Gifts In a Jar - Slow Cooker Country Bean Soup Mix

Two of our Soup Mixes ready for their recipe cards and ribbons.

This soup is great!  It can start out its life in a jar after sitting in your pantry where it has rested since you got together with a group of friends to make up some freezer/pantry meals or it can all come together for the first time in your slow cooker.

This past Christmas, we needed gifts for teachers, bus drivers and mail delivery persons.  After preparing a few jars of this recipe, I still had enough of everything left over to make our own meal!

I was glad I did.  Everyone really liked it.  And you know me, I love the simple recipes best!

If making this in a jar for storage, just add all dry ingredients to a Quart Jar.  When ready to cook, add contents of a jar, 6-8 cups water, browned turkey sausage and a 26 oz can of crushed tomatoes to a 6 quart Slow Cooker.

Slow Cooker Country Bean Soup
3 cups dried beans, any combination (for a prettier gift, use 1/2 cups of 6 different beans or even layer two different types of beans 1/2 cup at a time)
2 T dried minced onion
1 T dried parsley flakes
2 tsp beef bouillon
1 tsp dried minced garlic
1 tsp dried basil leaves
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp pink Himalayan sea salt
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

Layer beans in 1 quart jar.

In small baggie, mix onion, parsley, bouillon, garlic, basil, oregano, salt pepper and red pepper flakes.  Tie with twistie tie.  Place on top of beans in quart jar.  Seal jar with appropriate tight-fitting lid.

Include tag when gifting:

Slow Cooker Country Bean Soup
1 Jar Country Bean Soup Mix
6-8 cups water
1 26 oz can diced tomatoes
8 oz smoked sausage links, browned and sliced

Remove seasonings from jar and set aside.  Dump beans in large bowl and cover with water.  Soak overnight.  Drain beans in strainer and discard water.  Rinse beans until rinse water runs clear.

Brown sausage links in skillet, and slice.

Combine soaked beans, water, tomatoes, sausage and contents of seasoning packet in slow cooker. Cook on low 6-8 hours, until beans are tender.

Soup can be made thicker by using a potato masher to mash some of the beans and replacing mashed beans in slow cooker during last half hour of cooking.

Slow Cooker Chicken (and Alphabets) Soup

This is an old entry that I never put in "publish" status, so, don't mind the references to a much younger Miss Mia!

With the incredible cold spell we had going on during the early part of the week, I was ready for some warm soup.  Miss Mia and I decided a chicken noodle type soup would be perfect - especially if we used Alphabets instead of noodles.  This was also a good way to get some "school" in when I let her measure the various items for the soup . . . . It was nice having her home from school on those below 0F days, but at the same time, she was going a little stir crazy since she'd only just returned to classes after Christmas Break!

I actually made this recipe and split it in two so we could have a freezer meal for later this winter.  I'll give the measurements and you can dump 'em all in a 6 quart Slow Cooker - or be like me and split it between the slow cooker and a freezer bag.

Slow Cooker Chicken (and Alphabets) Soup

2 packages baby carrots, chopped bite size or smaller
1 head celery, chopped bite size or smaller
1 tsp minced garlic
2 onions, chopped
1 tsp rosemary
2-4 skinless boneless chicken breast (depending how chicken-y you want your soup)
2 32oz boxes chicken broth
2 cups water
2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1/2 of a small box Alphabets noodles (you could use more if you like lotsa noodles in your soup)

Dump everything but the Alphabets noodles in slow cooker.  Cook on low 6-8 hours (depending on which of my slow cookers I use, 6 hours might be long enough, but 8 hours might be better in the other, check your chicken to see . . . . Chicken should simply fall apart when poked with a fork).  Shred chicken using two forks (again, I am lazy and shred the chicken in the slow cooker.  My Hubster removes the chicken to a plate where he shreds it and then dumps it back in the slow cooker).  Dump in Alphabets noodles and cover.  Cook an additional 10 - 15 minutes, until noodles are cooked.

-frozen chicken can be use - the cooking time will be closer to the 8 hour time frame (again, depending on how hot your slow cooker cooks on Low).
- freeze soup in one gallon freezer bag.  lay flat in freezer.  when ready to cook, remove from freezer in am and place straight in slow cooker (take out of freezer bag), no need to thaw. 

Pressure Cooker Deconstructed Lasanga Soup

Thank goodness for Pinterest!  We might just starve to death without it!  I mean, I just don't know where else to get recipes - surely not from the piles of recipe books in the kitchen nor from the bag I tote with me to dance class full of all sticky-noted magazines indicating which recipes I want/need to make that upcoming week.

