Lasagne Soup

In the cold months of fall and winter, I like to serve soup at least once per week. It's such a warm me up dish that is absolutely delicious with homemade bread or rolls. However, by mid January I was getting a little tired of the same ol', same ol' soups week in and week out. It seems that my husband is rather picky when it comes to soup and I found myself making Chili, Vegetable Beef Soup and Potato Soup most of the time. Then, Real Mom Kitchen had "Soup Week" in January, and shared the recipe for this Lasagne Soup. I had to have it. I knew it was a MUST try! We love lasagne, we love soup...what's NOT to love about this recipe? I changed her recipe from being a stovetop prep to Slow Cooker and I served this soup up with Parmesan Knots (recipe coming soon!) and it was the perfect solution to a perfectly cold day!

Ingredients

- 1 lb. ground beef

- 3 T.  dried, minced onion

- 3 T. Garlic Powder

- 1 t. Thyme

- 1 T. packed Brown Sugar

- 4 cups of Chicken Broth

- 2, (14.5 ounce) cans Diced Tomatoes

- 2, (8 ounce) cans Tomato Sauce

- 2 t. Italian Seasoning

- 1/2 t. Salt

- 2 c. uncooked shaped pasta

- 1/2 c. Grated Parmesan Cheese

In a skillet, brown ground beef, then add onion, bell pepper and garlic. Cook over medium heat until onions are translucent. Drain well and put in crockpot. Stir in thyme, brown sugar, broth, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, and salt. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. In the last thirty minutes of cooking, add cooked pasta to soup and stir in Parmesan cheese.

Directions

Thick and Hearty Chili

A few weeks ago, I was making a crockpot full of soup, and my husband asked if it was Chili that I was preparing. I told him no, but that I had chili planned for a night later in the month. He responded with "Good. I like Chili". Fast Forward to yesterday morning. I was pulling the ingredients out to make the promised pot of chili, and my husband walked over and asked what I was fixing. I told him chili, and he responded with "I don't like chili." WHAAAAAAAT??!??? I reminded him of the previous conversation, and he said "Well, I like chili. Just not yours. I prefer for there to be tomato chunks. And for it to be REALLY thick. And lots of hamburger". Okay. I can work with that. So I put away all of the ingredients for the original chili recipe I was going to use, and concocted this recipe for a thick, hearty, chunky chili. It was a hit!

Ingredients

1 (16 oz.) can Tomato Sauce

2 c. Black Beans

1 lb. Ground Beef, Browned

1 (16 oz.) can Refried Beans

2 1/2 T. Chili Seasoning

1 (16 oz) can Stewed Tomatoes, cut into chunks

Directions

Combine all ingredients into a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat and let simmer on low for one hour.

Go check out more great recipes at Foodie Friday, Friday Feasts and Fun with Food Friday.

Zuppa Tuscana Soup

I have a confession to make. I have never before in my life eaten Zuppa Tuscana soup before. Apparently Olive Garden makes a pretty mean version of this stuff, but I've never tried it! When I stumbled upon the recipe over at Finding Joy in My Kitchen, I decided that it sounded really good and I'd like to give it a try!I am soooo glad that I did! This soup is phenomenal! I've been looking for a new and different soup recipe, and here it is!

Not only is this soup phenomenal tasting, but it's super easy to make! The flavors of this soup just meld together so well! Hubs told me that he felt it was a little too "leafy" so I think next time I may tone down the spinach a notch, but otherwise this was great!! A+ soup in my book!

Ingredients...

...1/2 lb. Italian sausage

...6 medium potatoes, cubed

...1 medium onion, diced

...4 garlic cloves, minced

...4 c. chicken stock

...2 c. water

...2 c. milk

...1 c. frozen spinach

...6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

Directions...

In a stockpot, brown sausage with onion until no longer pink. Add in chicken broth, water and potatoes. Let simmer over medium heat until potatoes are tender. Stir in the milk and spinach and continue to let simmer. Mash potatoes slightly. Add in bacon and continue to let simmer until everything is heated through and ready to serve. In total, I let my soup simmer for about an hour from start to finish.

