I left the carcass in the slow cooker for hours, simmering into a nice stock. Then this morning I met pairs4life at a knife skills class this morning and since we were able to take home a bag of chopped onions, celery, peppers, carrots, zucchini and a little parsley, I think I'm going to end up making soup earlier than I thought. I feel like I'm getting four free meals.

As for the gravy, I'm combining many of the ideas above. I went to Chambers restaurant just a few blocks north of me for fresh giblet gravy for the meal, then saved all the drippings. They filled two pint containers, but once I take the giant block of fat off the top, I think I'll have one pint. This will go into the freezer to be defrosted for next years' homemade gravy.

We were all pleased with most of the meal (except I hated the recipe I used for corn pudding this year, blecch) and poor kitty was very disappointed that he only got to lick some spilled drippings off the floor. You could tell the little guy was devising a plan to get up on the buffet to no avail.