So good. I can't even tell you how good.

I love a good soup. Like, a lot. And this one, my friends, is gooooooooooooood.

I got this recipe when reading an article about this Utah woman who did a crock pot recipe every day for a year-- you know, one of the many cooking bloggers-- and ended up making a cookbook and all that jazz.

So yeah, this is a crock pot recipe. And I happen to love crock pot meals. They are so easy to make and your house smells all good and stuff. If you don't have a crock pot or you don't like that style, I'm certain this would work just as well on the stove top if you just simmer it at the end until the vegetables are tender to your liking.

Here we go:

Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup

Combine in crock pot:

2 cans (14 oz ea) diced tomatoes

1 c. diced celery

1 c. diced carrots

1 c. diced onions

4 c. chicken broth

1 bay leaf

1 t. dried oregano

1 T. dried basil

Set on low heat, timer for 5-7 hours, depending on how tender you want your veggies to be.

One hour before finish, prepare a roux in a saucepan with 1/2 c. butter and 1/2 c. flour. Stir with a whisk for a few minutes over low-med heat.

Take 1 c. of soup out of the crock pot and slowly stir it into the (still heating) roux until smooth. Add another 1-2 c. of soup and stir to combine. You should get a fairly thick pasty mixture.

Add this roux mixture into the crock pot, stirring to combine.

Then, add 1 c. grated Parmesan cheese, 2 c. half and half, 1 t. salt, and 1/4 t. pepper. Stir to combine.

Let it cook for the remaining hour.

Enjoy with crusty French bread. DELICIOUS, I tell you! (I'm going to go get another bowl of it right now...)

Tomato Feta Basil Pasta Salad

I have long associated pasta salads with the soggy, mayo drenched affairs seen at church barbecues. Furthermore, I never understood the reasoning behind cold pasta. Why have pasta cold when it is so very delicious hot?

This was before I moved to a place with no air conditioning. Yesterday it was 88 degrees in my house, and there was no way in this apt simulation of hell that I was going to turn on the stove, oven, toaster or any heat-emitting device. In the middle of the night, when with all the windows open and fans blasting the house had chilled to a comfortable 75 degrees, I mass produced cooked pasta, meat, and rice so today I could pull them out of the fridge to make oddities such as pasta salad.

Steering clear of mayo, I made this baby with stuff I had laying around. It's fresh and light and totally fulfilling. Give it a try!

3/4 lb cooked whole wheat penne pasta, cooled (DO NOT over cook--if refrigerating overnight, knock a couple minutes off the cook time)
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/4 C feta cheese, crumbled (or to taste)
1/2 C sun dried tomatoes in oil (thank you, Costco)
Big bunch of basil, sliced in to ribbons (thank you, garden)
1 TBS good olive oil
1 TBS good balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Toss ingredients together and serve.