About time for another recipe huh?!

In the colder months I live on soup.  A fairly accurate estimate would be 95% of my lunches are soups if it isn’t warm out.  I make a full crockpot and divvy it out in smaller lunch size containers, freeze them and then have a vast selection for what I’d like to take to work each day.  (Currently my freezer has 8 different soup varieties). The lovely ladies in my office always comment on how delicious they smell, how I’m making them hungry, how I need to cook for the whole office, and often ask for recipes. On this latest soup of mine, I made it one day and loved every bite of the 8-10 servings it made!  It was so delicious!  When one of my co-workers who shares an interest in health and delicious cooking asked for the recipe – I couldn’t give it to her!  The bummer was not that it was a family secret or me wanting to hoard my yummy kitchen creations, but I just hadn’t written it down.  I have a tendency to create unforgettable meals in the kitchen that I rave about, and then completely forget how I made it so good!  So this week I made another batch of the Veggie Soup I threw together last month and this time wrote down what I did!  Lovely co-worker friend, this one’s for you!

Rachel’s Throw-together Crockpot Veggie Soup

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups low-sodium vegetable juice, like V8
  • 1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes (with basil)
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 2 carrots, sliced
  • 2-3 ribs celery, sliced
  • 1 sweet onion, sliced
  • 2 cups shredded cabbage  (can use a coleslaw mix bag found in the produce section for easy prep)
  • 1 10oz bag of frozen mixed vegetables
  • 1 cup of beans (lima beans, canalini, and kidney are my favorite in this)
  • 1/2t cumin
  • 1/4t cinnamon
  • 1t sugar (or one packet Truvia, or 1 T real leaf stevia – adds sweetness)

Directions:

  • In a large crockpot, combine all ingredients.
  • Cook on high for 4-5hrs or on low for 6-8 until all vegetables are tender.
  • Enjoy!

Variations: instead of crushed tomatoes, use diced; instead of basil tomatoes, add 1 T sweet dried basil; instead of adding a sweetener, use stewed tomatoes.  This is a great recipe to use up leftover veggies in your house – add some spinach, green beans, peas, zucchini, whatever you have. Play around and see what you come up with!