Slow Cooker Tomato Basil and Parmesan Soup

I decided if i'm going to be pinning all these recipes I may as well be putting them to use and actually start cooking and baking some of them. Nathan requested this one so we tried it out first.



The original link for the recipe you can find here


Ingredients Needed

2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes, with juice
1 cup finely diced celery
1 cup finely diced carrots
1 cup finely diced onions
1 tsp dried oregano or 1 T fresh oregano
1 T dried basil or 1/4 cup fresh basil
4 cups chicken broth
½ bay leaf
½ cup flour
1 cup Parmesan cheese
½ cup butter
2 cups half and half
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper

I used fresh oregano and fresh basil, and I left out the bay leaf as well as the salt and pepper. I found the chicken broth had enough salt for my taste but if left out everyone can add more to their liking. I also substituted 2% milk for the half and half to cut out some calories. I don't think it came out as thick as it would have but was still super yummy like that.



Combine diced tomatoes, chicken broth, celery, carrots, and onions in crock pot along with the oregano and basil.

Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours until vegetables are soft.
Melt butter in skillet and mix in flour to start a roux. Original recipe calls for adding in 1 cup off hot soup and then adding 3 more but I only mixed in 2 or so. I didn't read closely enough and didn't use a big enough pot.

Add the roux back into the crock pot and whisk until blended. Add in the parmesan cheese, half and half or milk and whisk in. I found that the parmesean doesn't melt super well and got sort of lumpy at the bottom even with constant stirring.

At this point I added in more basil and oregano because the flavor had cooked down a bit at this point.

Cover it back up and let simmer for another 30 minutes until done

This was a huge hit, Nathan absolutely loved it and it went perfect with homemade cottage cheese herb rolls but I will have to cover that recipe another night