{Gluten and Dairy Free} Ham and Rice Soup

Do you love your crockpot, but hate rushing in the morning to put the meal together? Sometimes, I do! How about putting the ingredients in a bowl the night before. Refrigerate it over night. In the morning transfer it to your crockpot and turn it on. Another idea is to freeze the ingredients in a large ziploc bag. If you lie it flat you can fit a lot of meals on top of each other in the freezer.  You can either thaw it and put it in the morning or you can put it in frozen and turn it on high while you get ready in the morning. Before you leave, turn it to low and you should be set! Even better make two of them in the evening. Freeze on and throw the other in the crockpot the next morning.

Here is the recipe I like to do it with. I made it last night and am throwing it in the crockpot on a marathon day like today.

I know this dish may sound funny, but as soon as I made it, it became a family favorite at our house. My kids cheer when I say it is in the crock pot. I love it because there are a lot of veggies in there, too. You can sub beans instead of rice (white beans).  The rice gets a bit mushy so if that bothers you, you can add the rice at the last minute. Sometimes I put a 1/2 cup rice in a bowl and then pour soup over it.

1 cup rice, uncooked
1 container of Hillshire farms smoked ham, coarsely chopped or 1 pkg farmland ham cubes
1 large onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
7 oz canned tomatoes with juice (I use safeway brand)
6 oz V-8 juice
2 TBS pure pomegranate juice (or you could use lemon juice)
1/2 TBS chili powder
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 cups chicken broth
water
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBS dried thyme

Other good additives: a handful of chopped spinach, kale or sweet peppers.

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a crock pot. Add water until it is about an inch from the top of a medium size crock pot. Turn on low for 8 hours. Add salt and pepper to taste. We put frozen peas on top to cool it down, and eat it with toasted Food For Life English muffins that are dripping with Earth's Balance spread, or grapeseed oil.