Dusting off the Crockpot

And I do mean that literally. Our six-quart Crockpot had a thin layer of dust on top of it. Gross. Guess we don't use it very often, huh? The last few times we've used a slow cooker, we've used our little two-quart guy. But if you're making something like soup or stew, the bigger guys are going to be able to hold more, even if you're only making the soup for two people. Anyway, enough of my rambling. What did I make in the big Crockpot? Crockpot Tortilla Soup. This is a recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking, which pretty much has EVERYTHING you could possibly want to make in a slow cooker, even lasagna.

This recipe utilizes chicken, veggies, chicken broth, and spices. I didn't have green peppers or onions, so I just threw in some onion powder. I didn't have garlic cloves so I just threw in some minced garlic. I didn't have any cayenne pepper so I just left that out. Our cooked chicken was poached. And if you're doing this gluten-free, make sure you use gluten-free chicken broth. I like Kitchen Basics Chicken Stock (which is basically the same thing) but you can't get it in Target's grocery section. (We just got a revamped grocery in our local Target and I was doing our shopping there because they gave out coupons galore, but I still had to hit up A&P for the gluten-free chicken broth/stock.)

This was super easy, as are most slow cooker recipes. I got it started in the morning and then let it cook on low for eight hours while I went to a pumpkin sling (see picture at right).

We garnished with sour cream and tortilla chips and a little bit of cheddar cheese. It's kind of like a supreme chicken taco only in soup form. And it made the house smell so good while it was cooking. Yum!