Sarcasm aside, I love being able to pop on my Pinterest pages and find a good recipe right away that matches my mood - and energy level.  This past week . . . it was an odd one.  I couldn't remember what day it was, and kept thinking  had had Monday off when I had actually worked.  It might be the snow days and two hour delays for the girls' schools that kept me off schedule in my head.  Whatever it was, I was beat by the end of the week. 

I knew that I needed to feed the girls something more than just cereal - especially as all of the good cereal is gone and we're down to the "if we don't eat this, I'm not buying any more cereal!" cereals.  Seriously - these girls are odd.  They DO NOT like Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal!  Who would've thought I'd be telling the to finish THAT cereal off after they ate all of the Cheerios!

But, back to the post.  I wanted soup, again, so I popped on my Under Pressure! Pinterest Page.  This time, I found one with loads of meat!  I knew it would be a big hit!

Meet Deconstructed Lasagna Soup!

Again, this is one that will go into rotation!  I am thinking of making an emergency binder as my fatigue seems to be hitting more and more frequently.  This is a quick, simple and delicious recipe that everyone enjoyed.

My additions and thoughts for this soup -
~ ADD MORE WATER!  I followed the recipe and it was good.  REALLY GOOD.  But if I want a soup, more water will be needed.  This turned out to be Pressure Cooker Lasanga for us!  SERIOUSLY!  AND it was still very good as a Lasagna!  but, if I want soup, more water!
~ noodles.  I added 1 cup of flat, broken lasagna noodles.  I think this might have been some of the soup vs lasagna issue.  I will try for another type of pasta, or just add 1/2 cup pasta next time.
~ cheese.  I must remember Miss Picky does not like ricotta.  So, she ended up not putting a cheese ball in her "soup" and just sprinkled with Parmesan.  The other two girls, they loved the mozzarella and ricotta balls and thought it was soooo neat watching the cheese melt all through the lasagna.  I made the cheese balls with 16 oz ricotta and about 2 handfuls of mozzarella cheese.  Just enough for everything to stick together.  I included granulated garlic (more is better in my book, but add to your own liking), 1-2 T Italian Seasoning and mixed it all in a pyrex bowl. 
~ Chopped Green Pepper - yes, I added a veggie!

Really, it doesn't matter if this turns out as a Pasta Dish or a Soup, I will be making Deconstructed Lasagna Soup in my Pressure Cooker again!

Pressure Cooker Chunky Potato and Cheese Soup

Lately, I have been in a soup frame of mind.  This doesn't sit too well with the girls as they don't care for soup.  They will eat it, after they have expressed their displeasure and requested they be served waffles in lieu of the soup.  Instead, I remind them that I am the Mommy and they are the pesky little things that enjoy messing with my mind and they will eat the soup so there is a fighting chance they will get all of their vitamins!

The soup frame of mind also lends itself well to two of my favorite pieces of kitchen equipment: 
1.  My Slow Cooker
2.  My Pressure Cooker
Both make meal planning sooooo much easier.  Dump and Done! 

Both of my two favorite kitchen toys also have alarms - as I forget EVERYTHING, these alarms are great.  Then again, I have two growing kiddos.  I don't need an alarm.  It seems we live in the kitchen as they are always STARVING to DEATH (no melodrama here!).

This past week, I tried out a new recipe I had pinned to my Under Pressure! Pinterest Recipe Board.  I wanted something fast as well as something "soup" and something that could go sans meat since I didn't want to dig and unearth some of what is left of the 1/2 cow we'd purchased in the fall.  And, I just didn't want to bother thawing the meat and cooking it.   

Chunky Potato and Cheese Soup

YUP!  Cheesey Goodness Comfort Food!

If you pop on over to the site where the actual recipe is located, you'll see that it called for bacon.  Meh, we omitted this as, again, I was not in a meat of any type sort of mind.

This recipe was a big hit here!  The girls ate it - and Miss Mia actually went back for seconds.  My parents enjoyed it as well.  Oh!  and do NOT omit the Red Pepper Flakes.  They make the soup!  They are not enough to make the soup painfully hot, just a little "hiya!" as you go about eating this delicious and comforting soup!  If my Mom can eat it, anyone can eat it!

As usual, there were some additional changes to the recipe.
1.  No bacon (next time, I will probably add as we do love bacon here)
2.  I just dumped the potatoes in.  I didn't have a steamer basket and one of our family recipes of potato soup uses mashed potatoes, so smooshed potatoes are a "comfort" food for us.
3.  I used a full onion. 

Some thoughts as to the next time I make this:
1.  add diced carrots - again, family recipe.   potato soup always had tiny piece of carrots
2.  add chopped celery - again, family recipe.
3.  sub out some of the potatoes for chopped and peeled radishes (seriously, did you know this trick????  no one knows the difference!)
4.  sub out some/all of the potatoes for cauliflower (what?  this makes is Cauliflower and Cheese Soup????)

