crock pot recipes

Tammy's Crock Pot Potato Soup

Peel and Cube about  7 large  potatoes or 15 small ones (any variety)

1 box of chicken stock 

Salt and pepper to taste

1-2 T dried Parsley 

1 sprig fresh Thyme or 1/4 tsp dried

1 to 2 tsp. Poultry Seasoning (This is my secret ingredient)

1 1/2 cups of whole milk (or milk and whipping cream mixed)

4 tablespoons of butter

Add the potatoes, broth & seasonings, to your crock pot, along with more broth to bring liquid almost to the top of veggies. Set crock pot on high and cook for 6-8 hours until potatoes are cooked through. When the potatoes are cooked, I like to add potato flakes instead of mashing some of the potato soup. It makes a bigger batch of soup for our large family. While still having chunks of potato and creamy soup. See below for instructions on adding the potato flakes.

About half an hour before you serve the soup, scoop out about a cup of the hot soup broth and put it in a sauce pan, along with 1 1/2 cups of milk and 4 Tablespoons of butter, heat on medium high, stirring often until butter is mostly melted and milk is fairly warm. Then add the milky mixture to the soup and stir until incorporated. It is important at this point to turn down your crock pot, because you don't want the soup to boil after the milk has been added.(It might curdle)

If your soup is too thin you can add about 1/4 cup of instant mashed potatoes. This acts as a  thickener instead of flour. I always add more potato flakes.

I like to use any leftover Thanksgiving or Christmas Dinner  mashed potatoes and whipping cream to make a left over potato soup. the cream makes it thicker and richer. Sometimes I make extra just to do this soup. To do this I just add hot broth to desired soup consistency and stir in my spices. And heat up on low. Everything else is already in my left -over mashed potatoes-butter, milk, cream, potatoes.

I also double the recipe for our family. Leftovers make good lunches for work.

I found a crock pot recipe here andit inspired me to make over my old stove top version for the crock pot using her directions to see how it turned out. So the above recipe is a combo of my stove top recipe and the post I found.