Today, I am thankful for...

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Today, I'm sooo thankful for my crockpot. Isn't this just the best piece of equipment? You put stuff in it, go to work and come home. The house smells wonderful, the food is cooked, and you  have dinner ready. Yep, still loving this marvel.

Best I could find, this charmer made it's first appearance in 1971. I didn't get one until I was single and on my own in 1973. I've had a few since and am looking at a new version in which you can brown your meat!

Rival Potato Soup (recipe from my very first crockpot)
5 cups water
4 chicken boullion cubes
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon parsley, dried
5-6 potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and slices
1 celery rib, cleaned and chopped
2-3 leeks, sliced, cleaned and rinsed a lot of times, white a bit of the green
1/3 cup butter
1 can evaporated milk
1 tablespoon chopped chives

Add hot water to crockpot, turn crockpot to high.
Add boullion cubes, salt and parsley to crock pot.
Clean and prepare all the vegetables and add to the crockpot.
Do not add evaporated milk or chives till the end!
Put the lid on the crockpot and lower the temperature to low.

Adding hot water warms up the crockpot and takes less time for the pot to reach it's cooking temperature.

Cook on low for 10-12 hours. Add the evaporated milk and chives and serve.
One thing I do is to use the blender stick in the crockpot and breakdown some of the potatoes so that it resembles cream with pieces of potato. Just our preference. Can also use a potato masher.
I like to serve this with a nice warm, crusty artisan bread.

This makes a lot of soup. Especially for two people.
1/3 goes into a container for our son.
I will pan fry a jalapeno sausage, sliced and cut up, on the stove and add to the bowls. Yummy!!
1/3 gets eaten with the sausage and bread that evening.
In the remaining 1/3, add a can of green chiles, and 1/2 cup grated cheddar and monterey jack cheese. Put in containers for dinner later in the week.

Enjoy!