Slow cooker carrot apple soup

Apples, apples, apples everywhere. So what do you do when life throws apples at you. You share, cook and eat them. As simple as that. My refrigerator is filled with bags of apples thanks to our recent apple picking trip. Here is a recipe for a hearty and simple apple carrot soup. The best part of this recipe is that you put everything in a slow cooker and in the next few hours have a warm and delicious soup on your table.

Ingredients

Apples - 6 to 8 (refrain from using the likes of Granny Smith)

Carrots - 3 or 4 medium sized

Onion - 1 chopped

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Vegetable stock/water - 4 to 5 cups

A few cloves of garlic as per taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Sauté the onions, garlic and cumin seeds for 1-2 minutes in about a tbsp of olive oil.(See notes).

2. Peel the apples and cube them. Alternatively, you can leave the skin on and use an apple slicer to cut the apples (get rid of the core).

3. Similarly peel and chop the carrots.

4. Add the chopped apples and carrots to the pan with the onions and sauté for another 1 or 2 minutes. You do not have to cook the apples and carrots as the slow cooker will do the work for you.

4. Transfer everything to the slow cooker.

5. Add the vegetable broth, salt and pepper and give it a quick stir.

6. Set your slow cooker on low and cook for 3 hours. (See notes)

7. Give the mix a stir after 3 hours and cook for another 1 hour on high or until the carrot and apples are soft.

8. Blend the soup with a hand blender to a smooth consistency. If you prefer the soup to be chunky then don't blend it all the way.

9. Adjust the salt and pepper and garnish with a dash of heavy cream before serving.

10. I added a few home made croutons to the soup and it tasted delicious.

Notes

1. You can omit this step of sautéing the onions, carrots and apples and instead add them directly into the slow cooker. I did not want the raw taste of onions in my soup so ended up sautéing them. Once again you do not want to cook anything at this stage. Just want the veggies and apples to hit the heat.

2. Adjust cooking times depending on the size of your slow cooker. I used a 3 1/2 quart slow cooker for the soup.

Green pea soup

Health recipe!
This is the first time I made green peas soup and it came out very well. Sweet, creamy and delicious, this soup is what you should have on a cold winter day. You can serve it with a slice of toasted pita bread or regular wheat bread. This is my entry for Creative Pooja's vegetable of the week - Green Peas.

Ingredients
2 medium onions
1 clove of garlic
1 10 oz box of frozen green peas
1 tsp of dried oregano (use fresh if you have it on hand)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp of oil (use can use butter)
2 cups of water

Method
1. Pour oil in a pan and sauté the onions until they become translucent. Be careful not to burn them otherwise the soup will taste bad.
2. Next add the garlic and sauté.
3. Then add the oregano and mix well.
4. Add the frozen peas and two cup of water. You can add vegetable stock, but water is good enough. Let it simmer for a while until the peas become soft.

Green peas and onions cooking on a low flame

5. Let the mixture cool. Once cooled use a hand blender and puree the soup.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

Note: The soup by itself has a creamy consistency. If required, you can add milk or half and half/heavy cream to enrich the flavor. This is purely optional.

Delicious green pea soup

Serving size - 1 cup

Number of servings - 3 or 4