My after thanksgiving soup

On Thanksgiving, after we cleared the table, my son and I prepared our turkey stock. I got a bit inspired to add the bone from a shoulder picnic I made earlier in the month, I had read a tip to save the bones.

Following this recipe: Crock Pot Chicken or Turkey Stock from Recipezaar, with a very few modifications:
1 shoulder picnic bone, it was very large
all the turkey bones
4-5 carrots, unpeeled and cut up
3 onions, quartered and with the skin left on
1 bunch celery, leaves and all, cut up
1 shallot, quartered with the skin on
fresh parsley
2 bay leaves
boiling water to cover

I turned the crockpot to low and let it cook for 14-16 hours. Strained, cooled, removed the fat, and froze until needed


This morning I made the soup, following no recipe:
1 bunch of celery, chopped
5 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 onions, chopped
1 shallot, cut in half and sliced
2 parsnips, peeled and sliced
1 rutabaga, peeled and chopped
2 cans of white beans, rinsed and drained
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
fresh shiitake mushrooms, cut up
fresh basil, rosemary, thyme, parsley, and sage
2 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and freshly ground pepper
4 cups turkey-ham bone stock
1 cup chicken stock (homemade - same way as the turkey, but with only chicken bones)
3-4 cups left over turkey, cut into chunks

I put the celery, carrots, onions, shallot, parsnips, rutabaga, white beans and tomatoes in the crockpot. Topped with the seasonings and mushrooms. Then I heated the stock together until hot and poured it into the crock. I stirred it just a little to get it all mixed in.
Turned on low for 7-8 hours. Then I added the turkey and let it cook 40 to 50 minutes.

I served with cheese bread.

Learning

In the beginning when I started to learn to cook I would fail and give up. One example is my attempt to roast a chicken. It was overly dry and since then I've never made another. Over the years I've concluded one thing - this method produced zero improvement of my cooking skills.

My method has developed into: try, fail, figure out why, and try again. I'll keep going until I've figured it out. Same goes with trying new foods. If I try it and dislike it I try another method of preparation.

I attempted to make poached eggs and followed these instructions. My first attempt didn't go well because I didn't use enough water. My second attempt went better because I added enough water. Her suggestion to use vinegar was great and I used rice vinegar like she did.

Up next I'll be checking out the store link she provides in a recent post and hopefully get a bottle of Tahitian vanilla extra going.