Crockpot Taco Soup

This is a quick, easy lunch that we enjoy. It's roughly based on the recipe on this site, but we don't have a "large family" so we've adapted it.

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can corn
1 can black beans
1 can some other kind of beans
1 can tomato sauce or diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano

Mix in crockpot, cook on high, 2-3 hours.

Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, fresh cilanto & tortilla chips

Garam Masala Lentil Soup

Adapted from this site:

1 lg onion, chopped

2 Tbsp coconut oil

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 c lentils, rinsed

1 c brown rice

8 c water

1 can of coconut milk (14oz)

Salt to taste

In lg pot cook onions an turmeric in oil for about 5 min. Add garlic. Cook about 5 min more. Add water, lentils and rice and bring to a simmer.Turn heat to low and cook until lentils and rice are soft, about 45 min.

Use immersion blender to blend to desired consistency.

Make Tadka:

1/4 c coconut oil

3/4 tsp cardamom

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Melt coconut oil in small saucepan. Add spices and stir until you can smell the spices. Don't burn! 

Whisk Tadka into the soup. Add coconut milk, bring back to a simmer, add salt to taste, and serve.

Quick Black Bean Soup

Tonight I needed a soup recipe that I could make in, oh . . . 10 minutes! A google for "quick soup recipes" brought lots of recipes from people who have a very different definition of "quick" (80 minutes is NOT quick in my book, thankyouverymuch, much less crockpot recipes! but I digress . . .). One thing that jumped out at me was black bean soup recipes. With canned beans (which I had) they could be quick. But all the recipes I read (2 or 3) had ingredients that someone in my family wouldn't eat. So I used those recipes as a rough guide for proportions and "winged it". . . here's what I came up with:
2-3 Tbsp butter (or olive oil)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic (should have done 3-4, I ended up adding some garlic powder since there wasn't enough garlic, but real garlic is better)
2 c water or chicken stock
3 Tbsp McKay's Chicken Seasoning (eliminate if using chicken stock)
3 cans black beans, drained & rinsed
a "shake" of cumin
a tiny pinch of red pepper
salt to taste
a couple large spoonfuls your favorite salsa

Saute onion and garlic in butter. Add water, chicken seasoning, 2 cans black beans, and seasonings.  Heat through. Use immersion blender to mostly blend the soup. Add last can of beans & salsa, adjust seasonings as needed, heat through. Serve. I would guess sour cream would make a nice garnish on this (I'm not a fan of sour cream on soup, and didn't think to suggest it to dh until he was done).

Sassy & MiniMe both declared it DELICIOUS! If time isn't a factor, cooking dry beans would make it cheaper. Hubby's review was "I can eat it" but he tends to not be a big soup person OR bean person, so that's about all I can ask for from him LOL.

Creamy Potato Soup

Last week, A wanted to make supper, and after looking at what we had in the house and some recipes, we decided on this one. We didn't notice much cheddar flavor to it, even using our favorite SHARP raw cheddar, so we'll just call it creamy potato soup.

2 onions
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
6 lg potatoes, chopped
6 c water with vegetarian chicken seasoning as per the package (mine is 1 Tbsp seasoning per cup water)
1 tsp thyme
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c plain yogurt
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
salt & pepper to taste
baco-bits to garnish

Melt butter and olive oil in sopu pot. Saute onions. Add potatoes, water and chicken seasoning. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add thyme. Simmer 15-20 min. Remove from heat and add garlic, yogurt, cheese, salt and pepper. Puree with an immersion blender to desired consistency.  Garnish each serving with baco bits if desired.

Minted Sweet Pea Soup

Daddy wasn't home for supper tonight, so the girls & I went hunting for a recipe to try that WE would like and HE wouldn't. The girls decided they wanted soup (because, you know, 90+ degree weather in September is perfect soup weather LOL, but we have A/C so whatever . . .) so we started browsing the myriad of recipes I bookmark and never get around to trying. And we found this one.  I was SURE we had a huge bag of frozen peas in the freezer, so said yes, we could definitely make it. Only to realize, as we started to cook, that we apparently finished the huge bag and ate half of a smaller bag, so all I had was 1/2 lb of peas.  However, I DID have several bags of baby lima beans in the freezer (they're one of the few veggies hubby likes, so we eat them often), so we decided to use half peas & half lima beans. It was still a yummy soup, but we all felt that it would be BETTER with straight peas, so we'll be re-making this soon with all peas.  Here's the recipe, with my modifications:

