Winter always puts my family in the mood for hearty soups. And I love soups I can make without having to run to the store — so when Cans Get You Cooking asked me to share a recipe, I knew I needed to share one of my favorites!

This is my go-to recipe. It’s my daughter’s favorite! She asks for it every week. What I love about it is that I can make it largely from what I already have in my pantry – or “cantry” (can+pantry), even without the fresh ingredients. (I can get at least three batches from a large bag of potatoes!

Most of its key ingredients are healthy, nutritious — and from cans. That makes homemade soup easy – and healthy!

Here’s the recipe, and some options for making it vegetarian:

Print

Favorite Slow Cooker Recipe: Tuscan Potato Soup!

Ingredients

• 1 lb spicy Italian sausage
• 1 lb ground regular Italian sausage removed from casings
• 1/2 red onion diced
• 2 cloves garlic diced
• 115- oz can crushed tomatoes or two 8-oz cans
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 or 2 cans of corn to taste and what your crockpot allows
• 1 can spaghetti sauce
• 8 small red or Yukon gold potatoes cut into quarters - or large bite size. I leave them unpeeled
• 4 stalks celery diced
• 4 bay leaves
• Canned chicken stock 2-4 cups
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Sour cream shredded cheese, chives or herbs for garnish
• Your favorite bread to serve with the soup
• Note: you can create a vegetarian version of this recipe by substituting meatless sausage or omitting the sausage and adding more vegetables. Since the Italian sausage adds flavor you may want to add more seasoning if you omit the sausage.

Instructions

• I used a 4 1/2-quart slow cooker; you can adjust your ingredients depending on how many you need to serve and the size of your slow cooker. This recipe is very adaptable - feel free to experiment.
• Brown the sausage, onion and garlic until cooked through. Transfer to slow cooker.
• Add the tomatoes, corn, spaghetti sauce, Italian seasoning, potatoes, celery, bay leaves, salt and pepper.
• Add chicken stock until your slow cooker is nearly full.
• Cook 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low.
• Serve garnished with sour cream, cheese and herbs (I used rosemary sprigs).
• You may also want to serve with some tasty bread and butter.
• Enjoy!

It’s a great recipe for winter meals. I like it even better warmed up the next day!

For more ideas and recipes, including a cool Cooking Channel special, visit Cans Get You Cooking at:

• Cans Get You Cooking Website: CansGetYouCooking.com
• Facebook: Facebook.com/CansGetYouCooking
• Twitter: Twitter.com/CansGetUCooking
• Pinterest: Pinterest.com/CansGetUCooking
• YouTube: YouTube.com/CansGetYouCooking

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Bonus: Here are some of my other favorite slow cooker recipes (that just might also use cans :))!

Slow Cooker Posole soup

Slow Cooker Pumpkin Chili

 Slow Cooker Tandoori Chicken

and then even more:

 30 Crockpot Chicken Recipes!

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What’s your favorite winter slow cooker recipes?

xoxo

This post sponsored by Cans Get You Cooking and Mom it Forward. The recipe and opinions are all mine. See my disclosures.

The post Favorite Slow Cooker Recipe: Tuscan Potato Soup! appeared first on Tatertots and Jello.

With four kids, a husband who travels during the week and a million projects happening all of the time, my crock pot is my best friend.

We’ve been experimenting with chicken recipes. The easier, the better.

So here is the easiest crockpot recipe we’ve created. It’s my go-to recipe when I need something quick. I almost always have the ingredients.

And it’s something that can be used in so many different ways. You can use the chicken for delicious tacos, you can use it to make burrito bowls, you can put it on top of salad for a yummy Cafe-Rio-ish meal, add it to spaghetti for a heartier meal with a kick, you can use it to make enchiladas or burritos too. So many different meal ideas.

Our favoite way to make it is for chicken tacos. It’s something every person in our family will eat – even my child who hates Mexican food.

So here it is. 

4 chicken breasts (frozen or fresh)

1 can of salsa (my favorite is Mrs. Renfro’s) 16 oz.

