Every year in November we all look forward to the best meal of the year; the day after Thankgiving leftovers.

The day after Thanksgiving is when you eat leftover turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and green bean casserole for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It’s a glorious food trifecta where you can have your favorites all day. How is this better than the actual Thanksgiving meal you ask? Well, I would think that would be obvious since:

1.) you didn’t have to starve yourself until 3 p.m. when dinner was served.

2.) you aren’t surrounded by obnoxious cousins reaching across your plate every two minutes for another roll.

3.) there are no loud uncles haranguing you about your personal life.

4.) you aren’t forced to be dressed in a nice but extremely uncomfortable outfit (in which the waistline does not properly extend to fit all the food you would like to eat).

5.) you don’t have to use your best table manners as to not horrify your grandmother.

6.) no awkward, painful small talk with your great aunt, whom you will only see on that day and maybe Easter.

The next day you are free to eat all that amazing food again, but this time there are no rules. You can load up as much food as you want and lick it off your plate as you are lying on your couch watching TV with your sweats’ drawstring untied.

We seldom let any of this prepared Thanksgiving food go to waste, but what about all the ingredients we bought specifically for this occasion? What else could we use them for? The answer, my friends, is some post-Thanksgiving soup.

A delicious way to use up every bit of that turkey and vegetables is to make turkey soup. First. you put the carcass, a chopped onion, a sliced carrot, a couple cloves of garlic, a few sprigs of thyme, rosemary and parsley, a couple bay leaves, in a stock pot and cover with cold water. Season with salt and pepper and bring to boil. Let this simmer for about three hours and then strain it so you are left with a golden broth. Now you can add any vegetables you have from the feast the day before; the carrots, onions, and celery from the stuffing, some diced potatoes that you used for the mashed potatoes, and the corn and green beans you used for for side dishes. Make sure to add the harder vegetables that will take longer to cook earlier than the rest. And you don’t have to limit yourself to traditional Thanksgiving ingredients. You can add rice, noodles, beans or whatever your heart desires. Finally, season with salt and pepper to taste. Now grab yourself a bowl and enjoy!