"Kitchen Sink" Spicy Vegetable Soup

Once the cool weather of fall approaches, I become reacquainted with one of my trusty friends in the kitchen - the slow cooker.  I remember when I put this appliance on my holiday wish list a few years ago and my mother told me that she was surprised.  She knew that I loved to cook but she didn't think I was at the point in my life where I would need a slow cooker to save time in the kitchen.  It may sound strange but I think in that moment, she began to really appreciate me as a young woman trying to balance both my career and my home life.  Since then, my mother will photocopy from magazines or print out from websites slow cooker recipes that she thinks that I will really enjoy.  Cooking has always been something that connects me to my mother and I strangely think that the slow cooker only strengthened that bond.

On Monday, I was excited to have the day off from work.  I headed to the gym bright and early while accompanying Bret on his walk to work (since he unfortunately didn't have the day off) and I was excited to have the entire day to myself.  Although I wanted to cook something yummy in the kitchen, I also wanted to spend some of this gorgeous day outside.  I thought that the perfect compromise would be to utilize my slow cooker.

I looked in my fridge and I found a few straggler ingredients that had been sitting in there for way too long.

Since I had a can of lentil soup and a can of whole peeled tomatoes, I decided to make a "kitchen sink" variation of my Rustic Tomato Lentil and Chicken Sausage soup.

I started out by opening the can of whole peeled tomatoes and adding that to the slow cooker. 

I then added the can of the lentil soup.  I like using lentil soup because it really thickens up the soup while adding some hearty lentil flavor.  I washed three of the carrots and sliced them up unpeeled.

I also purchased two beautiful hot pepper the previous day at the SOWA Open Market. 

I sliced these peppers up and very loosely de-seeded them.  I wasn't worry about the soup being too hot as Bret and I both like our food to be spicy!

I then chopped up five cloves of garlic and two small yellow onions.  I added this to the slow cooker as well.

I sliced and halved up four sweet apple chicken sausages. 

I added this to the slow cooker, along with two cups of the chicken broth, and a tablespoon each of herbs de Provence, salt, and pepper. 

I mixed all the ingredients together and put the slow cooker on low for six hours. 

After about three hours, I check on the soup.  It looked okay but it didn't have the thick consistency I desired.  I think this is because I used the whole peeled tomatoes instead of my usual can of diced or crushed tomatoes.  I used a knife to slice up the whole peeled tomatoes and also added a can of diced tomatoes.  I put the slow cooker on high for the last three hours.

While the soup continued to slowly cook, I made my first homemade loaf of bread (blog post to come).  By the time Bret came home from work, he said that our apartment smelled unbelievable from both the soup and the bread.  And after a long day at work, he was ready to eat!  I ladled out some soup.

And I added a fresh grated Parmesan cheese on top.

The soup was definitely the spiciest batch I've made to date.  I thought that it might have even been a little too spicy but Bret said he liked it just that way.  The carrots and chicken sausages added some nice sweetness to contrast with the heat.  I've made variations of this soup so many times and I'm constantly playing around with it.  I like adding new ingredients each time to make it a little different.

Since I made a huge batch, we had enough for leftovers for lunch today and I froze the rest for one of those lazy nights when we just don't feel like cooking!

Do you use a slow cooker in your kitchen? If so, what do you like to make using your slow cooker?