Crockpot Vegetable Noodle Soup

Crockpot Vegetable Noodle Soup

Wyoming has officially decided as of August 24th that summer was finished and fall has arrived. It was 40 degrees this past weekend...brrrr! Along with this cold weather~ comes my desire to make homemade soup! 

Our local Farmer's Market braved the chilly weather and set up shop. One stand was selling fresh carrots that were just calling out to be made into a soup! I bought a dozen and decided to craft a soup around them. And because weekends are always so hectic, I decided to plan one that could easily be made in your crockpot. 

I am a lover of the crockpot/slow cookers. You can throw in your ingredients in the morning, turn it on and your house smells wonderful by the time you walk into the door at night. I joke that a slow cooker can make anyone into a gourmet chef. I use my parent's old crockpot. It was given to them as a wedding gift, and it still works like new! 

One tip for those who work and think they are too busy to get all the ingredients together in the morning- put all your ingredients in the night before. Put the insert of the slow cooker in the fridge- then in the morning- pull it out and put it back into the cooker of the crockpot and turn it on. No morning prep time! 

Now onto the soup:

Crockpot Vegetable Noodle Soup

STEP ONE: Dice up carrots, onion and celery. Place all into the crockpot. Your cuts of vegetables do not need to be perfect- mismatched work great in a soup!

STEP TWO: Mince garlic cloves. Place into the crockpot. 

STEP THREE: Throw in bay leaves, thyme, pepper, salt. 

STEP FOUR: Add chicken broth and water and give it a good stir. 

 There is my beauty of a crockpot! Still works great!

STEP FIVE: Turn on crockpot. Low (8-10hours) or High (4-5 hours). Do not worry about overcooking this as there is a lot of liquid in it. 

STEP SIX: 20 minutes before you are finished cooking, dump your egg noodles into the soup and give it a good stir to mix all together. Continue cooking for 20 minutes (can be on either high or low). 

STEP SEVEN: Remove bay leaves. Ladle into bowls and enjoy all the tasty and fresh veggies! Top with fresh parsley if you like!

Try this soup with a homemade baguette! Recipe in the link below! 
http://livingthelifeoflinz.blogspot.com/2014/08/fresh-made-baguette.html

INGREDIENTS

3 Cups Carrots- diced

2 Cups Celery- diced (was about 3 stalks for me)

1 Yellow Onion- diced

3 Cloves Garlic- minced

2 Bay Leaves                       

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

4 Cups Chicken or Vegetable Broth

5 Cups Water

3 Cups Egg Noodles

Fresh Parsley as a topping