Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Soup

This quickly became a family favorite after a sweet friend had me over for lunch and served this soup.  It's quick and easy.  This is a recipe that can be put together in an afternoon and still be full of flavor by dinner time.  (I don't have the link to the site I got this recipe from as I wrote it down on a note card, so I can't give credit but I will put this disclaimer that this is not my original recipe.)

Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:

1 pound ground Italian sausage (we like to use hot)

24 ounces of spaghetti or marinara sauce

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

8 ounces cream cheese

8 ounces sliced mushrooms

16 ounces frozen cheese tortellini

2 ounces fresh spinach leaves

Instructions:

1.  Brown and crumble sausage until cooked through.  Drain fat.  Place cooked sausage in slow cooker.

2.  Add spaghetti/marinara sauce, broth, cream cheese and mushrooms in the slow cooker.  You can just drop the whole block of cream cheese in, no need to worry about stirring or cutting it up.

3.  Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or HIGH for 2-3 hours

4.  20 minutes before serving turn heat to HIGH if not already done so and stir in frozen tortellini and spinach.  Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until tortellini is tender and hot.

5.  Serve topped with parmesan cheese and crusty bread.

 

Copy Cat Zuppa Toscana

You may have heard that we live in place that some like to call "Lost in the Woods".  That name usually bothers me because I really love this place, however there are moments when I'm reminded that some of the creature comforts are a bit further away from us than we'd like.  Places like big name restaurants like Olive Garden.  I don't usually miss restaurants since the boys are perfectly content eating whatever Kevin or I come up with but every now and again we miss some of our favorites...like this soup.  Thankfully I found this recipe years ago on the internet and it's been a family favorite on cold days like today.  Like most recipes, we doubled it to feed our growing family of boys.

Zuppa Toscana

1 lb spicy Italian sausage - browned, drained & crumbled (I like to use a mix of hot and mild)
1/2 lb smoked bacon - cooked & chopped (bacon bits work well too!)
1 quart water
(2) 14.5 oz cans chicken broth 

 2 large russet potatoes - scrubbed clean and cut into small cubes with skin still on (I've used red potatoes and they were just fine)

 2 garlic cloves - peeled, crushed
1 med. onion - peeled, chopped
2 cups chopped kale 

1 cup heavy whipping cream
salt and pepper - to taste

•  Place water, broth, potatoes, garlic, and onion in a pot; simmer over medium heat until potatoes are tender.

•  Add sausage and bacon to pot; simmer for 10 minutes.

•  Add kale and cream to pot; season with salt and pepper; heat through.

Creamy and Spicy Corn Soup

I should have pulled out my good camera and taken a pic but I didn't, sorry!

Facebook is apparently the place to share recipes.  My feed is constantly flooded with recipes and occasionally I'll try one.  Our weather here in Missouri is finally cooling off and today actually felt like fall!  I saw this recipe yesterday and decided today would be a good day to try it out.  I had everything at my house and whipped it up.  I have to say I was quite pleased with it.  Because it's a "healthy" recipe, it isn't heavy and it has a very refreshing taste.  It's so simple to make.  I didn't fancy it up with any garnishes and still enjoyed it!

Creamy and Spicy Corn Soup
(original recipe posted here)

Ingredients

• 5 ears fresh sweet corn
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 a medium yukon gold potato, chopped
• 2-3 cups vegetable stock (the more stock you add, the thinner your soup will be) I actually used half vegetable stock and half chicken stock
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1.5 tsp chili powder
• A pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions

Cut the onion, potato, and trim the corn kernels off the 5 ears of corn.

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, saute for 5 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the potato and broth, bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are very soft – about 10 minutes. Then add the fresh corn and cook through for a couple minutes more.

Add a bit more vegetable broth if your soup mixture looks too thick. Add all of your spices (cumin, chili powder, cayenne, black pepper). Then puree with an immersion/hand blender, or with a regular blender/food processor.

Top with a variety of toppings: cilantro, tomatoes, fresh corn, crushed corn chips, avocado, or anything else you can think of! Enjoy!

Ham & Bean Soup

We're having a snow day here in MO. The snow is falling (about 3 1/2 inches right now) and it's cold! What better than a bowl of hot soup to warm us right up? The hubby looked in the fridge and saw that we still had a baggie of ham from a luau we did last year with his unit (we had an entire pig roasted, it was delicious!) We decided on some ham and bean soup with cornbread.

Ham and Bean Soup

Ingredients:

• 8 cups water
• 1 pound Great Northern beans or navy beans
• 2 cups cubed ham
• 1 ham bone or ham hock, optional
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper or to taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 rib celery, chopped or sliced thinly
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

Preparation:

Bring water and beans to a boil; boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 1 hour.

Stir in ham, ham bone or hock, pepper, bay leaf, carrot and celery. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover, and simmer until beans are tender (skim foam from top), about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If soup is too thick, add a little water.

Remove ham bone or ham hock (if used) and trim meat from bone. Return meat to soup with tomato sauce and salt; simmer for about 15 minutes longer. Remove bay leaf.
Ham and bean soup serves 6.

Crockpot Beef Stew

Our weather is starting to change and it's beginning to get a bit chilly. I LOVE my crockpot during the fall/winter seasons. Today we had a church get together where we all met for dinner first and then cleaned our building. Everyone had to bring a pot of soup. I decided to make beef stew and oh man, I am pretty proud of this, it was DELICIOUS! I say was because sadly, none made it home with us.

Crockpot Beef Stew

2 lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch squares
1-2 lbs of carrots (use whatever you have, baby carrots or regular carrots)
3-4 potatoes, cut into chunks
2 onions, cut into wedges
1 1/2 cups drained, diced tomatoes (I used some of my tomatoes I canned!)
2 cups beef broth (I ended up using more but I'll tell you why later)
2 celery stalks, diced
3-4 Tablespoons quick-cooking Tapioca (I love using tapioca as a thickening agent in stews)
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3-4 bay leaves

Combine all the ingredients and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

*I like a thicker broth in my beef stew so I added one packet of McCormick Beef Stew Seasoning this go round but you don't need it, your stew will still be great without it, even without tons of additional seasoning! Because I added this seasoning mix, I used a little more beef broth so it wouldn't be too thick.

Taco Soup (CrockPot)

1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 pkg hidden valley ranch mix
2 cans pinto beans
2 cans black beans
2 cans corn
1 can Rotel
1 large can diced tomatoes

Brown meat, drain, place in crockpot
sprinkle seasonings on meat
drain and rinse all the cans of beans, place in crockpot
add corn (do not drain)
add Rotel and tomatoes

Mix together and heat on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.

Really the longer the better.

Serve with sour cream and shredded cheese.

My kids eat it with both tortilla chips and cornbread.

I actually triple this recipe because my kids love it so much and we hardly ever have leftovers!