You know you’re “old” (or a culinary dork?) when you get really excited about receiving a crock pot as a Christmas gift! That’s okay. We welcome the labels. Crockers rock my socks off. (Too much?) We’ve gotten lots of miles out of this one and the hits just keep on coming!

This is a stock photo. I promise we really are vegetarians.

So, remember these beautiful homegrown tomatoes we received over the weekend?

They’re baaaaaack!

This is a SUPER easy crocker recipe that was adapted from our new slow cooker recipe book by Lynn Alley. We picked it up when we were at the bookstore the other day. (We definitely weren’t there to pick up this book for our new book club.)

NOTE: Before you begin, re-read the whole recipe. (Guilty. As. Charged.) Unlike many others, this recipe only takes about 3-4 hours in the slow-cooker. Plan accordingly.

Here we go!

-Quarter 2-3lbs of tomatoes, preferably homegrown (If you don’t have a scale, don’t worry about it; we just about filled the 5qt slow cooker – see photo below)

-Coarsely chop half a medium onion

-Press or mince 1-2 cloves of garlic

-That’s all the recipe calls for, but we threw in some baby carrots that needed a new home and seasoned it with some S+P, fresh basil, and my go-to Penzeys seasoning: Mural of Flavor.

Set the crocker to LOW heat and let it simmer for about 3 – 4 hours. If I’m home, I usually like to stir it a few times throughout the process, but you don’t need to. The tomatoes should basically fall apart.

At this point, you’ll need to blend the soup. Enter Heather’s all-time favorite wedding gift (thank you, Katie!): the immersion blender.

This little gadget is incredibly helpful in the kitchen. When making soups (or smoothies) it is much easier to use, easier to clean, and more fun (check out that orange color!) than a blender or food processor. If you don’t have one, the other options will work fine, it will just be more work and more clean-up.

Blend the soup until you get your desired texture. Then stir in 1 cup of cream (we opted for light cream) and season to taste. I added more salt, Mural of Flavor, and some chipotle powder for kick.

We served it in mugs (they just seem like more fun) with some toasted Seven Stars Vermont Cheddar bread, which might be my all-time favorite kind of bread. Ever.

No Grumpies Allowed!

Enjoy! : )