Leftover Veggie Tray to Creamy Veggie Soup

You know the veggie tray that is left at the end of every party that no one wants to take and it ends up in the trash? After reading this, you will NEVER leave behind another veggie tray again. Ever. In fact, I hope this post will inspire all out wrestling matches similar to those often seen at weddings between all the single ladies and the bride's bouquet. Yeah, this recipe is that good. And worth a black eye and bandaids if you are the victor of the veggie tray.

With the studio, I am often "blessed" with the leftovers from the parties. Monday night was no exception and I was left with not one, but two veggie trays in addition to a variety of other delicacies. I tried to push them on my bunco group the next night, but everyone only took the mandatory three carrots and one piece of celery. No one likes raw broccoli and I can't say I blame them. Anyways, I hadn't had soup in three days and was going through withdrawals (yes I have a soup problem) and with this cold weather, I don't know if I was shivering from the temperature or not having have had a hot liquid fix. So soup was on the menu for dinner. It was also one of those days that there was an NCIS marathon on USA and I was getting crafty (don't judge, it's my profession), so I didn't make it to the store. Based off a potato soup recipe I made recently, I had this idea for a vegetable version . . . OMG. It was awesome. The kind of awesome I kept sneaking back to the kitchen for and was ticked my computer was dead so I couldn't immediately blog about it awesome. Awesome.

***Disclaimer: This is one of those "flexible" recipes . . . meaning I will try to be specific, but you kind of just got to go with it.***

Creamy Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:
- Left over veggie tray (carrots, celery, broccoli, snap peas, and anything else that might be on it)
- 1 Onion
- 1 can Cream of Chicken soup
- 1 can Creamy Portabella Starter (Progresso) or 2 cans of Cream of Mushroom 
- 1/4 cup Chicken Broth
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/4 cup Milk
- 4 oz Cream Cheese (room temp)

*Note: This was made in my small crock pot so keep that in mind

Directions:
- Chop veggies and onions. I filled my small one about 3/4 the way full. 
- Add soup, liquids and salt, stir well
- Cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 6-8 depending on your crock pot (yes they all have different definitions of "low")
- Add cream cheese and cook for 30 min more

Oh yeah . . . did I mention that it's one of those really easy recipes? Because it is. And the best part . . . I didn't buy the veggie tray! All the ingredients I just happened to have in my kitchen and it could be made "healthy" with the better for you soups and fat free cream cheese! Oh yeah, and you are getting your veggies! This soup definitely satisfied my soup habit and I cannot wait to snag the leftover veggie tray at the next together. Yes I will throw elbows for it!

PS - Excuse the service ware. We went with the colored plastic instead of the breakable ware. Our breakable bowls suck for soup so we stuck with the faithful colored plastic bowls. Also, my veggie tray pic was after I chopped the veggies . . . yeah, it was a big veggie tray.