Homemade Veggie Soup

Nothing says "First Day of Fall" like a slow cooker full of homemade soup.   Between the smells coming from my Scentsy (currently obsessed with Fried Ice Cream - order yours HERE!) and the soup cooking - and the sounds of football on TV, it was a perfect fall Saturday.

Now, to make this soup, I needed more veggies....I went to a local Asian Market - Lotte Plaza - and it was like a veggie jackpot.  Check this out!   I spent under $24.   And I splurged on a $4 bar of dark chocolate - so all the veggies and fruit was really under $20.

2 zucchini
2 yellow squash
2 green peppers
a bag of yellow, orange and red mini bell peppers
8 bananas
a pineapple
2 boxes of strawberries
5 peaches
a bag of carrots
a bunch of cilantro
and a box of artisan organic variety leaf lettuce.
PLUS that delicious bar of dark chocolate from Green&Black

Wow!  That is where I'm going from now on - but not on the weekend.  It was SOOO crowded!  I will go on weeknights.  I've gone a few times on school nights and it's not that bad.

So anyway, to make this veggie soup - add about 2 TBSP coconut oil and some seasonings to the bottom of your crockpot on high.   I used salt and pepper and oregano for this one.

Then start cleaning and cutting your veggies.  As much as I make fun of Rachel Ray, I like her idea of a garbage bowl - and it really works.  So cut your veggies, I cut up 2 yellow squash, 2 zucchini, 2 green peppers, a big handful of mini peppers, a bag of carrots.  

Add them to your crockpot.   My BF doesn't like onions, so we leave them out, but they are good in this too!  Fill up that crockpot!  They will cook down.

Add your tomatoes - you can use meat broth if you'd rather - but I like to make it vegetarian so I used 2 pints of tomato basil simmer sauce and 1 pint of stewed tomatoes.  The stewed tomatoes are a mix of red and yellow, so they are a light orange sauce.  :)   If you don't have home canned tomatoes to use a big can of chopped tomatoes or stewed tomatoes will be delicious too.  Also, you can add ro-tel to add a little heat!

Then, just let it cook.  YUM!   I will probably get some nitrate-free sausage to add to this tomorrow.  Probably something a little spicy...but I've eaten it as veggie soup many times!   Also, you can change your seasoning to chili seasoning to make this more like a veggie chili.  Also, browning a bunch of chopped up beef or ground beef first to add to the bottom of the crockpot is a great additive.

Enjoy!