Turkey Soup

8 c. turkey stock
2 c. celery diced (use the leaves too)
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1/2 tsp. cumin
4 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
2 c. leftover turkey (cut against the grain of the meat, about 1/2" thick)
1/2 c. rice, cooked (optional--can use white or brown, long grain or short, or substitute some white beans if you want more fiber)
1/8 c. lime juice (more if needed, to taste)
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
Saute celery and onions in a small amount of olive oil, add in cumin and stir. Add stock and garlic and bring up to simmer--add rice, turkey at the end--just to heat them up, then take off heat and add lemon juice and cilantro, salt and pepper. You can add other vegetables too Avoid carrots, but green peppers, frozen corn, or frozen peas work well. Bok choy is another option that adds a nice green. A slice or two of jalapeno pepper also works if you like a little heat.
When I was a child I had a real aversion to the post-Thanksgiving soup. I have come a long way since those days (I don't think I ate vegetables that weren't an ingredient in a garden salad at that point, and I went on to become a vegetarian for a decade) but I do believe that simple soups require attention to the balance of their flavors. It is not hard, but you have to think about it.

Mark Bittman is the current master of this approach to cooking. For the beginner, The Minimalist Cooks at Home is a good introduction to this cooking style, which comes with some tips on how to start out a dinner meal, and what you might serve with an entree. His masterpiece, in my opinion, is How To Cook Everything, which is the cookbook I would choose if I had to go to to a deserted island with one cookbook. But it doesn't really teach you this philosophy, which is a good perspective to have in your cooking armamentatium. You can also learn a lot about how to cook more simply and what goes together by reading his blog: http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/