Women at work and their tips, challenges, advice, complaints, and experiences

Get your aprons on, gals - Slow Cooking Thursday has officially returned to Workerette.com! 

As a home-based working mom, I've learned over the past year that organization and efficiency are a must - and making good use of the modern resources available to me has made a huge difference in streamlining my schedule and attempting to balance work and family issues.  Frankly, there's nothing I've enjoyed more in the kitchen than pulling together some of the recipes I have for the slow cooker.  I can't decide what's better: the fact that I can go back to work on household chores, my writing, or childcare and still have a nice home-cooked meal ready with very little work on my part - or the fact that oftentimes I can find recipes that allow my six-year-old to help prepare the meal (an excellent homeschooling lesson in itself)!

Obviously menu planning and using the Crock Pot are helping me out, and from most of the comments/emails I received when I called a stop to Slow Cooking Thursday they are helping readers here as well.  That's why, for 2008, SCT is BACK!

Here's our first recipe of the year: Italian Bread Soup, borrowed from Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Slow Cooker Recipes.  This one sounds ever-so-tasty to me, especially for chilly evenings.  It's easy to make organic too - just grab organic ingredients (Muir Glen is a great choice and there were coupons in one of the newspaper inserts recently!) and you're set for a cozy, healthy soup.  YUM!

Read on for the recipe! 

What You Need:

• 2 - 14 oz cans of reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 4 - 14.5 oz cans of fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 3 C Caesar-style croutons
• 1 C frozen chopped onion
• 1 packet (0.7 oz) Italian salad dressing mix
• salt and ground black pepper, to taste
• grated Parmesan cheese (optional, for garnish)
• shredded fresh basil (optional, for garnish)

What To Do: 

• Combine chicken broth, tomatoes (undrained), croutons, onion, and dressing mix in your slow cooker (4-quart or larger).
• Set on high and let cook for four to six hours.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper; serve garnished with Parmesan and basil as desired.

How easy is that?  I can't wait to give this a try - I'm not normally a fan of croutons on salads, but even I would eat 'em this way!  

Don't forget that you can find tons of other fantastic recipes by visiting Sandra over at Diary of a SAHM!  Be sure to browse my archived recipes here on Workerette.com as well.