Irish Lamb Stew

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I'm by no means Irish, and I don't even really enjoy "pretending" to be Irish around the holiday, but I do love me some Irish Lamb Stew! I attended college in a very small, very Irish town, and St. Patricks Day was a bigger deal than any other day of the year! Actually, the weekend before St. Patty's Day was the biggest deal of the year, but you get the picture  :) Anyways, my first year living in this small Irish town, I worked as a waitress in an Irish Pub located inside the casino in town. One of our menu specialities was Irish Lamb Stew. For the first portion of my employment there, I was scared to try this stew. The whole "lamb" thing kind freaked me out. I'd never eaten lamb before! One night, I was tired of eating the same thing day in and day out so I decided to give this stew a try! Mmmmm! It was love at first taste! This stew was so thick and rich! The meat and veggies were in large chunks and the seasonings were spot on!

I was the only server there that liked the stuff! I really wanted to recreate that recipe on my own, with the exception of using lamb, as I don't have access to any around here, just beef. I didn't really succeed in creating an exact replica of said stew, but I did created a mighty great tasting alternative! This stew wasn't as thick, I think the "sauce" needs work, and I chose to chop the veggies and meat into smaller, bite size, chunks.

I found this recipe over at Allrecipes and it reminded me a lot of my crockpot beef stew recipe that I already make (and apparently haven't shared with you, shame on me!), with a few changes. To make it "Irish" I suppose. I'm going to continue to make this recipe and play around with it a bit. I really want to try and get the thicker, rich sauce like the first Irish Stew I ever tried!

Ingredients...

...1/2 lb. bacon, cooked and diced

...3 lb. of steak or roast, cut into 2 inch pieces (or lamb, to be traditional)
...1/4 tsp. salt (not pictured)
...1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
...1/4 c. flour
...1 tsp. garlic powder
...1 large onion, chopped
...1/4 c. water
...2 c. beef broth (I used 2 cups of water and 2 beef boullion cubes)
...2 T. sugar (not pictured)
...2 c. carrots, sliced
...2 c. celery, sliced
...4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
...1/2 tsp. dried thyme
...1 bay leaf
...1 c. water (or you can use white wine in place of this water)
 

Directions...

 
Coat steak/roast/lamb (whatever you choose to use) with salt, pepper and flour. Place in a skillet with some oil and cook until meat is cooked through. Place in greased slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients and stir well to mix ingredients and evenly distribute spices. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

To see more great crockpot recipes, be sure to check out Crockpot Wednesday over at Dining with Debbie!

Slow Cooked Vegetable Beef Soup

Ohmygosh! Why did it take me sooo long to make my own Vegetable Beef soup?!?!? If that doesn't give you any tips as to how good this soup is, then let me spell it out for you.

This. Soup. Is. Amazing.

End of story.

I started this soup in the morning, and then taste tested it before I went to work for the afternoon...I seriously didn't want to go to work after I tested it. I just wanted to sit at home all afternoon and eat this soup. I was practically giddy all afternoon at work, just thinking about this soup simmering away in the slow cooker at home, awaiting my arrival. The wait to eat this for supper was worth every. last. minute. YUUMMMMM!!! The seasonings and spices are right on, the consistency is perfect, and the combination of everything together is just heaven. Heaven in a bowl. Perhaps we should rename this...

I bet you can't guess where I got this recipe from either (wink, wink). Surely enough...Taste of Home's Slow Cooker Favorites cookbook. I've sang my praises about Taste of Home before, and I'll sing them again. I love Taste of Home. Probably just about as much as I love this soup! The recipes are so down home delicious and easy. I mean, you just can't beat chopping some stuff up and tossing it in the slow cooker for 8 hours while you go out and enjoy yourself, then coming home to a fully prepared dinner! It's like you have your own maid or chef or something slaving at the stove all day for you!

