"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?

Rustic Slow Cooker Tomato Lentil and Chicken Sausage Soup

A few years ago, I took a cooking class with my friend A.  In fact, it was the first cooking class I ever experienced (if you don't count home economics back in middle school, which I don't).  The theme of the cooking class was easy stress-free weeknight cooking and we tried out a few different recipes.  One of the recipes was a chicken sausage lentil soup, which I instantly fell in love with because it is so easy and versatile.  Since that cooking class, I've made this recipe so many times that I don't even need to pull the actual recipe out and I've completely adapted it to my own taste.

Although the originally recipe was for the stovetop, I've recently been making it in the slow cooker.  I find that it is not only easier for me but it also allows the ingredients to really come together to layer the flavors.  I decided to make this soup in the slow cooker for Wednesday evening, which means that I would start the slow cooker in the morning before heading out to work.  To cut back on the prep time in the morning, I decided to prepare some of the raw ingredients on Tuesday night while B was rolling meatballs for our pasta dinner. 

I roughly chopped six cloves of garlic.

I also chopped a quarter of one huge onion that I found in the fridge.

I would have chopped up more of the onion for the soup until I discovered some leftover boiler onions in the fridge as well.  I peeled about six of the boiler onions and halved some of the large ones.

The next morning, I added these raw ingredients to the slow cooker pot.

I then moved onto my next ingredient - the roasted garlic chicken sausage with onions and herbs.  These chicken sausages are already fully cooked and make a really flavorful addition to this soup.

I sliced up all four links and added the chicken sausage to the slow cooker.

I then added about half a bag of frozen spinach.  The spinach was never part of the original recipe but I thought it would make a nice addition to this rustic soup.  I then added my liquid ingredients, including a cup of chicken broth, a large can of diced tomatoes, and a can of lentil soup.  I usually add black beans to the soup but I surprisingly didn't have any in my pantry so I added a can of drained garbanzo beans instead.

I also added a cup of the Kung Fu Girl reisling left over from the previous evening.  Wine was not an ingredient in the original recipe but I figured that it would add a nice liquid flavor to the soup.  I wasn't worried about the sweetness of the wine since it would all cook down during the day.

At this point, the slow cooker already looked colorful and smelled amazing. 

I of course had to season everything and added generous shakes of some of my favorite spices - herbs de Provence, fresh-cracked salt and peppercorn, along with crushed red pepper flakes.

I set the slow cooker on for eight hours on low and set off on my day.  When I got home from work last night, the soup made the whole kitchen smell so unbelievable. 

I wanted to make a side salad with the soup for dinner using leftover Olivia's Organics Spring Mix.  I added half a cucumber, a tomato and some Shy Brothers Hannahbell cheese.

The salad was light and refreshing, which was a perfect contrast to the thick and hearty soup. 

The soup had thickened while it simmered all day and it felt so warm on a cold day like yesterday.  If it were winter time, I totally would have dipped some crusty bread in this soup. but since it is spring, the soup was a perfect lighter choice.  The soup felt so filling with the spinach, tomatoes, garbanzo beans and chicken sausage yet still so healthy.  Here's a closer look:

Of course, we could only have a bowl each so B took some in today for lunch and we decided to freeze the rest.  I love having this soup in my freezer for one of those cold rainy weekends.  Who would have thought that one cooking class recipe would provide so much inspiration and deliciousness?