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Slow Cooker Spinach, Lentil & Tortellini Soup

22 Nov

 

This is one of my favorite soups to make.  I got the recipe from the Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes, a cookbook I bought when I first got my slow cooker a few years ago.  I was secretly wishing for spinach from Bountiful Baskets, and this week, that wish was fulfilled!  And it’s pretty chilly here today, so perfect weather for eating and making soup.  The original recipe calls for ham and for chicken broth, but I make it without the ham and you can switch to vegetable broth to make this a meatless meal!  I think it tastes great without the ham, but you may choose to add it in.  Mine also looks less soup-like in the picture above because I used a larger family size package of tortellini, because that’s what my girls like the most.

Slow Cooker Spinach, Lentil, and Tortellini Soup

1/2 cup dry lentils
2 cups coarsely shredded carrots (I used the julienne blades on my mandolin slicer)
1 small onion, finely chopped
4 ounces chopped cooked ham or Canadian style bacon, optional
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp snipped fresh basil or 2 tsp dried basil, crushed
1 1/2 Tbsp snipped fresh thyme or 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme, crushed
1/4 tsp pepper
5 cups reduced sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 cup water
1 9-oz pkg refrigerated cheese-filled tortellini
1 bunch fresh spinach, slightly torn

1. Rinse lentils and drain. Place lentils in a slow cooker. Add the carrots, onion, ham or bacon (if using), garlic, dried basil and thyme (if using), and pepper. Pour broth and water over all.

2. Cover; cook on low heat setting for 6 1/2 – 7 hours or on high heat setting for 3 1/4 – 3 1/2 hours. If using the low heat setting, turn to high heat setting. Stir in tortellini. Cover and cook 30 minutes more. To serve, stir in spinach and, if using, the fresh basil and thyme.

I also like to put some shredded mozzarella cheese on my serving.

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Ground Beef & Cabbage Stew

6 Nov


Ok, I know at first glance, this doesn’t really look appetizing.  In fact, my good friend that I got this recipe from jokes that this dish should be called “Pig Food”.  I promise though, that it does taste good even though it doesn’t look very good.  And both of my girls eat it with no argument, so that says something if the kids will eat it.  It’s really easy to throw together, most of the time is spent on chopping vegetables to put in it.

Ground Beef  & Cabbage Stew

What you need:

1 lb ground beef
1/2 of a yellow onion, diced
1/2 lb of carrots, sliced
4 1/2 cups water
5 beef or chicken bouillon cubes
2 lbs potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 cups shredded cabbage
1 can peas, or 2 cups frozen or fresh peas

How to make it:

Brown ground beef in a large pot.  Add in carrots and onions, and cook until onions are translucent and carrots have started to soften.  Add the water, bouillon cubes and potatoes.  Make sure there is enough water to cover all of the meat and vegetables, add more if necessary.  Bring to a boil, then turn down heat to let it simmer for 20 minutes, or until potatoes and carrots are both soft.  Add in cabbage, and cook until it begins to wilt.  Add in peas and cook for a few minutes longer to allow peas to cook.  Serve immediately.

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Slow Cooker Potato Soup

8 Oct

Sorry for the short hiatus in posting, it’s been a weird week, so I haven’t gotten as much cooking in and haven’t been in our normal routine.  Anyway, it really cooled off here today (finally), so it was a soup for dinner kind of night.  My husband loves potato soup, I had potatoes I needed to get used up, so potato soup is was.  I originally was going along with this recipe, but forgot to get cream cheese while I was out, plus, my husband isn’t big on bacon in his soup, so I ended up with something a little different.

Slow Cooker Potato Soup

8 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 cup diced onion
6 cups water and 6 chicken bouillon cubes (or use 6 cups chicken broth)
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 tsp dried dill weed

Mix water and soup in the slow cooker.  Add in bouillon cubes, potatoes, onion, and dill weed and stir.  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5 hours.  If you want a thicker soup, slightly mash the potatoes before serving.

I mashed the potatoes just a little to make it still chunky.  One time I completely mashed the potatoes and it was more like mashed potatoes than soup, so to keep it more soup-like, I like the potatoes less mashed.

*As an alternative to the can of cream of chicken soup, you can use 2 Tbsp melted butter, 2 Tbsp flour, 1/4 tsp salt, and 2 cups of milk, half and half, or light cream.  Be sure to stir that well with the water/broth before adding the other ingredients.

**If you want to keep the chicken out completely, use the above substitute for the cream of chicken soup and use vegetable bouillon instead of chicken bouillon, or six cups of vegetable broth instead of the bouillon and water.

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