1/3 c butter
1 lb peas
1/2 c water
some chopped onions (I didn't measure)
2 1/2 c milk or half-and-half (we use raw milk, I was opening a new gallon anyway & it's hard to mix teh cream in w/o pouring some off the top to give it more room, so I poured some cream into the measuring cup & then shook the rest in & finished measuring with the whole milk, so slightly creamier than whole milk not quite half & half, would be my guess)
1-2 tsp fresh mint, snipped (didn't measure, but I'd guess we used at least 3-4 tsp and could have used more)
salt to taste
chives for garnish

In a med saucepan melt the butter on low heat, then add peas, water & onions .  Cook 15-20 min for fresh peas, 5-10 minutes for frozen peas. Don't over-cook, you want the peas tender, not mushy.

Remove from burner, let cool slightly. Add milk, mint and salt. Puree with immersion blender. Return to burner and heat till heated through, do not boil.  Garnish with snipped chives &/or snipped mint.

For the 3 of us (plus sharing numerous bites with Little Bit), one recipe wasn't enough for a main dish, we'll be doubling this recipe in the future.

Garden Chowder

This is my adaptation of this recipe.

1 med to lg onion, chopped
1/4 c butter
1 c ea diced potatoes, celery, cauliflower, carrot & broccoli (or adapt to what you have/like, I skippe the carrots & cauliflower & doubled the potatoes & broccoli)
3 c water
3 tsp McKay's chicken seasoning
1 tsp salt
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 c flour
2 c milk
1 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1/8 - 1/4 tsp ea paprika & coriander
2-3 c shredded cheddar cheese

In lg stockpot saute onion in butter (will probably add the garlic at that point next time too) until tender. Add vegetables, water, chicken seasoning & salt. Reduce heat, cover, simmer 20 min. Combine flour & milk till smooth, add to soup. Allow to thicken at low temperature. Add parsley & spices. Just before serving, stir in cheese till melted.

Lindsey says this freezes well, we only have one kid-size serving left (I made it for lunch yesterday) so I won't find out this time around LOL.

Tomato Soup

I got some tomatoes from a friend (and still had some from Grandma from before) and dh didn't come home for lunch today (he doesn't like tomatoes) so I decided it was the perfect time to try this recipe. I'm re-typing it here in case it ever disappears off the other site (yes, I've learned this the hard way LOL):

5 lbs fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 c chopped onion
3 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 tsp sea salt

Put it all in a big pot and cook 3 hrs (I stirred every so often, not sure how necessary that was?). Blend and serve (or freeze or can it for later).

I thought it was very good (& love that there's no sugar or anything in it!) the girls weren't too impressed (but generally aren't huge fans of tomato soup). This will be a good thing to keep on hand for me when they eat mushroom soup w/ Daddy (since I don't like mushrooms) :)

Mom's Potato Noodle Soup

This is my mom's recipe, she's made it since I was a kid. I made this last winter when all 4 of us were sick, and the kids & dh ate through it in no time flat.

2 c potatoes, diced
6 c water
1 onion, chopped
3 Tbsp chicken seasoning
3 oz egg noodles (I use whole grain ones, and you can't tell the difference)
2 scrambled eggs

Combine all but eggs in stockpot. Boil long enough to cook noodles and potatoes. Add eggs just before serving.

Five Can Soup

This was a recipe I found when I was doing the South Beach Diet. I modified it to make it vegetarian. I haven't tried it for awhile, will probably try it with soy curls instead of fri chik.

1 can refried beans
1 can rotel tomatoes (I find these too spicy, I generally use the garlic & italian flavored ones, or plain)
1 can kidney beans, drained (or whatever kind of beans I have on hand)
1 can black beans, drained
1 can fri chik, chopped

Mix all ingredients, including broth from fri chik in stockot. Heat and add herbs to taste.

Lentil Garlic & Rosemary Soup

I found this recipe awhile ago when a friend who's dd was allergic to dairy & soy was coming over for lunch. It's easy, yummy & healthy!

2 c lentils
9-10 c water
1 bulb garlic, peeled & chopped (I always have minced garlic in the fridge, so I just dump a couple spoonfuls in)
lg sprig fresh rosemary, finely chopped or 2 tsp dried
4 med carrots, diced (I usually use potatoes instead, since none of us are fond of cooked carrots)
sea salt to taste

Place lentils in lg saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer & add garlic, rosemary and carrots. Cook 20 min & add salt.