Soup, Soup, Soup

This week has been cold, rainy, and all around dreary. Yuck! This weather makes me want to put on sweatpants, lay under blankets and eat soup from my crock pot. Well not exactly from my crock pot (I just got a crazy visual of me sitting down with a spoon and my crock pot- not that it would be unheard of to do something like that), but soup that has been made in my crock pot while I sit around and eat bon bons and watch daytime TV. When I first became a vegetarian soup was one of the things that I missed the very most. Sure there are vegetarian soups out there- vegetarian vegetable, potato soup, tomato, etc But the soups I was craving were all chicken stock based soups. A lot of vegetarians just simply substitute vegetable stock for chicken stock. I am not one of those vegetarians. I have a confession to make- I. hate. hate. hate. vegetable stock. With 3 hates. Its just so gross and flavorless or the flavor it does have it that of celery. There is no need for a big pot of celery water. Yuck. Luckily I found an awesome brand of faux chicken stock at my local kosher store and it is amazing! My vegetarian soup possibilities have increased exponentially! So without further ado here are a few of my favorite soups…

Stuffed pepper soup

1 package veggie Crumbles (I use morning star or boca)
2 quarts water
1 (28 ounce) can stewed tomatoes (undrained)
1 (29 ounce) can tomato soup
2 cups cooked long-grain rice
2 cups chopped green bell peppers (about 2 large peppers)
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
Add all ingredients to crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. You can substitute ground beef for the veggie crumbles but I would suggest browning it first before adding it to the crock pot.

Loaded baked potato soup

2 cups potatoes peeled and chopped into cubes
1 8oz pack of cream cheese
2 cups chicken stock
½ onion- chopped
Baked potato toppings of your choice such as bacon, chives, sour cream, etc

Combine potatoes, onion, and chicken stock in a pan and bring to a boil. Once potatoes are tender you can either mash potatoes with a potato masher, blend in blender or pulse in your food processor. It just depends on what kind of texture you are looking for. Once blended add cream cheese and stir until melted. Spoon soup into bowls and top with your choice of baked potato toppings.


Tortellini soup

4 cups chicken stock
½ onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 package of frozen spinach
½ cup carrots peeled and chopped
½ teaspoon celery salt
1 package tortellini

In a sauce pan sauté onions and garlic until tender. Add all remaining ingredients except for tortellini and bring to a rolling boil. Let boil for 15 minutes or until carrots are tender. Add tortellini and cook according to package instructions. Top with parmesan cheese and enjoy!