And remember - These raw potatoes need no cooking, just chop and dump in the Pressure Cooker!  You will have your meal, prep to table, within an hour (I am not making any "in just a few minutes" promises.  I have two kids.  Emergencies only happen when I am making one of those "fun and faboulous meals in 30 minutes.  But, even with the emergencies, this Comforting Potato and Cheese Soup was on the table here within an hour!

Slow Cooker Potato Soup

Please excuse the picture . . . the soup is so much better than the photo.  I swear!

I've had a bad week with my MS . . . not the symptoms, but trying to figure out just how I can afford to stay on the meds when I'm being billed $4035 a month.  Needless to say . . . that stress along with the cold and snowy weather had me seeking comfort food.

So, we decided on Potato Soup.

Again, this was one where the Hubster "took charge" by tossing all of the ingredients in the slow cooker.  He even chose the right bowl size and heat settings!  Color me amazed ;)

We had my parents up for our usual Friday Dinner and everyone enjoyed this.  Even Miss Mia finished her bowl.

We will certainly be keeping this one in the Winter Month Meals Rotation!

Slow Cooker Potato Soup
8 cups red potatoes, cut into cubes
2 onions, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 package turkey bacon . . . cooked and crumbled
1 8oz package low fat cream cheese (cut into cubes)
6 cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp pepper
1 can cream of chicken soup (or homemade "cream" soup)

In 4 qt slow cooker, combine all ingredients.  Cook on low 7 - 8 hours.  Remove 1/4 - 1/3 of soup to a blender and puree - the amount you remove depends entirely on your preference as to how "thick" you want your soup.  Add back to slow cooker and stir until well blended.  Spoon into bowls and enjoy!

Notes:
~ the 4 qt bowl for the slow cooker was the perfect size . . .
~ this makes approx 10 servings as the four adults all had seconds, the kids had some and there was enough for leftovers at lunch today for the four of us!

Slow Cooker Meatball Soup

Nothing like a bowl of warm soup on a cold and snowy evening!

With close to 15 inches of snow in the last week, I was looking for a nice, warm soup to warm us up while we sat in front of the fire and watched one of the new Disney Movies Santa delivered.  My favorite soup is Italian Wedding . . . but I wasn't *feeling* it, so we ended up with this mixture instead.

I will warn you - I don't know the exact ingredients for the meatballs - that's the Hubster's department.  I do know Ground Turkey was used.

Slow Cooker Meatball Soup

Meatballs

~ 1 pound ground turkey

~ breadcrumbs

~ 1 egg

~ Italian Seasoning

~ Parmesan Cheese

The ingredients above are just suggestions.  Make meatballs according to your favorite recipe.  Make them tiny - no more than 3/4".  Bake in the oven at 350 for 10 - 20 minutes.  Time will depend on the size - the Hubster made the meatballs on the larger size.  

Soup

7 cups chicken broth

1 cup water

2 - 3 cups potatoes, cut into small cubes

3/4 cup spinach, thawed and drained

1 cup carrots, diced

1 cup celery, diced

1 cup onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp basil

2 tsp Italian Seasoning

sprinkle salt

1/2 - 1 tsp red pepper (we like it a little spicy, so we add the 1 tsp)

1/2 - 1 cup Alphabet Pasta (the girls love their "noodles")

Dump all of the soup ingredients *except pasta* into slow cooker.  Add the meatballs.  Cover and cook between 3 and 5 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low.  Again, cooking times will vary depending on slow cooker.  We used the 6 qt bowl, but could get away with the 4 or 5 qt ones as well.  Add the uncooked pasta 30 minutes prior to serving.  Serve with Parmesan Cheese to sprinkle over individual bowls of soup.

Slow Cooker Taco Soup

We've been trying to make Friday nights our Family nights - where my parents come up to hang out with the girls and I cook for everyone.

We decided on this recipe for one of our Family nights because it was simple, appeared to make a large amount, and seemed like something everyone would eat.  We were right in our assumptions.

I will say that I didn't think the soup was spicy enough - but after adding some salt and pepper (okay, a LOT of pepper - I like spice), we all agreed this is a nice, simple main dish that we could definitely have again for Family Night.

Slow Cooker Taco Soup
~ adapted from Our Best Bites

1/2 lb extra lean (93% or leaner) ground beef
1 onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 1.25 oz packet taco seasoning
3 cups water
2 28 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
2 15 oz cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained*
2 cups frozen corn, thawed and drained**

Brown the ground beef with onion and garlic.  Place all ingredients in slow cooker.  Cook on low 6-8 hours.  Do not lift lid.

* dried beans can be used.  soak overnight, rinse and separate per instructions on bag.
** canned corn can be used