Ingredients...

...1 lb. steak, cut into cubes
...1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
...3 c. water
...2-3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
...1 onion, diced
...3 celery ribs, sliced
...3 carrots, sliced
...3 beef bouillon cubes
...1/2 tsp. dried basil
...1/2 tsp. dried oregano
...1/2 tsp. salt
...1/4 tsp. pepper
...1 pkg. frozen mixed vegetables

Directions...

Combine the first 12 ingredients in your slow cooker. Cook on high for 6 hours. Add frozen vegetables and cook an additional 2 hours on high.

To see more great crockpot recipes be sure to check out Crockpot Wednesday over at Dining with Debbie!

No Fuss Potato Soup

I feel like I make potato soup all the time. This is like, what, the third recipe I've shared for potato soup now?!? What can I say, I love the stuff! When I was growing up, we rarely had homemade soup. The only soup I knew came from a can...sad, I know. I remember when I reached junior high age, my mom graduated me from canned chicken noodle or tomato soup to canned potato soup...I was obsessed! I loved the stuff! I always felt so "grown up" eating potato soup while my younger sisters munched on chicken noodle. Yep, I was kind of a loser like that ;)

So that explains my obsession with making potato soup. And I guess that explains why when I found (another) new recipe for it in my trusty Taste of Home Slow Cooker Favorites cookbook, I just had to give it a try! I think this *might* be my favorite version yet!

Ingredients...

...6 c. cubed, peeled potatoes
...5 c. water
...2 c. chopped onion
...1/2 c. chopped celery
...1/2 c. sliced carrots
...1/4 c. butter
...2-3 chicken boullion cubes
...2 tsp. salt
...1/4 tsp. pepper
...1 can evaporated milk

Directions...

In a large slow cooker, combine all the ingredients except for the evaporated milk. Cook on high for 8 hours. Add milk, stirring well. Cook an additional 30-60 minutes, until heated through.

To see more great recipes, be sure to check out Tempt my Tummy Tuesday over at Blessed with Grace, Tuesday's at the Table over at All the Small Stuff, Tasty Tuesday over at Beauty and Bedlam and Crockpot Wednesday over at Dining with Debbie!

Hobo Beef Stew

While my computer was away getting all fixed up, I had a craving for beef stew. I have one tried and true recipe that I found on the internet and had bookmarked, but with no computer, I didn't have access to that recipe. I started to scrounge my many, many, many cookbooks and found a lot of recipes that sounded delicious, but none that I had all the ingredients on hand for at the time.

In comes my trusty Taste of Home Slow Cooking Cookbook to the rescue! This recipe was originally called Hobo Meatball Stew...but I was in no mood to make meatballs. So I just eliminated the meatballs and replaced them with some cut up steak. Wa-la! Hobo Beef Stew!

I also made a few other changes, but that's typical of any recipe I try...

Ingredients...

...1 lb. steak or stew meat
...4 medium potatoes, peeled and chunked
...4 medoum carrots, peeled and chunked
...1 1/2 tsp. salt
...1/2 tsp. pepper
...1 medium onion, chunked
...1/2 c. ketchup
...1/2 c. water
...1 1/2 tsp. vinegar
...1/2 tsp. dried basil

Directions...

Place all ingredients in slow cooker and stir until well combined. Cook on low for 8-9 hours or on low for 4-5.

Crockpot Creamy Potato Soup

It's a common known fact that with pregnancy comes cravings. And my cravings have been all things potatoes. Mashed potatoes, potato salad...mmmmmm!!! So I decided to brave a potato soup in the crockpot. I've made it before, you can find that attempt here. And while it was good then, it was watery. And appeared to have "grease" pockets floating around. I prefer my potato soup to be more creamy.

And this recipe is just the ticket! YUUUMMMM!!!

Ingredients...

...1 lb. potatoes
...1/4 of a medium onion, chopped
...3 T. cream cheeese, cubed
...1 can (14 oz.) chicken broth
...1/4 c. milk
...1 tsp. parsley
...1/8 tsp. white pepper

Directions...

