Creamy turkey, rice, and vegetable soup

I made another turkey breast dinner for the DC fam last night. This morning, with Baby Teddy in the bouncer, I'm concocting my version of creamy turkey and rice soup adapted from CooksRecipes.Com's Williasburg Turkey Soup.  

This is a healthier version (as the original recipes calls for 1 cup of butter).  It freezes great. Enjoy!      Yield: 4 1/2 quarts  

3 TBLS olive oil 

3 onions, diced

3 large carrots, diced

3 ribs celery, diced 

3 TBLS all-purpose flour

3 quarts turkey or chicken broth (homemade is best if fat skimmed)

1 cup long-grain rice (or any other kind, actually)

3/4 teaspoon pepper

2-3 cups leftover cooked turkey

2 cups half-and-half (fat-free, regular, mixture with cream)

1. Heat oil in large Dutch oven. Stir onion, carrot and celery into roux. Cook over medium heat 20-30 minutes, stirring often.  Be sure to thoroughly cook the veggies.
2. Sprinkle flour across top and incorporate. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Add broth,  rice,  and pepper. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until rice is tender. (Don't add more rice.  It absorbs a lot of the liquid.)  Add turkey.
4. Add half-and-half (or part 1/2 and 1/2 plus cream). Cook until thoroughly heated.
   Salt at the table.
   If you want to cut calories, omit the 1/2 and 1/2 and "creamy" from the name!  
   The best of both worlds is to remove 1-2 cups of the soup and cream with an immersion blender or in a food processor before  you add the turkey. Then, return the creamed portion to the pot and add the turkey. Omit the 1/2 and 1/2 at the end.  You can keep "creamy" in the name!