Soups On.....

Yum, who doesn't like soup? I love soup, I could probably do this challenge with soup recipes alone, but alas, my family voted on this and decided soup 2 - 3 times a week would not be fun!

So, Monday night we came home to the wonderful smell of homemade Tomato Basil soup. Did I mention I love soup? Wow, this smelled so delicious and looked equally wonderful. I couldn't wait to dig in! The smell of the spices actually came through. Sometimes I have noticed in slow cooked meals the smell and taste of the spices are diminished somewhat, but not the case with this.

I toasted up some garlic cheese buns to compliment the soup which made my son very happy. He was definitely not thrilled at the prospect of trying this soup. It has lots of veggies in it and is primarily tomato. More on his review in a minute.

This recipe had a little additional work to do when I got home, but it only took about 10 minutes and well worth it. The only thing that I did different was blend the soup right in the crock pot to puree the texture of the soup a little bit more.

For the reviews:
My son...., well as I said this was a tough one for him. He did like the taste of the soup and enjoyed dipping his bread into it. He was a trooper! I must admit, I did strain the soup more for him because a lot of his 'not liking' veggies is a texture issue. Overall, he rated this a 4.0 (3.5 for the soup and 4.5 for the garlic bread) I wouldn't normally take the garlic bread into consideration.... but considering the critic I chose to.

My daughter is much like me and also really likes soups. She thought it tasted "yummy" and liked the little bits of tomato chunks in it. She thought it was so good she asked for it to be packed in her lunch the next day. That's a great compliment! Her overall rating was 4.5 of 5 stars.

My husband also really liked this recipe. Now remember he is more of a meat and potatoes kind of guy, this did not have a meat or a potato in sight! For him to give this high marks was good too. His overall rating was also 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Now for me! I loved this soup. As I said I did not really change much in this recipe other than blend it more. It was delicious. Loved the tomato basil taste and the hint of other veggies really added to the overall flavour. So if you are a big soup fan like me, this one is a hit. I gave this 5 stars! I also took leftovers for lunch.

There was lots of leftovers to freeze for another day. Maybe Sunday lunch? Mmmm.

Average family rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5

Here is the recipe.

Tomato Basil Crock-Pot Soup-Serves 8-10 people

2 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juice

1 cup finely diced celery

1 cup finely diced carrots

1 cup finely diced onions

1 tsp dried oregano

2 T dried basil

4 cups chicken broth

1 bay leaf

½ cup flour

½ cup butter

1 cup parmesan cheese

2 cups half and half, warmed (or 1% milk if you’re trying to cut some calories)

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

Add tomatoes, celery, carrots, chicken broth, onions, oregano, basil, and bay leaf to a large container-Freeze (one that will easily dump a frozen chunk size into your crock)

Loosen contents from container into slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

About 30 minutes before serving prepare a roux. Melt butter over low heat in a large pot and add flour. Stir constantly with a whisk for 5-7 minutes. 

Slowly stir in 1 cup hot soup. Add another 3 cups and stir until smooth. Add all back into the slow cooker. 

Blend further with a hand blender (Braun) if you like a bit smoother constancy.

Stir and add the Parmesan cheese, warmed half and half, salt and pepper. 

Add additional basil and oregano to taste if needed. 

Cover and cook on high for another 30 minutes or so until ready to serve.

Serve with toasted garlic bread or crusty rolls. 

ENJOY!

Until next time, 

Cheers!

Kimberley

Pin It