Crockpot Loaded Baked Potato Soup

3 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch pieces
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 package frozen chopped broccoli
1/4 -1/2 white onion, chopped
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup sour cream, plus more for garnish if desired
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 1/4 tsp salt
4 green onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
shredded cheddar cheese

1. Combine potatoes, pepper flakes, broccoli, and white onion in crockpot. Pour broth over top; cover and cook 6 hours on low or until potatoes are tender.
2. In a small bowl, stir together milk, 1/3 cup sour cream, cornstarch, and salt. Remove cover and mash potatoes (if you want a chunkier soup pull some potatoes out before mashing). Stir in milk mixture and green onions. Put potatoes chunks back in. Spoon soup into bowls.
3. Divide bacon between bowls, add sour cream to each bowl if desired. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.

Chicken and Dumplings

Stew:
2 1/4 pounds bone-in chicken breasts (I just used boneless skinless breasts)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
2 ribs celery, trimmed and diced
1 leek, trimmed, cleaned and thinly sliced - (I used dried chives and dehydrated onions)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill ( I used 1 tsp dried)
Dumplings:

2 cups biscuit mix -such as Heart Healthy Bisquick
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill (dried again)

Directions:

1. Heat a large, lidded nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and cook until browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Add 4 cups water, cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Poach 20 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove chicken from liquid (save liquid) and let cool. When cool enough to handle, remove and discard skin and bones and cut chicken into bite-size pieces.

2. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add carrots, celery and leek. Cook 5 minutes or until softened. Sprinkle with flour, salt and pepper. Cook 3 minutes, stirring. Add broth and 2 cups of the poaching liquid. Bring to a simmer; cook 5 minutes. Stir in chicken.Meanwhile, make Dumplings

3. In medium bowl, combine biscuit mix, milk and dill. Drop by tablespoonfuls into simmering liquid. Cover pot tightly; cook 10 minutes. Uncover and gently stir in peas and chopped dill.

I got from Family Circle and we all enjoyed it. Although I thought it could have used more liquid so maybe add more chicken broth or poaching liquid. Also I think when you drop the dumplings in it needs to be a roaring boil, by the time I was at the end of adding them I felt like they had mushed together a little too much, but they still turned out alright.

Black Bean Soup

4 cans black beans (3 to blend for base, 1 for hearty filling)
1 can corn, drained
2 C chicken broth
1 lb ground beef
1 C salsa

Cook your meat, set aside. Prepare your optional toppings, set aside. Blend 3 cans of black beans with 2 C of chicken broth in the blender. You may have to do a couple sessions if it does not all fit in the blender. Pour it into a large pot. Add sals.  I do one cup, but depending on your preferecnes you can add more or less.  Add drained corn, cooked meat and last can of black beans.  Heat all together.  Serve with toppings...i.e. avocado, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, chips.

Looks really gross, but YUMMY!

Hearty Taco Soup

1 lb ground beef - cooked and excess fat drained
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 can beans (black, kidney or pinto) drained and rinsed
1 onion, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 large carrots, chopped
1/2- 1 packet taco seasoning (depending on spice preference)
1 packet dry ranch dressing mix
1/2-1 cup water

1. Mix all ingredients together in large stock pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 45 min- 1 hour until vegetables are tender.
2. Garnish with sour cream, cheese and fritos.

The soup was a little thick, so if you want a soupier soup add more water or tomato sauce! I came up with this recipe by combining 3 other Taco soup recipes.

Chicken Corn Chowder with Sweet Potatoes

One of my all time favorite soups!

3 cups milk
1 cup yellow corn muffin mix (like Jiffy)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. oregano
2 quarts chicken broth
1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup Monterrey Jack Cheese
3 cup frozen corn (not thawed)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Mix muffin mix in a bowl until well combined; set aside. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Stir in garlic, cumin and oregano and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add broth, chicken and sweet potatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until sweet potatoes are just tender.

Stir in milk and muffin mixture and simmer until soup thickens, about 3-5 minutes. Add cheese and corn and cook until cheese begins to melt. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper.

*I sometimes add a drained 16 oz. can of chicken instead of doing all that work to get the chicken required for the soup.

White Chicken Chili

3 lbs chicken cubed
1 medium onion chopped
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 TB veggie oil

4-6 cans of great northern beans
2 can chicken broth
2 can green chilis
1 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp cayan pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp pepper

1 C sour cream
1/2 C heavy whipping cream

Brown chicken, onion, garlic and veggie oil. Add beans, broth and spices. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Right before serving stir in sour cream and heavy cream. Enjoy!

Crockpot Italian Chicken Lentil Soup

• 1 lb chicken thighs
• 2 cup rinsed and sorted lentils
• 2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes - or 1 can stewed and 1 can diced
• 2 cups chopped carrots
• 1 med chopped zucchini (or you can use spinach)
• 1/2 cup chopped onions - diced
• 4 1/2 - 5 cups chicken broth
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup mushrooms (optional)

Cook on high for 5-6 hours

A friend gave me this recipe and it was tasty and easy!

