Guest Post: Birthday Blitzing; Using Your Special Day to Bless Others

Birthdays are just wonderful, aren't they? It's a day when all your friends and family stop to recognize you and bless you with tokens of their affection. Some make a BIG deal of their birthdays; others let the day come and go with barely a mention, noted only by the closest friends and family.

But what about making YOUR special day special for others? 

Just recently, a long-time friend of mine, Jennifer Holstein, posted on Facebook something incredible. She chose to make her birthday a time to go out of her way to make others, those she knows and those she will never even see, feel special. Here's her list and some pictures of what she did for others:

Birthday Blitz- the complete list!

1. Made brian breakfast and walked Lucas so he could enjoy it.

2. Left a treat in the mailbox for the mail lady.

3. Left popcorn on the Redbox

4. Took goodies to my long time doctor and her nurse.

5. Took treats to our babysitter.

6. Goodies for the bank teller who was SO nice.

7. Paid admission for 5 people at Wannamaker Park.

8. Gave a goody bag to the kid work

ing the booth at Wannamaker.

9. Bought a sweet old couple breakfast.

10. Left encouraging notes on cars at Trident Cancer Center.

11. Left congratulation card on cars at the Birthing Center.

12. Left nice notes on the mirrors in Target dressing rooms.

13. Drove to work and left a note on my mom's car.

14. Taped quarters to a soda machine at Tanger.

15. Left a note that said "you're a great mom" in Tanger's nursing area.

16. Left quarter on ride toys.

17. Treated a little boy waiting with him mom to a ride on the merry go round.

18. Took a goody bag to this sweet lady at Sam's who always remembers my name.

19. Took dog toys, cat toys and human treats to the Charleston Animal Shelter.

20. Left a 100% tip on my lunch.

21. Fed about to expire meters downtown.

22. Left pennies for wishing at Waterfront Park fountains.

23. Gave some lost tourists directions.

24. Surprised Brian at work.

25. Left a treat for the massage therapist who fixed my back. 

26. Encouraging messages in certain subjected books at Barnes & Nobles (weight loss, self help, parenting)

27. Left a happy note on the B&N mirror.

28. Wildly applauded the little boy who was singing in the kids section and got treated to a little concert.

29. Took treats to all the workers at the West Ashley Red Cross.

30. Let tons of people into traffic all day.

31. Left quarters in grocery store toy machines.

32. Picked up Lucas early- which he loves.

33... and my favorite- Brought flowers to a brand new mom who just had her baby today. ♥

So after seeing this, I asked Jennifer if could share where she got her idea, the reactions she received from those she was blessing, and any future plans. Here is her response: 

"I read this article {read link} over the summer and was absolutely inspired by it.  He mentions another person who did something similar and I read that too.  I thought it was a fantastic idea!  I’ve always loved my birthday and 3 has always been my husband’s & my lucky number.  Since this was my 33^rd birthday, I wanted to do something really special.

I decided that I wanted to do the same thing for my birthday.  So I started to make a list.  I thought of people in my day to day life that are kind to me, that never get acknowledged like they should.  I thought of inexpensive ways I could leave kindness for strangers.  I thought of organizations that I care about or places that just plain make me happy.  And I left some blanks for places where I was just inspired by the day.

I had a handful of ideas.  I made gift bags full of hershey’s kisses and I made little tags that said “Today is Birthday…and I’m celebrating by giving to others” with a space to write a personal note.  I made some for specific people- my doctor and her nurse, the humans at the Charleston Animal Shelter, our long time babysitter, a lady at a store I frequent who is so nice, our mail lady and the folks at the Red Cross (I’m a long time blood donor).   I made a bunch more to just have as the mood stuck me.  I also made dog and cat treats for the animal shelter.

I took a bunch of the cards and wrote little messages on the back- just encouraging things that would make me smile if I read them. 

My car looked like a mobile office- I had pens, tape, markers…  If you want to do this yourself, be prepared!  I wish I’d have packed some water. 

I planned out my day to begin in Summerville, where I live.  All of those were planned stops.  I needed to hit the bank and my teller was so friendly and sweet, I sent a treat bag with a note back through the tube before I left- that was my first unplanned kindness.

I had a free drink at Dunkin’ Donuts, so I get my drink and a $10 gift card.  While I was doing this, an older couple came in behind me. They were talking about what to get for breakfast.  When my drink was done, I turned around and handed them the card and wished them a great day.  They were so surprised and pleased. 

