Mom's Vegetable Soup

We are pretty healthy eaters at our house.  I almost never buy packaged chips, cookies, etc. but try to buy plenty of fruits and vegetables for us to eat with our meals and as snacks.

Ever since we found out Munchkin was on the way, eating healthy and sensibly has become even more important to me.  I'm doing my best to take care of this sweet baby already :)

Christmas made eating healthy a little harder around here, though.  With all the Christmas parties, baking, and other treats, I have eaten more junk food in one month than I care to think about.  But, that is why we have the New Year, right?  Time to start eating healthy again!

My mom's Vegetable Soup is a great way to fill up, keep warm, and get all those yummy, healthy vegetables into your diet.

This recipe is so easy!  You basically dump a whole bunch of vegetables and some broth in a slow cooker for a few hours.  By the time the soup is finished cooking, your kitchen smells fabulous and you can't wait to eat dinner!

Since there is no specific recipe for this soup, I'll just tell you how I made mine.  The best part about this soup is that you can tailor it to your family's tastes and your stock of vegetables.

This recipe makes a large batch of soup.  We both had two big bowls for dinner last night and for lunch today.  I still have plenty leftover to freeze for a later time!

Mom's Vegetable Soup
In a crockpot, I dumped in:

• 2 (15 oz) cans of diced tomatoes, undrained
• Frozen Corn
• Frozen Green Beans
• Chopped Carrots
• Medium Diced Potatoes
• Approximately 1 cup each of water and beef broth
• I also put in a ham bone leftover from some ham I cooked a while back.  This flavors and adds salt to the soup. 
• Right before serving the soup, I pulled out the ham bone.  All the leftover ham that was stuck to the bone fell off and became a delicious addition to the soup
• My mom always made her vegetable soup with ham, but she said you could also use ground beef.  You would need to brown it first before adding it to the crockpot.

I cooked the soup on HIGH for 2 hours and then on LOW for 4 hours more.

Mom's Extra Thrifty Tip:  Save leftover veggies from meals and freeze in a large container or freezer bag.  Use these to make your soup instead of buying extra.  It's a great way to save money and keep from throwing food out!

Vegetable Soup tastes great with biscuits or cornbread!