Anyone love their crockpot? I do! Here is my Tomato Soup recipe made in a crockpot.
2 carrots peeled and chopped
Garlic cloves (you let your heart decide this amount)
1 cup chopped onion
About 8 Roma Tomatoes chopped
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tbsp sugar
Chicken Broth
2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
3 tbsp Basil pesto
1 can Tomato Sauce
1 cup Half and Half
2 cups Italian cheeses blend
And for the Grilled Cheese
Left over Italian Cheese
Shredded Cheese
Sliced Bread
Butter
In our family, we don’t adhere to a specific diet. Unless eating as much fresh and local produce and meat counts as a diet. I try to avoid processed foods as much as possible, but I don’t count calories or eliminate carbs. We aren’t vegan or vegetarian, but I do find that a balance in your food is good. In a lot of American food, there is no balance. We often eat too much meat and sweets and not enough fruits and vegetables. In an effort to balance things out, we eat one meatless dinner each week. I don’t take breakfast or lunch into this, this only involves the meal we all get to eat together as a family. Pinterest gave me lots of good recipe ideas, as did other bloggers.
One of the favorite meatless meals is this Tomato Soup. I do tend to make a massive mess when I make it though, so there is a lovely clean up. But it is still pretty simple to make, and as it goes in the crockpot, the smell fills the entire house.
As I said, this is a crockpot recipe, and you will also need a cutting board and knife and a blender. Starting off, chop up the carrots, onion, and tomatoes, these go into the crockpot first. Then go in the garlic, sugar and other spices. Pour enough chicken broth to cover ingredients. Stir and add the balsamic vinegar, basil pesto, and tomato sauce. Be sure all ingredients get incorporated well.
Let cook on low for about 6 hours. When the carrots are soft, transfer soup to a blender and blend until smooth. This is usually when I make the mess. After it’s as smooth as it can be, transfer back to the crockpot. Add the cheese and half and half. If you want it more creamy, add more half and half until it’s the texture you prefer.
Leave it on low while you make the grilled cheese. Nothing fancy here, simple grilled cheeses, but I use any leftover Italian cheese blend with my usual Monterey Jack.
I’m also an incredibly weird egg, because growing up, we didn’t eat grilled cheese with tomato soup, we ate peanut butter sandwiches. I didn’t even know people ate grilled cheeses with it until I was an adult. I now realize it isn’t normal, and probably does taste odd, but it’s a taste from my childhood, so I like it. It’s just a piece of bread spread with peanut butter and folded in half.
Once the sandwiches are made, dish out the soup into bowls. Don’t forget to turn off the crockpot! I let it cool a minute before serving. But as soon as it’s cool enough, dinner is served!
Is not hard to make, but does make a mess. I’d still say it’s an A+ recipe because my family loves it so much.
Dose of Sunshine 