Most of the things I did- I never saw the people who received them.  I just liked the idea of someone coming across it and making them smile.  The handful of people who I did something for directly (the little boy on the merry go round, the lunch tip, the boy at Barnes & Noble, the Red Cross folks, the nurses at the maternity ward) were so surprised and almost taken aback.  It so strange to think that we go so long between acts of kindness that it is almost shocking when it happens.  I’ve always believed that the best way we can live is to simply look out for others… smile at a stranger, hold a door for a mom…  be kind to each other. 

It was without a doubt the best birthday I’ve ever had.  I felt so blessed, like the universe was just filling me with positive energy and I’m so energetic about what this 33^rd year of my life will bring."

So my challenge to you, dear reader, is this: 

How can you bless others? For your birthday, for Christmas, for Veterans Day...for no reason at all, how about take the time to make someone else's day brighter. 

It doesn't have to be expensive, time consuming, or even anything that takes a lot of planning. I am thinking of making this one of my New Year's Resolutions for 2013. How about you? 

July's Blog Challeng: #11-13

If you have noticed on my blog challenges lately I've been combining a few pictures at a time. I was trying to catch up, but my schedule is so stinkin' busy that I don't always have time to snap a picture and then blog about it. My friend, Kristin, over at Kinder Words, who is also doing the blog challenge with me, had a similar problem. She has a more noble reason than mine: she wants better quality pictures. :)

So we compromised. We decided that instead of trying to post something every day, we would do Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I'm going to go ahead and post the next three picture challenges, and then Wednesday I'll do #14 and possibly #15.

Here they are! (and instead of saying "Day __", it will henceforth be "Number ___")

Number 11: Silhouette

Number 12: Sun flare

Number 13: Reminds you of childhood

What does this all say about me?

1) I had a hard, hard time trying to decide the best way to get a silhouette. I had all kinds of ideas in my head about some awesome pretty things to do, but they didn't turn out. So the picture of my son and his shadow (the dog was supposed to be in the picture as well, but she got distracted by a squirrel) was the best I could do.

2) I wasn't sure the "sun flare" picture was going to turn out, but I like it! What I like a LOT is the reflection of the the trampoline in the picture as well. It looks like I took the picture behind a screen, but I didn't!

3) I loved, loved, loved my trampoline as a kid. I spent hours and hours on it. So when we found one for a great price, I bought one for my kids. Not only have we jumped and jumped on it, but we have also lain on it  and watched the first stars come out; we have slept on it; and we have read books on it while soaking up the sun. All things I did as a kid that I'm passing on to mine.

July's Blog Challenge: Days 7-10

I'm participating in a blog challenge with another blogger friend of mine (and kindred spirit, if I say so myself) for the month of July. It's really been fun! Since Kristin and I both don't blog on Sundays, we decided to double up on Mondays...but the past two Mondays are starting to look like my busy day again. So today you will be getting the blog challenge results from Saturday to today (Tuesday).

If you missed days 1-6, go here for a link to access all of those.

Day 7: High Angle

This is from the top of my son's bunk bed. This is also what they are doing in the morning. They are not allowed out of their rooms until 8 am (their alarm clock is set), so if they wake up before that, they have to quietly entertain themselves in their rooms. This morning, I found them all doing art. As long as it wasn't markers or paint, I really don't care. :) 

DAY 8:

This was at about 8:30 last night. We don't get much of a sunset view from our house. SunRISE, YES!! Sunset, not so much! 

This was at 9 pm. Not much different, but this was the best I could do. 

DAY 9: Fresh Fruit

These were fresh about 5 minutes before this picture. I made these yummy figs into a Low-Sugar Fig Jam

DAY 10: Animal

She got caught digging to China. This is our newest addition to our family, an 80 lb puppy. 

This is the old lady in our house (and our first child). She's going on 13 years, and I love her oh so much! 

No commentary today on these pictures.

Tomorrow's challenge: Silhouette....hmm....

And go to Kinder Words to see my friend's pictures on the same blog challenge.

July's Blog Challenge: Day 6

Here it is, DAY 6 of the blog challenge, my friend Kristin, over at Kinder Words, and I are doing. If you have not caught up, here are the links for Days 1-5:

1) Day(s) 1-3: Self-Portrait, Shoes, Hands
2) Day 4: Clouds
3) Day 5: Breakfast Today

....and now, presenting....