1 can of sweet corn (drained)

2tsp. Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime Seasoning

4 limes — 2 limes, freshly squeezed and 2 more for garnishing

1 can Green Chilis (4.5 ounces)

• Place chicken in the crock pot on high, combine the other ingredients and pour over the chicken.
• Cook on high 6-7 hours if the chicken breasts are frozen, 4-5 hours if the chicken breasts are fresh.
• About an hour before serving, shred the chicken with two forks in the crockpot. 
• For chicken tacos, serve with warm tortillas, fresh chopped tomatoes, fresh cilantro, shredded cheese, sour cream and salsa. 

Yum! 

Plus, it’s even better the next day, warmed up. Yay!!

I really like the Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime Seasoning – it has no salt or sodium. I also use it when I grill corn. I just put the cob in foil, add some olive oil, the Mrs. Dash seasoning and wrap it up and grill it. It’s very good. Plus, it’s great on popcorn too.

What is YOUR favorite easy meal to prepare??

Let us know in the comments. And if you have blogged about it, leave us a link – so we can come over and see YOUR recipe!! 

Have a Delicious Day! 

xoxo

PS — I am over at Riley Blake today – sharing some festive Patriotic Pillows!

The post Easiest Crockpot Shredded Chicken Recipe! appeared first on Tatertots and Jello.

One of our favorite crock pot recipes to make in the colder months is our Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup. It just hits the spot on a cold winter day.

I showed a picture of the soup cooking on Instagram last week and had quite a few people ask for the recipe. So here it is!!

Print

Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Soup

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 6 hours hours

Total Time 6 hours hours

Servings 6 -8 servings

Ingredients

• 4 12 oz cans chicken broth recommend organic, low sodium (can substitute chicken stock)
• 2 10.75 oz cans cream of chicken soup low fat
• 4-6 large chicken breasts skinless, trimmed
• 1 small package whole carrots sliced (6-8 medium carrots)
• 1 small package celery if desired, sliced (to taste)
• 1 10 or 12-oz package of egg noodles
• 1 tsp Fresh garlic chopped
• Lemon pepper to taste
• Parsley fresh or dried to taste
• Chives fresh or dried to taste
• Fresh ground pepper to taste

Instructions

• As with every slow cooker recipe, this is a very easy recipe, but be sure to start early enough in the day to allow cooking time.
• Slice carrots and any other veggies into small slices - whatever size you like.
• Pour the chicken broth into the slow cooker, adding the cream of chicken soup, the chicken breasts, the veggies, fresh chopped garlic, and herbs to taste. (We like pepper, so we used quite a bit of fresh ground pepper.)
• Turn the slow cooker on low. (If you're going to be around during the day, you can cook on high for four hours and then turn on low for the remainder of the time.)
• 6-8 hours later, approximately 30 minutes before serving, check the chicken for done-ness with a fork (it should fall apart easily and have no pink color remaining).
• Start the water boiling to cook the egg noodles.
• While you're waiting for the water to boil, take the chicken breasts out of the soup and place on a plate. Fork shred the chicken and put it back in the soup.
• Cook the egg noodles according to the directions on the package.
• To serve, place some egg noodles in the bottom of the individual bowls and scoop soup on top.
• If you're using fresh chives, you can garnish with those.

Notes

You can adjust the quantities in this recipe for the size of your family and your slow cooker. Feel free to add other vegetables you'd like, like onion, or feel free to omit the celery We keep the egg noodles out of the soup because we get the crock pot so full when we do the soup in the first place. If your broth seems to run low after serving, you can always heat up another can of chicken broth and add it to the slow cooker. Excellent with fresh-baked bread (yes it's okay if you buy the bake at home bread) Mix remaining soup and noodles together to store leftovers.

Do you love using YOUR slow cooker??

What is your favorite recipe?

Let us know in the comments. We would love to come over and see YOUR favorite recipe!!

Have a Wonderful Day!! 

xoxo

The post Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup appeared first on Tatertots and Jello.