Stew

2 lbs stew meat
2 medium onions sliced
6 potatoes, peeled, cut into large cubes
6 carrots, peeled and sliced
4 ribs celery, diced
large can or jar of tomato juice (V8 or generic)
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoons pepper
2 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons dry tapioca pudding

This takes 5-6 hours on high in my crock pot

Zesty Chicken and Vegetable Soup

• 8 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into very thin strips
• 1 Tbsp hot-pepper sauce
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 package (16 oz) frozen stir-fry vegetables
• 1 cup angle hair pasta, broken into 2-inch lengths, or fine egg noodles
• 1 green onion, thinly sliced

1. Toss the chicken with the pepper sauce and set aside. Bring the broth to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
3. Add the vegetables and pasta to the broth. Return to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the chicken and green onion. Cook for 1 minute o until the chicken is no longer pink.

I didn't use as much hot sauce as it called for and it still had plenty of kick to it. I also used whatever frozen and fresh veggies I had on hand, since I didn't have "stir-fry" veggies.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or add left over chicken or turkey at the end)
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 onion, chopped
2 qt. water
½ teaspoon poultry seasoning
2 large carrots, sliced
1 teaspoon onion salt
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 teaspoons salt

Boil above ingredients for 1 hours. When chicken is tender, remove from broth and cut into 1 inch pieces and set aside. If the liquid has reduced too much you can add some more water at this point. Add 2 cups of uncooked noodles and continue to boil for 20 minutes.

Cream Sauce
¾ cup butter
1 cup flour
4 cups milk

Melt butter in large sauce pan. Whisk in flour, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly until thickened (get it pretty thick). Add salt and pepper. Add cream sauce to broth/noodle mixture. If the soup is too thin after adding the cream mixture, continue cooking until desired thickness.

Note: Once you cream sauce has thickened, do not allow to boil as it may separate.Also, if cream sauce has a strong white sauce flavor, add ½ to 1 tsp. lemon juice.

***I got this recipe from Real Mom Kitchen and it is sooo yummy!

Baked Potato Soup

4 large baking potatoes (about 2 3/4 pounds)
2/3 cup butter or margarine
2/3 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
6 cups milk
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
10 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
OR
1 cup of ham, cubed
1 cup (4 oz) shredded cheese, add more or less to taste

Bake potatoes at 350 for 65-75 minutes or until tender. Cool completely. Peel and cube potatoes. In a stock pot, melt butter; stir in flour, salt and pepper until smooth. Gradually add milk. Simmer, stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Whisk in sour cream. Add potatoes and green onions. Garnish with bacon/ham and cheese. Heat till hot, do not boil. If too thick, add more milk

Tomato Bisque Soup

We also had this soup at Super Saturday. If you like regular tomato soup, you will love this! The cream cheese give it such a good creamy flavor, plus it's fast and easy!

- 1 10oz can of Tomato soup
- 1 tomato soup can of water
- 3 oz Cream cheese

Soften cream cheese and blend so it dissolves easily and doesn't clump. Bring to boil and serve!

{ mmm good homemade chicken noodle soup }

This is for sure my families favorite soup. But I want to give a little background. I grew up cooking by taste, sight, and smell and so most of my recipes are "very flexible" or not a concrete recipe. This is very much one of those recipes. Don't let that scare you in fact I hope it empowers you to try it and change it as you will.

I can my own chicken stock by mixing chicken parts with water, onion, celery etc. then straining and pressure cooking. You can use any chicken broth homemade or store bought to accomplish this.

I feel a large stew pot, half full with chicken broth then I add some garlic, salt and pepper, a little sage, and more onion. If I have carrots I dice and get them boiling with the broth.

Meanwhile, I make the homemade noodles:
(This recipe is plenty for my family of seven in parenthesis is the original recipe)

6 cups of flour (1 1/2 for every batch)
4 eggs (1 egg)
4 egg yolks (1 egg yolk)
1 tsp. salt (1/4 tsp. salt)
Enough water to make a moderately stiff dough

Mix all the above ingredients in a mixing bowl ( HINT: water last) mix for 10 min after you get the water where you want it. After you mix roll dough out till thin ( HINT: your choice how thin you want to go but it seems to double after it is cooked) roll like a cinnamon roll or pumpkin roll and cut into strips ( HINT: I usually cut them 1/4 inch but if you like thin noodles go smaller)
Toss with plenty of flour and then fill your stew pot back up to half way get to boiling again and then put your noodles in (HINT: adding the flour with your noodles makes your soup "CREAMY" so if you don't like that add less flour and more water to your pot.)
Boil for 10 min and ENJOY!

Taco Soup

I got this yummy recipe from a good friend of mine and it's SO simple and fast that I have to share it. It also freezes really well.

Taco Soup:

1 lb. ground beef
2 (15 oz) cans kidney beans - drained
1 (15 oz) can black beans - drained
1 qt. tomato juice
1 (4-7 oz) can chopped green chilis
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 can sweet corn - drained
1 med. onion - chopped
1 c. pace picante or any chunky salsa (We use our homemade fresh salsa and it's delicious!)

