COCKPOT VEGETABLE SOUP Recipe

I was visiting a friend Sunday afternoon, and she mentioned she was making chili for Supper. I’ve been thinking of making a pot of chili. But I am also thinking the freezer needs clearing out to make room for this year’s veggie harvest if the rain stops long enough to get the garden started 😉

I woke up with back pain this morning (I move all over the bed in my sleep, so any one of those positions could have tweaked me good ☹); so, before I did a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g., I placed a pain-killing patch on my upper back where that slipped disc is located (you get a cardio workout trying to do this solo lobo – it's like wrestling a sticky octopus!) …

I need to grab some more boxes of these things when I'm in town, again.

… and rethought the chili: instead, I would make a vegetable soup for my Supper tonight; while laundry was washing and drying 😊 (Recipe follows at end of post).

Last week, I had pulled some fresh Spring leeks when I turned the soil over in the veggie boxes; when the rain stopped for 45 minutes, which was long enough for me to get outside and pull the out-of-control weeds. So, those fresh leeks – sitting in water in a large glass – were pulled from the ‘fridge, washed and sliced; and went into the soup pot this afternoon.

Homegrown Leeks; smells SO GOOD.

Along with carrots and turnips I pulled from the freezer.

Homegrown Carrots & Turnips.

I reached high to collect the herbs needed to add flavor: a good stretch is preferrable to climbing my little ladder (12” off the ground is too high for me!): and I was wearing that pain-killing patch ;-)

Homegrown, dried, and crushed Herbs.

I pulled frozen chunks of zucchini, and used those: freezer clearing was under way, and I was anticipating colorful, chunkier, homemade soup in a few hours 😊

Homegrown yellow & green Zucchini.

The ceramic pot was slipped into the electrified aluminum crockpot sleeve, and the temperature dial was set. Supper will be done when the laundry is finished; and the house will be filled with the yummy scent of anticipation.

Set to cook ... I love the smell of home cooking, and the cozy felling that comes with it.

View from my windows today … STILL. Can someone explain to me how we have a drought situation with ALL this continual rain???

Vegetable Soup ~makes 8 servings (about 1 cup each)

2 large Leeks, cleaned and sliced * 1½ cups diced Celery * 3 Tbsp. unsalted Butter * 2 large Carrots, sliced or diced * 1 small Turnip, julienned or diced * 4½ cups Beef Stock, or broth * ½ teaspoon Salt * ¼ teaspoon dried Thyme, crumbled * ¼ teaspoon dried Marjoram, crushed * 1/8 teaspoon dried Rosemary, crumbled * 1/8 teaspoon ground White Pepper * 3 medium Potatoes, diced * 1 medium Zucchini, diced

Place all ingredients, herbs, and stock in crock pot: and set temperature to High for 6 hours – or until the potatoes are sufficiently cooked through.