Crock Pot Chicken or Turkey Soup

Crock Pot Chicken or Turkey Soup (Mrs.cbcg)
This recipe works for a 5 to 6-quart crock pot
I make the soup in 2 “stages” by discarding the vegetables used to make the stock and throwing in fresher chopped vegetables at the end, but that’s optional. The original veggies are too soft for my personal tastes. I usually quickly cook the second round of veggies in a little bit of the broth in a small pot on the stove and then throw them back in the crock pot.

5 chicken drumsticks OR 3 turkey drumsticks
2 stalks of celery, roughly cut into thirds
2-3 regular carrots, peeled and cut into thirds OR about 12-15 baby carrots,
1 yellow onion, cut in half
2-3 cloves garlic, cut in half
2 pieces of fresh ginger, each about 1 inch cubed
2 dried bay leaves
1 handful fresh parsley
Freshly ground pepper (about 1 tsp)
About ½ gallon water
1 ½ Tbsp lemon juice
¼ to ½ tsp dried dill
1 cup cooked pasta (orzo, egg noodles, whatever) or cooked rice or cooked barley

Chopped vegetables to reserve for the end:
2 stalks chopped celery
½ to ¾ cup chopped carrots
½ cup chopped yellow onion

Place the celery carrots, onion, garlic, and ginger in bottom of crock pot. Place chicken or turkey on top of vegetables. Pour water over the chicken/turkey. Water level should be about 1 inch above the meat. Add bay leaves, parsley, dill and pepper. Cook on High for 7 hours or Low for 10 hours.

During the last 30 minutes of cooking time, in a small pot on the stove, cook reserved vegetables in about 1.5 cups of the broth until tender. At the end of the cooking time, take out and discard all the vegetables, including garlic and ginger and parsley. Take out the chicken/turkey and remove meat from the bones. Chop meat roughly into bite size pieces. Discard bones. Return meat to the broth in the crock pot along with the cooked chopped vegetables.

Stir in the pasta/rice/barley and the lemon juice.