Brown beef, drain. Combine all ingredients in large pot and bring to simmer for 5-10 minutes, just to heat through. Serve with tortilla chips, sour cream and cheese! You can also put all ingredients in a crockpot on low heat until heated when you have guests.

Enjoy!!

3 bean Chicken Chili

• 1 medium zucchini, chopped
• 15 oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 15 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 15 oz can corn, drained
• 2 cups (16 oz) thick and chunky mild salsa
• 3 cups cooked shredded chicken
• 1 1/2- 2 Tbsp chili powder
• 2 14 oz cans chicken broth
• 8 oz tomato sauce
• 1 garlic pressed
• 1 tsp ground cumin

Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 min. Top with chips, cheese, sour cream, avocado and other desired toppings

This makes a BIG pot of soup.

Easy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

A FAMILY FAVORITE ANY TIME OF YEAR Now bear with me, this is a recipe like most of the recipes I have consist of a little of this and a little of that "Old Family Favorites". That is how I learned to cook by sight, taste and smell. But I will try, here goes..

First this fall I canned some chicken I got on sale and with the ends I wouldn't eat I canned broth, so I am starting with that..... You can start with store bought broth or make your own.

Large Stew Pot fill about half way with broth add onion, carrots, celery, a little sage, garlic, salt and pepper, whatever your family likes.

Add canned chicken or poached chicken pieces.

Bring to a full rolling boil. Let boil whille you get your noodles ready. (this way the chicken gets really tender hopefully falling apart and all the seasoning has a chance to cure)

Homemade Egg Noodles: (for each batch)(Hint: my family of 7 we 4x)

1 1/2 Cups of Flour
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/8 tsp salt
Enough water to make a moderately stiff dough. (Hint: If it is too soft it will disinigrate in the boiling water so error on the side of stiff)

Mix all ingredients well in a mixer and knead for 5-10 min. You will see the dough become very elastic. Roll the dough with plenty of flour. When you have them as thin as you want (Hint: they will almost double in the water) roll up like a cinnamon roll. Cut into strips all the way down the roll. Toss with flour and then put into the broth. Make sure that you have your broth back up to 1/2 way up the pot. Cook for 10 min. (Hint: The flour thickens the broth and turns it "Creamy" if you don't like this use a bigger pot, more broth and a little less flour, if you don't use enough flour they will stick together) GOOD LUCK and if you have questions, leave a comment and I will try to help you out.

ham and beans

3 Handfuls of fresh grean beans ( washed and snapped)
1 Onion diced
1 1/2 -2 cups of ham diced
2-3 potato's

Cook beans, Onion, and ham in water (fill and inch above veggies) until tender. (about 2 hrs. on low) add potato's (quartered) 20-30 minutes. Add salt and garlic salt to taste.

Its really easy and very good.

Hearty Fiesta Bean Soup

Ingredients:
1 (15 oz) can chicken broth
1 (16 oz) can fat-free refried beans
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15.25 oz) can corn, drained and rinsed
1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes & chilies
Directions:
Put the broth and refried beans into a soup pot and heat, while whisking together, until the beans have incorporated fully into the broth. Add the rest of the ingredients and heat, while stirring until the soup is boiling.
Serve with cilantro, cheese, sour cream and corn chips.

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 can black beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 can diced tomatoes (southwest style, if possible I used petite diced tomatoes w/ sweet onion)
1 packet enchilada sauce mix (or if you can't find this, mild taco seasoning works well too, this is what I used)
1 1/2 C water
1 can tomato sauce
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 C milk
3-4 boneless chicken breasts (I only used 2 chicken breasts)

In crock pot, mix the enchilada packet together with the water and tomato sauce. Add cream of chicken soup and milk and whisk together until smooth. Add chicken. Pour drained black beans, drained corn and diced tomatoes on top of that.Cook on low 6-8 hours.Before serving, take out chicken and shred or dice, then put back and stir it all together.

Serve with sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, lime, avocado, or tortilla chips.

Zucchini Soup

This is my new FAVORITE soup, it is sooo easy and sooo good.
We call it Fish Pond casserole at my house. Yea, I know that sounds gross, but my children will eat soup if you call it casserole with sauce on it. Why the Fish pond. We put Fishy crackers on top!

Saute until tender:
2 medium zucchini chopped
1 medium onion chopped
2 Tb parsley fresh or dried
1 tsp basil
1/3 C. butter

Stir in:
1/3 C. flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Stir in then bring to a boil for 2 minutes:
3 C. water
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 tsp lemon juice

Add, then bring to a boil:
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can evaporated milk
1 pkg. corn or 1 can drained
(try the Wal-mart brand no salt added canned corn; it tastes fresh)

Reduce heat. Simmer 5 minutes

Just before serving Add:
1/4 C. Parmesan cheese
2 C. shredded Cheddar

Garnish with fresh parsley (if you are classy) or Fishy Crackers (if you are me)