cdkitchen > cooking experts > pamela chester
As you read this, I’ll be in the beautiful Outer Banks on the coast of North Carolina, enjoying the sun, sand, and surf. But at the moment, as I write this article, I am lost in a sea of errands and packing, getting ready for vacation. With a small child and dog to think about, one week of vacation takes up almost the whole week prior with organizing and getting ready.
And I just realized I have one more chore on my list: to use up all the fresh food and veggies we have in the fridge. You see, I hate to throw away good food. I recently made the mistake of going grocery shopping on an empty stomach and also made a trip to the farmers' market where I became a little overzealous in sight of all the wonderful fresh produce. So we wound up with too much food that we will never use up during this busy, busy week. So I just did a little reorganizing, and threw some stuff in the freezer. Then I took stock of what I couldn’t freeze and this is what I found:
Half a rotisserie chicken
Sweet potatoes
An onion, celery, and baby carrots
A couple of zucchini
Cooked green beans
Three ears of cooked corn
So I bet you can guess what the natural decision would be here: make chicken soup in the slow cooker! And that is exactly what I ended up doing. You could do the same thing with any odds-and-ends you need to use up so they don’t go bad while you are out of town (Other examples include ham, which can be chopped and thrown into the pot and almost any other veggie except for lettuce).
The rotisserie chicken went into the crockpot with the potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery, along with a little garlic, parsley, bay leaf and salt and pepper. I covered it with water and cooked on low for about 6 hours. Cooking it all this way freed up my morning so I could head out and get a few more things done. Then when I came home, I removed the chicken bones, and added the sliced zucchini, corn and some bowtie pasta and turned the heat up to high. After about a half hour the pasta was cooked and we were ready to eat! I adjusted the seasoning and added the green beans, and some chopped basil fresh from the garden to finish the soup.
My son and I each had a bowl with a few oyster crackers sprinkled over the top for lunch today (The kid is a sucker for soup; he will eat almost anything if it comes in soup form). I have to say the result was a little reminiscent of one of my favorite shore-side soups, she crab soup, complete with the corn and green beans. It wasn’t even planned that way, but based on this I decided to add Old Bay seasoning to the recipe (and I’m now thinking of duplicating that crab soup recipe in the slow cooker, and just waiting until the end of the cooking time to add the fresh crab). There are plenty of leftovers that I can freeze in a plastic container until we arrive back home.
Vacation soup will be the perfect thing to come home to after an exhaustingly long car ride and pop in the microwave for our first “home cooked” meal back from vacation.
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/pamela-chester/926-freezing-soup/
When Your Cooking Needs a Vacation
As you read this, I’ll be in the beautiful Outer Banks on the coast of North Carolina, enjoying the sun, sand, and surf. But at the moment, as I write this article, I am lost in a sea of errands and packing, getting ready for vacation. With a small child and dog to think about, one week of vacation takes up almost the whole week prior with organizing and getting ready.
And I just realized I have one more chore on my list: to use up all the fresh food and veggies we have in the fridge. You see, I hate to throw away good food. I recently made the mistake of going grocery shopping on an empty stomach and also made a trip to the farmers' market where I became a little overzealous in sight of all the wonderful fresh produce. So we wound up with too much food that we will never use up during this busy, busy week. So I just did a little reorganizing, and threw some stuff in the freezer. Then I took stock of what I couldn’t freeze and this is what I found:
Half a rotisserie chicken
Sweet potatoes
An onion, celery, and baby carrots
A couple of zucchini
Cooked green beans
Three ears of cooked corn
So I bet you can guess what the natural decision would be here: make chicken soup in the slow cooker! And that is exactly what I ended up doing. You could do the same thing with any odds-and-ends you need to use up so they don’t go bad while you are out of town (Other examples include ham, which can be chopped and thrown into the pot and almost any other veggie except for lettuce).
The rotisserie chicken went into the crockpot with the potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery, along with a little garlic, parsley, bay leaf and salt and pepper. I covered it with water and cooked on low for about 6 hours. Cooking it all this way freed up my morning so I could head out and get a few more things done. Then when I came home, I removed the chicken bones, and added the sliced zucchini, corn and some bowtie pasta and turned the heat up to high. After about a half hour the pasta was cooked and we were ready to eat! I adjusted the seasoning and added the green beans, and some chopped basil fresh from the garden to finish the soup.
My son and I each had a bowl with a few oyster crackers sprinkled over the top for lunch today (The kid is a sucker for soup; he will eat almost anything if it comes in soup form). I have to say the result was a little reminiscent of one of my favorite shore-side soups, she crab soup, complete with the corn and green beans. It wasn’t even planned that way, but based on this I decided to add Old Bay seasoning to the recipe (and I’m now thinking of duplicating that crab soup recipe in the slow cooker, and just waiting until the end of the cooking time to add the fresh crab). There are plenty of leftovers that I can freeze in a plastic container until we arrive back home.
Vacation soup will be the perfect thing to come home to after an exhaustingly long car ride and pop in the microwave for our first “home cooked” meal back from vacation.
Slow Cooker Chicken, Vegetable, And Bow Tie Pasta Soup
Made with yellow onion, baby carrots, celery, garlic, sweet potato, bay leaves, parsley, fresh corn, zucchini, green beans
Made with yellow onion, baby carrots, celery, garlic, sweet potato, bay leaves, parsley, fresh corn, zucchini, green beans
Serves/Makes: 6
- 1/2 cooked rotisserie chicken (or more if desired)
- 1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
- 8 ounces baby carrots, sliced
- 2 ribs celery, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
- 1 sweet potato, peeled and coarsely chopped (or more if desired)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 3 ears cooked fresh corn, sliced off the cob (or more if desired)
- 1 zucchini, sliced (or more if desired)
- 1 cup cooked green beans
- 1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning, or to taste
- 1 cup bow tie pasta (or other shape)
- salt and pepper
***To serve***
- 6 leaves fresh basil, coarsely chopped
- grated parmesan cheese, if desired
Place chicken, onion, carrots, celery, garlic and sweet potato in slow cooker. Cover with water and add a dash of kosher salt, pepper, parsley, and bay leaves.
Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Remove chicken bones from soup (can chill before doing so) and add chopped chicken back to soup.
Add remaining vegetables, Old Bay, and pasta. Cook, covered on high until pasta is tender. Season to taste and serve garnished with basil and cheese.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/pamela-chester/926-freezing-soup/