Day 6: Books 

Abigail reading a book to herself! ...well, sort of. 

My son (the one in the over-sized yellow shirt) is searching for a book. He is like his daddy and likes the Atlas. They have a GREAT one at this store. 

Jed LOVES this book. It's a really cool flip book on dinosaurs. 

Storytime at our very own little book store, A Very Little Bookstore  (find them on Facebook!) 

Shelves and shelves of books next to our fireplace (and see the pile next to the bookshelf?) 

And another bookshelf packed with books (and see the books next to it?) 

The current book I'm reading. I LOVE this author, Tracie Peterson, and am reading through whatever books the Summerville Library has! (and this is a Christian novel, so it's more about developing Godly relationships than about the stuff that is oh so popular right now) 

A little embarrassed to show you this picture, but this is the boys' bookshelf. They also each have about 4 books on their beds that they are too lazy to put back in their proper place. 

And as a former English teacher, I can't really say that I have a favorite book, but I can say there are some books I just love to teach. These books are some of my absolute favorites!! 

What does this say about me? 

1) My family really, really values reading. Every day I have my children enjoy FOB time (feet on bed). They can read, color, or sleep for a minimum of an hour each day...on their beds. No talking, no music, and most definitely no tv. And each evening, we allow the kids to "stay up late" reading. Just in the past year, I had to put a stop to buying books. We were spending TONS of money on books, so we started going to the library around twice a month. We started with small books and audiobooks (my kids loved listening to Magic Treehouse books), and now my kids get all kinds of books, comic books, music, and movies at the library.

2) I really need to clean my bookshelves. About once a year or so, my husband and I go through our books looking for books to take to goodwill or to pass on to someone else, but we have such a hard time. I just can't let them go...hence the library now.

3) My personal favorites are mostly from British Literature. Not only do I love it, but I taught it for 6 years. I would also add to that basket of books Beowulf, Canterbury Tales,  and Pride and Prejudice. This coming school year will be my 3rd out of the classroom, and talking about these books makes me really, really, really miss teaching. ::sigh:: Well, sometimes life has chapters we would like to revisit, but I think that is only because we don't really, truly understand the value of where we currently are in our own book. I can't wait to look back on my current chapter to see how I have developed in character.

Okay, that's it for today.

Tomorrow's challenge: High Angle

Uh...ok. Well, check back tomorrow to see what I come up with...because right now, I've got nothing. :)

July's Blog Challenge: Day 5

It's Day 5 of this new blog challenge that my friend Kristin (at Kinder Words) and I are doing. This has really been a ton of fun, and I love looking for ways to meet the challenge each day. The night before, when I see what's expected of me the next day, I have just simple picture ideas in my head. But then when I start actually taking the pictures, all kinds of ideas start flowing.

To see what I've done so far, go to these links:
Day(s) 1-3: Self-Portrait, Shoes, and Hands
Day 4: Clouds 

And without further ado, here is today's challenge:

Day 5: Breakfast Today

This is what the family had for breakfast: fruit salad (apples, figs, peaches, and strawberries),  BACON, homemade buttermilk biscuits with homemade "churned butter" (honey butter, that is), and creamy grits with cheese. 

And this is what I had for breakfast....coffee and a homemade protein shake (made with homemade yogurt...in a crockpot!) This one is fruity! 

And see the little cat on the bottom right? That's what my 80 lb puppy had for breakfast. One-Eyed Harry and Bat are veterans of being "puppy-loved", so they were there for moral support....

After some cosmetic surgery

So what does this say about me?

1) July 5th is a hard day to get up and cook for 6 people (J's friend was spending the night). After a full day of cooking and preparing, I was not really excited about making a meal...and we were out of eggs...and butter (ironically, since I made butter yesterday...just not the right kind). So when I finally put everything together, I was actually satisfied with what I was presenting to my family.

2) I am serious about my weight! Dern it! I mentioned to my chiropractor last week about my weight, exercise, and so on. She told me maybe I'm just not getting enough protein. I may be eating too many fruits and veggies, and not enough protein. That gave me pause. You know? She could be on to something! I don't really like meat all that much. When I eat it, it's normally a small amount. So I have decided to try these protein drinks for 1-2 meals a day for a couple of weeks. Maybe,  just maybe, this will be what my problem is....not that I'm unhappy. I just want to be healthy...see here for more details about my opinions on my weight.

and

3) Of the many hats I wear, surgeon is one of them...and EBPA sponsor (Eaten By Puppies Association). :)


Now to prepare for tomorrow's blog challenge: Books.

