Creamy Carrot Soup

It is wintertime here in New England, and lately we have had a lot of very freezing, 20-below days. This is the time of year when I start craving soup, delicious warm soup that feels so comforting to eat and smells like wintertime all over the house when I am cooking it.

I always make lots of minestrone and beef soups, but here is an unusual choice that I tried recently when I discovered a surplus of baby-cut carrots in my produce drawer. This soup is easy to make (less than a half hour), and it is delicious and filling. Now I'm not saying the men and children in your family are going to slurp this up like gangbusters (mine didn't), but it's a nice treat for you on a cold day! I like to top my bowl of carrot soup with shredded cheddar cheese while hot and let the cheese melt in... yumm.

3 cups of carrots, sliced
4 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups onion, chopped
4 T fresh parsley, chopped (or 1 T dried parsley)
3 cups milk
6 T all-purpose flour
1/2 t salt
6 T butter

1) In a large saucepan, boil carrots, broth, onion, and parsley until tender.
2) Place carrot mixture into a blender and blend well.
3) In a skillet place milk, flour, salt and butter, cook as though making gravy. Once mixture is thick, combine with carrot mixture. Makes 4 servings.

Crock Potting It!

I am all about the slow-cooker. I love the convenience, I love that you can leave the house all afternoon and come home to dinner, I love throwing everything in one pot, and importantly, I never met a cream of chicken soup recipe I didn't like.

Speaking of that certain pantry staple we all know and love, here is a really easy, really yummy chicken recipe for the slow cooker, and yes, naturally it includes cream of chicken soup. There is nothing fancy or innovative about this at all, it's about as down-and-dirty simple as it gets. My kids and hubby love it. A meal that everyone likes enough to clean their plates is a winner in my book, and I don't care how many cans of Campbell's it takes.

Take 1 1/2 ponds of boneless chicken breasts and place them in the bottom of the crock pot.

Season to taste with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Cover the chicken with 2 cans of cream of chicken soup and 1 can of cheddar cheese soup.

Cover and set the slow cooker to high, cook for 4-6 hours or until chicken is falling apart.

I served this with white rice. Could also be good with egg noodles. There is tons of the cheesy sauce in proportion to the chicken which is great because then you have plenty to spoon up with the rice. The chicken is so moist, easy for little kids to eat and not dry at all. I also made broccoli for a veg (trees! say my girls), and the cheese sauce was the perfect thing for mushing onto the broccoli also. Enjoy!