Fall Soups and Slow-Cooker Love

My brand new, super awesome slow cooker was broken in last week with a few soups to celebrate the fall season.  We got the slow cooker as a wedding gift and I've been DYING to use it!  It was way too hot this summer to make any of my favorite soups or stews, so it's just been sitting in our cabinet, weeping silently, feeling neglected, waiting for me to use it.  Yes, my slow cooker is SO amazing that it has feelings...

This slow cooker is seriously the most amazing thing ever!  It's 6 quarts, and programmable so when I have a recipe that says cook on high 4-5 hours, it will turn to warm after the time is up!  Now I don't have to worry about a recipe not cooking completely if it set it on low for 8-9 hours instead, or about getting home in time before the meal is over-done.  It has a thermometer probe for meats and will turn off when the meat hits a certain temperature.  And it even has a clip-on lid so I can take it to dinner parties or Wine & Dine.  

I'm a huge fan of the slow-cooker.  Which is why I bought Tamara and Rian a slow cooker as a wedding gift.  She is equally in love with hers, and we swap recipes every now and then.  

Over the last week, I've made three different soups with our new slow-cooker and couldn't be happier with how well it works!  The first, and the favorite is Taco Soup.  I got it from one of Bryann's co-workers who copied it out of her Crockpot recipes book.  I think the link above is the recipe I use, but I'm not looking at my recipe right now and I'm too lazy to get out of my blanket and go check.  Yes, it's a lot of canned food, but it's soooooo easy, and the only prep it requires is browning the meat with the chopped onions.  I usually do this the night before and refrigerate until the next morning.  Sometimes, if I'm feeling really ambitious, I'll cook several packs of ground beef (bought in bulk at Costco) with chopped onions, and freeze flat in ziplock bags until I need them.  My mom taught me that little trick!  

On Saturday, I made my slightly tweaked, and more stew-like version of this Vegetable Beef Soup.  I chop up a boat load of celery, bell pepper, onions, carrots, and potatoes instead of a bag of frozen vegetables - though I'd use frozen if I were in a pinch.  I usually make a tomato sauce from tomato paste just because I use tomato paste for more dishes and always have it on hand.  Lastly, I use 2 cups of beef or vegetable broth instead of water.  It is always amazing, and it's one of my most favorite winter soups.  

This morning I made Corn Chowder from this tried-and-true recipe.  For the frozen hash-browns, I use Potatoes O'brien that we stock up with at Grocery Outlet.  This time around, I used red pepper-spinach chicken sausage in place of cubed ham.  Next time I'm going to put in some Italian style ground turkey sausage.  

Tomorrow I'm going to make slow-cooked pot roast and it will be amazing!  I'll post the results later.