Throw all ingredients in crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours (or high for 3-4). Give a good stir to the soup before serving to completely combine the ingredients, which may appear resistent to combining until you stir. Once you stir it gets creamy and delicious! You may also want to add in salt and pepper to suit your tastes when you are serving this. It needed something, so I added a little of each and that TOTALLY completed this soup! Enjoy!

Egg Drop Soup

One of the random boxes of stuff that I'm trying to use up in my pantry was a Wanchai Ferry Sweet and Sour Chicken dinner kit (soooo not good, by the way!). So I decided that the only way to compliment a Chinese dinner kit, was to whip up a pot of egg drop soup! Because what is a chinese meal without some of this soup? I'm glad I made the soup, because the dinner kit was nasty! So at least we had something else to fill our tummies! This was good, and the only changes I would like to see made next time is to add some carrots, because that's what our local chinese resturant does, and I love it! This was way easier than I thought it would be, which was great because I'm going to be making it a lot from now on!

Ingredients...

...2 (14 oz.) cans Chicken Broth (or 4 cups if you use boullion cubes or make your own!)
...2 eggs
...1 egg yolk
...1/8 tsp. ground ginger
...2 tbs. chopped chives
...1 1/2 tbs. cornstarch

Directions...

Reserve 3/4 cup chicken broth in a bowl and set aside. Place remaining broth in a pot over medium-high heat. Stir in ginger and chives and bring to a rolling boil. Meanwhile, stir cornstarch into reserved chicken broth until smooth. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk. Drizzle egg a little at a time from a fork into the boiling broth. Egg should cook immediately. Once the eggs have been dropped, stir in the cornstarch mixture until desired consistency is reached.

Tortilla Soup

In the chilly months, I try to make a big (crock)pot full of soup about once per week. Last week I whipped up some crockpot chili. This week I decided to try something new and make Tortilla Soup. We've never had a soup like this before, so it was really fun to try! It is a pretty spicy soup though, so if you have littles in your house (or just a low spicy tolerance) you might want to tone things down a bit. Otherwise, it was greatly tasty! I served it alongside some homemade bread (which I thought I had shared my recipe for, but apparently not...watch for that to come! My sister has dubbed it the best homemade bread. ever.) and it was just a delicious and complete meal, all from scratch...and all made before I went into work today, so it was all ready when we got home!

Ingredients...

...3 cups chicken broth

...28 oz. diced tomatoes (you can use canned or fresh. I used fresh)

...1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded

...1 onion, diced

...1/2 cup corn (I used frozen. You can use canned, fresh, frozen...doesn't matter!)

...1 cup chopped veggies (I used leftover Green Giant Steamers from a few nights agos supper)

...1/2 tsp. garlic powder

...1/4 tsp. chili powder

...1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

... 1 tsp. cumin

Directions...

Toss all ingredients into slow cooker and stir well. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 6-ish.

End of Summer Harvest Soup

I was wandering around over at A Year of Slowcooking the other day, and I found that Stephanie had just made this recipe a few weeks back. I had some leftover produce in my refrigerator from various farmers market trips and family members garden overflow, so I figured there was no better way to use it up than by making this recipe. I did change up the recipe from what she had written to fit what I had on hand. So this recipe I am posting is my version. If you want to see the orginial recipe, you can find it here.

Ingredients...

...4 cups chicken broth

...1 cup pasta sauce

...1 cup water

...1 yellow onion, diced

...2 cucumbers, diced

...2(ish) Yellow Summer Squash, cut into rounds

...2 cups tomatoes, diced
...2 cups cooked beans

...1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning

...1/2 cup dry pasta

Directions...

Toss all ingredients but pasta into slow cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours. In the last 20 minutes of cooking time, stir in dry pasta and let cook until pasta is tender.

My Thoughts...