Oh YAY!!!!! As a former English teacher, this one should be FUUUUUUUN!

July Blog Challenge: Day 4

So I'm doing this blog challenge with my friend, Kristin, over at Kinder Words. Yesterday I was super behind, and I did Days 1-3. Today I was so excited about the theme because I was going to have an awesome opportunity to be creative! So, as I have done for the first couple of days, I will post some pictures that go with the theme, and then I will discuss what it says about me (or whatev).

Day 4: Clouds

So at first I thought this would be easy. We would be outside all evening (when there was a chance of thunderstorms) for the 4th of July. And....no clouds....

Well, there was this one, but that was about it. 

So I decided to get creative and take pictures of the "smoke clouds" caused by fireworks! 

Look at all those clouds!! 

And more clouds! 

So what does this all say about me?

I'm a lemonade out of lemons type of girl!

Or creative.

And that's about it.

Tomorrow's challenge? Breakfast (from tomorrow's breakfast)...and this really will be a challenge. Since I spent most of today cooking for tonight's 4th of July festivities, I am out of eggs, so there goes all kinds of yummy options. I'm thinking I might to do grits. I dunno. Check in tomorrow to see.

And if you are interested in doing this challenge with me, let me know, and I'll link your blog on tomorrow's post.

Happy 4th, everyone!

July's Blog Challenge: Day(s) 1-3

Here's the Story:

My friend, Kristin, over at Kinder Words, "liked" a page on Pinterest the other day, and I immediately told her if she did it, I would do it too! She found a blog challenge (for June, not July) to take a specific picture each day. I'm not sure if the picture was supposed to be blogged about, but Kristin took it that way, and because Kristin is cool like that, so did I!

Since neither of us blog on Sundays, we decided to double up on Mondays so we could still do it all. The problem was, for me, my yesterday (a Monday) was so jammed up with SAHM-things to do (no jokes please), I didn't sit down to rest until, I kid you not, about 10 pm. I didn't have time to do day 1-2.

So today....I will be doing days 1-3, in hopes to catch up! (Clink on "blog challenge" link above for rules and more details)

DAY 1: Self Portrait

That's me. Since the rules state the picture cannot be taken any earlier than the day before the challenge/post, I had to wait all day before I was confident enough with a picture to post. This morning, I went through about 15 different pics (my poor camera phone), but no matter what the angle or hair style or whatever, I had  no color in my face yet, and I still had that sleepy-eyed look...even after 2 cups of coffee. Then, in the afternoon, my hair pretty much was in a ponytail. It is HOT here in Charleston, SC, and my hair goes UP when it gets 80 degrees. So, when I took this pic, it was a little lumpy from the ponytail. A little bit of this and a little bit of that, and voila! A decent pic!

So what does this picture say about me? Well, I wasn't being amused. You can tell because of the closed mouth smile. When I find something so stinkin' funny, believe me, those teeth come out!

What else does this say? I was multi-tasking. See the computer behind me? And the mason jar lid? I was updating pictures, checking email, and snacking on my lunch....a homemade protein shake. So I whipped around, snapped a pic, and then turned back to finish my work.

and that's about it for that pic.

DAY 2: Your favorite shoes

So....I have two favorite shoes. I'm not sure if this is cheating, but I did it anyway.

What does this pic say about me?

1) I still had red tie-die on my leg from getting shirts ready for the 4th of July! I didn't even realize it until I saw the picture! Grr!

2) I have a favorite pair of casual shoes and a favorite pair of dressy shoes. I wear those sandals pretty much everywhere. But if I can find a pretty red something I wear those red shoes! I have some pretty large calf muscles, so these shoes make them look pretty!

3) I need to recycle that milk jug...that's why it's not in the trash....and it wasn't supposed to be in the picture.

And finally,

Day 3: Hands

The is a collage of pictures made with my hand up against all the members of my household...dogs included.

What does this say about me?

Well...

1)Everytime I took a picture, the lines "My hands are small, I know..." kept repeating over and over in my head. I have small hands. Look at the bottom left. My 7-year-old's hands are almost as big as mine!

2) Maybe Abigail should have washed the dye off her hands before I took this picture. It looks like I let my child bleed.

