Courtlin Shares Her Favorite Cold Weather Crock-Pot Recipe

It's soup season!

One of my favorite things about fall and winter is warming up with something delicious from my Crock-Pot. I'm pretty lazy and unskilled in the kitchen, so it's my go-to when I need to prep my lunches for the week.

There are several slow cooker recipes that I like to use when it starts to get a little chilly outside, but I have recently discovered one that I am 100% addicted to. It's so good that I've already made it four times in the last couple of months. I actually have all the ingredients ready to go so I can make it again today! It's a light version of the Zuppa Toscana Soup from Olive Garden that I came across online.

The recipe comes from the website Julie's Eats and Treats. The recipe description says it is a "delicious copycat recipe of Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana, but even better because it's slow-cooked in your Crock-Pot and lightened up! Perfect comfort food dinner!" The soup consists of potatoes, sausage, onion, garlic, kale, cream cheese, parmesan cheese, chicken broth, milk, and salt & pepper, so it's pretty simple. I make a couple of small changes, though.

Instead of crumbling up sausage, I buy jalapeno cheddar brats from the meat counter at Hy-Vee and slice those up to cook with the garlic and onions. It adds a little kick to the soup, plus they ball up like meatballs in the Crock-Pot. I also use spinach instead of kale, but I doubt that it really makes much of a difference. A little extra parmesan never hurts, either!

If you want to check out the full recipe, you can do that HERE. I promise you won't be disappointed! Bob James and one of my good friends recently used the recipe and they both said it was delicious.

Do you have an amazing cold weather Crock-Pot recipe? I would love to hear it! Leave the link in the comments below!