This was just okay to me. It came out more goulash-y than soup-y. Which disappointed me tremendously, because we all know how much I like goulash. Hubs liked it, but he (of course) complained right away that there was no meat. He at most of it. I put the rest in the freezer for a chilly winter day. Odds are, I won't make this again. But it was a great way to use up that extra garden produce that was otherwise going to rot, and it's packed to boot with nutrients!

Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup

We are currently experiencing the lowest temps for mid July in over 100 years. Last night I went to the county fair to see a free concert (.38 Special!) and I actually had to BUNDLE UP (which was quite a feat, considering that most of my winter clothes are still packed away at my grandma's house from the move...). So, I decided to make up a big (crock)pot of soup. I hadn't attempted chicken noodle yet, so I decided to give it a whirl...

Ingredients...

...Chopped, cooked chicken meat (use how ever much or little you want to. I used 1 chicken hindquarter, and it worked out well)
...8 oz. egg noodles
...3 chopped carrots
...1/2 chopped onion
...1/4 cup butter
...12 cups water
...9 chicken boullion cubes
...1/2 tsp. dried marjoram
...1/2 tsp. black pepper
...1 bay leaf
...1 tbs. dried parsley

Directions...

Place everything in the crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8.

My Thoughts...

This had a great flavor and came out perfectly! I found it a little strange that after refrigeration it kind of gelled up...not really sure what caused this, but it was still tasty. My noodles also look incredibly misformed, as hubs left the crockpot on warm for several hours after it was done cooking. So the noodles sort of took on a life of their own. Still, they were tasty! Perfect for the FIFTY DEGREE weather we've been having in MID JULY!!!

Crockpot Chili

So, I know that summer hasn't even started...we're still in spring, but I want sooooo badly to skip right over summer and go to fall. I think it's because fall is my favorite season, and also usually when we're busy with moving back up to school and so I don't get to enjoy it. So, I think I just want it here so badly so I can actually enjoy it! Well, at any rate, I have to suffer through three months of sweltering heat (hopefully not though. maybe it will just stay unseasonably cool this summer? I would be content with that!) before I can enjoy fall.

Saturday was one of those (very) unseasonably cool days, with dreary skies and lots of rain. I decided to just pretend it was fall, and I made a big pot of slow cooker chili to enjoy. It sufficed me. For now.

The ingredients....

...1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
...1 (large) can tomato juice
...1 onion
...1/2 to 1 lb. ground beef
...Green Pepper (as much or as little as you'd like)
...2 cans worth of beans (I used 1 part navy beans and 1 part black beans)
...1 T. chili powder
...1/4 t. garlic powder (or 2 garlic cloves. whichever you prefer)

Directions...

Brown ground beef. Put everything in the slow cooker, stir together and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4.

My Thoughts....

Chili is one of my favorite fix it and forget it recipes...plus it just always reminds me of the fall as that's the only time my grandma made it. I could eat chili everyday! This was the first time I tried my chili with green pepper, and it proved to be good! This chili was especially good with a slice of homemade Amish Bread straight from the oven. Talk about warming the heart!

Crockpot Potato Soup

I love my crockpot. I love soup. I love soup in my crockpot. Actually, I love everything in my crockpot...mostly for the ease of preparation and the smell that floats through my house. Last weekend I decided to make some potato soup, so here ya go!

The Ingredients...

...6 Slices Bacon, cut up
...1/2 C. chopped onion
...1/2 C. chopped carrot
...1 can chicken broth (or 2 cups if you don't have canned)
...2 C. milk
...4 C. cubed potatoes (it took me about 6 medium potatoes)
...1/8 t. cayenne pepper (aka red pepper)
...1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I just threw in a few small handfuls)

Directions...

Place all ingredients in crockpot and stir together. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.

My Thoughts...

This was good. Hubs suggested that I add some chopped green onion to the mix for added flavor. I think I will try this next time. Anyways, while this was good, it wasn't great. I think I'm going to try and find a different recipe next time. Hubs' favorite potato soup recipe is baked potato soup...so I think I will try that next time.