3) The most important hands that I like to hold in my house are my husband's. Notice his are the middle.


So this was fun! A bit much for one day, but fun all the same. Can't wait for tomorrow when it is, conveniently, "clouds"...4th of July, here I come!

NOTICE:

FIRST: If you haven't already gone to Kinder Words to check out her pics, do it now...I'll wait.....good stuff, huh?

SECOND: If you have a blog and would like to join Kristin and me, let me know, and I'll make sure to tag you in tomorrow's post!

Friday Guest Post: Crockpot Cheese Fondue

Tara has got it right! Date night at home. Both of us are moms of 3 kids, and paying for a babysitter for 3 kids for...eh...3 hours is just not in the budget or in the hectic schedule of raising kids. So Tara, over at MommyTime, and I have been going through Stephanie O'Dea's Year of Slow Cooking and giving her recipes a little twist of our own. Tara gave Cheese Fondue a shot. And by the way, if you haven't seen Tara's blog, you really should. She homeschools her kids and they have been getting passports from around the world. Stop by her blog and see which country they learned about this week! (and her daughter is my son's pen pal. How sweet!) 

Take it away, Tara! 

Jana (from Just Makin' It) and I have been slow cooking our way through  A Year of Slow Cooking. We are on recipe 11. I planned an at home fondu date night for the man and I so slow cooker cheese fondu was a perfect recipe pick for this round.

Fondu is my favorite. When my birthday comes around, that is usually the meal that The Man plans for me. The Man and I have been making fondu at home since we were dating. It's such a great way to connect over dinner. It's not one of those kinds of meals where you can stuff your face and then chat.. it's one of those nibble here chat, nibble there chat type of meals. I was excited to try out Stephanie's recipe in my Little Dipper. That enabled me to get all of my main course prepared and ready for us to start.

This is Stephanie's recipe: Fancy Cheese Fondue Little Dipper Recipe

I didn't follow her's exactly. We like the traditional cheese fondue.
I used:

1/2 Cup Greyere
1/2 Cup Emmenthal
1/2 Cup Dry white Wine
1 garlic clove pressed
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 loaf of French bread

If you are having trouble finding these cheeses at your grocer, be sure to check the deli section. They usually have a special refrigerator section for their "fancy" cheese. Let's get going.

First grate your cheeses.

Yum!

Next place all of your ingredients into your Little Dipper and turn to high until the cheese is melted.

After I got my Little Dipper going, I got the rest of our meal ready for the actual date.

The Things knew what was going on because they got "Freezer Meals" for supper. They thought it was awesome that we were going to stay home and have a date. I will take one any way I can get it :) Thing 2 was more excited about it than Thing 1. After the third time of me putting him back to bed he said, "Mom, I hope you have a good date." He gave me another kiss and hug and that was the last I heard from him!

Our date night meal underway.

And now, back to the results of the cheese fondu... The taste was dead on, but the consistency was not there. I noticed that Stephanie's Little Dipper doesn't have heat settings. Mine does. My Little Dipper never got hot enough to fully melt the cheeses properly. I believe her Little Dipper must get really hot if she got her cheeses bubbly. This was not the case with ours. I did manage to get a few really good bites.

Overall, cheese fondue was a fail in my Little Dipper. I think if I had let it go for 2 hours maybe.. just maybe it would have been hot enough to make it just right. Next time I will stick with using our fondu pot. The cheese is my favorite part and I was so disappointed that it didn't turn out. If you have a Little Dipper like Stephanie's and try this please let me know if it turns out for you. I'm pretty sure the issue was with my Little Dipper.

Guest Post: Slow Cooker Black Beans

Ready for another adaptation of Stephanie O'Dea's crockpot recipes? I AM! I AM! And now that the weather if finally getting cooler, there is just something comforting about whipping up something in the crockpot. Check out this recipe from my friend Tara over at MommyTime. And please look at the note from me (in purple) on after her post. 

Friday! So, if you have been keeping up, Jana and I from Just Makin’ It are cooking our way through Steaphani O’Dea’s A Year of Slow Cooking. We are on recipe 7. Everyone make it through this week? Great. Let’s talk about Black Beans. Black beans… black beans… I wish I could come up with something nice to say. They smelled good… We just aren’t besties. I started this recipe with full intentions of making Black Bean Enchiladas. I threw it on my menu plan twice because I couldn’t bring myself to make them the first week. I finally made them. They smelled awesome in my slow cooker but they just weren’t for me. I think it’s a texture thing. I just couldn’t get over it. More about that in a second.

