Slow Cooker Zucchini Bisque

Looking for something to do with all the zucchini showing up in your garden/farmer's market/CSA box?  This is one of my favorite recipes because it is EASY!  Freezes well and tastes amazing!  This recipe is from my favorite slow cooker cookbook, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook.

Slow Cooker Zucchini Bisque Soup
my notes are in ( )

6 Tablespoons of butter cut into 3 or 4 pieces
1 large onion (2-3 leeks work well too)
1/2 teaspoon of curry powder
1 1/2 pounds of zucchini (I have used up to 2 lbs before)
2 heaping tablespoons of white basmati rice
1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil
3 cups of chicken broth (homemade broth makes this soup extra good)
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup of half-and-half

1. Put the butter, onion, curry powder, and zucchini in the slow cooker, cover, and cook on HIGH for 30 minutes.
2. Add the rice, basil and broth.  Cover, cook on low for 5-6 hours (I have stretched it out longer)
3. Puree soup with an immersion blender.  Season with salt and pepper.  Stir in half-n-half and cover continuing to heat on low until heated through.  Do not boil.

Freezer Notes: If you want to freeze this, omit the half-n-half step.  Freeze without the half-n-half, but add it back in when you defrost the soup to heat it up and eat it.

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Vegetable Tomato Soup with Alphabet Pasta

I am a big proponent of using recipes from the back of boxes and packages.  I think that companies want their ingredients to shine through so why wouldn't they provide you with a recipe that was top notch?  This attitude helped me stumble on the recipe for Creamy Alphabet Tomato Soup that I saw on the package of Eden Foods' Vegetable Alphabets.  I modified the recipe, because I am not a big fan of soy.  But it is really yummy, the kids and hubby like it - a lot!  It will come in very handy if you have a hand blender, but a regular blender will do, you just have to work in batches.

Here is my version of their recipe for Creamy Alphabet Tomato Soup:

1 Tablespoon Eden Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 cup onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup carrots, diced
1/3 cup celery, diced
1 1/2 cup Chicken stock
28 ounces can of Eden Organic Crushed Tomatoes (FYI: their cans aren't lined with BPA)

1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Eden Sea Salt, or to taste
1/2 cup Eden Organic Vegetable Alphabets
1 cup heavy whipping cream (milk or half and half will substitute fine, it will just be a little less creamy)

Directions

Cook the pasta according to package directions, rinse, drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in a medium soup pot. Sauté the onions and garlic for 2 minutes. Add the celery and carrots. Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the basil, oregano, black pepper, sea salt and tomatoes. Mix, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the flame and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Puree the soup using a hand blender.  Mix in the cream and cooked pasta. Bring almost to a boil. Do not boil. Reduce the flame to low and simmer 1 to 2 minutes until the pasta is warm and serve.


Note: My kids like it when I pile the pasta in the middle, rather than mixing it into the soup as the recipe states above.