame someone gave me after thanksgiving.  I froze it so we could have turkey frame soup, and I'd only have to add the noodles and veggies."

Turkey frame soup is another favorite, and we look forward to having it every year, after Thanksgiving.  One time I got on Facebook and told all my local friends that if they weren't going to use the frame of their turkey after their big dinner, they could give them to me.  Boy, did I rake in the turkey bones!  Used every contribution, too, over the next year.  But I digress.

We declared our turkey and noodles to be a rousing success.  From now on, I may have trouble deciding whether I want soup or noodles when I boil down my turkey frame.

And HERE is my mom's noodle recipe.

(Our pasture is really turning green already, just so you know.)