Click on the link below to get the original recipe.

Slow Cooker Mexican Black Beans Recipe
Adapted from Stephanie O’Dea’s A Year of Slow Cooking
6 cups of water with 4 chicken Bullion Cubes
2 Soup Spoons full of minced garlic
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 pack of taco seasoning
1 pound of black beans (Make sure to do the overnight soak or the quick soak- directions are on the back of your bag of beans)

Add ingredients to your slow cooker. Make sure to stir and set it to low and cook for 8 hours.

They smelled so good when they were cooking. I could not wait to try them. When they were done, I quickly made myself a bowl and,… I can’t put my finger on why the texture got to me, but I just couldn’t finish the bowl. The taste was great. If you like black beans then try these, but if you are like me then skip the beans and make chicken enchiladas for dinner 

As I was checking out her post, I noticed she was not too happy with the results. I beg you, though, if you are like her to not ditch the beans if they just don't turn out right. I LOVE beans (they are good for the heart, right?), especially in the cooler weather. Try adapting my recipe for Kidney Bean Meatballs with the black beans. It might be that extra kick you need and you get that healthy protein you need! Happy cooking, all! 

Guest Post: Slow Cooker Tomato Soup

So, this has been another off week for me. For some reason getting a steady schedule this school year is harder than before. Here it is Friday, and I finally seem to have my act together, but I had no posts for you. :( Lucky for you, though, my friend Tara over at Mommy Time, has come through with another crockpot recipe. If you haven't already been to her website, you really need to. She's fantastic! Check it out. Tell her what you think. And here is her post: 

It’s Friday! It’s been one of those weeks. I am barely keeping my head above water over here. I’m sure many of you feel my pain. Don’t you love Slow Cooked Fridays? I do! I look forward to the one day of the week that I know I have no plans to cook (really cook). I have no idea what I am going to be throwing in that slow cooker tomorrow, but, I am sure it will involve chicken and no real work for me  Speaking of, my crock- pot bit the dust at the ripe ‘ol age of 7 months. It was cracked in the bottom. I have no idea what happened to it because my last crock-pot lasted through years of cooking. I think everyone must be on a slow cooker kick with the new websites coming out about crock pots because when I went to Target to buy a new one.. they were sold. out. I ended up with this one.

Here’s my thoughts on it so far.  LOVE the automatic shut off! Great function. One I have never had before. However when it goes into the warming mode, it makes a really loud squeal that makes me jump. It sounds like our fire alarms, but not as loud. I think I will get used to it.  Other than that, I am happy.

The recipe,… still want it?

Before I just fork it over, let me say it was good. When I read the title, “Restaurant-Quality Crock-pot Tomato Soup Recipe” I knew I needed to try it. I love tomato soup and the very idea of having some fresh tomatoes simmering away quietly in my slow cooker just made me giddy.  Was it restaurant quality? YES!  The man really liked it, I of course liked it and guess who else! Thing 1 and Thing 3 ate bowls of this stuff. Thing 2 wasn’t up for even trying it. I was surprised and very pleased!

Here’s how I made it.

Restaurant- Quality Crock-pot Tomato Soup Recipe
Adapted from Stephani O’Dea’s A Year of Slow Cooking

3 lbs of vine- ripened tomatoes
1 tbsp onion powder
2 cups of tomato juice
3 tbsp white sugar
1 chicken bullion cube
about 2 tbsp basil
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese for garnish

I got exactly 3 pounds. We did have enough soup left over to freeze a small batch.

Rub a dub dub dub, 3 lbs. of tomatoes in a tub. I use Environne to wash all of my produce (no affiliation, I just love the product!).

Once they are good and clean get them ready to quarter.

Don’t bother peeling them. Slow cooker meals aren’t supposed to be a ton of work  Quarter them and add them to your slow cooker.

Add the rest of your ingredients.

Cook it on low for 6-8 hours and let it go.

After my timer went off, I used my soup blender to help me to get it to the consistency that we enjoy. A few chunks and creamy all at the same time. I stirred in one cup of heavy cream and served it in a bowl with parmesan as garnish.

If you are a fan of tomato soup and have a slow cooker, please try it. It is as good as the stove top versions that I have tried and the best part is you start it in the morning and when you are ready to eat, it’s ready to be served.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

God bless!