Easy Crock-Pot Spicy Black Bean Chicken Soup & Fall Decor

Yesterday was a soup day! The sky was gray, and the the house felt homey as I finished boxing up the Halloween decor and putting out the Thanksgiving decor, like my little Nut Babies Candle holders that I love bringing out after Halloween.

So I thought a pot of soup was in order. I love bean soup, but my children are not as fond of bean soup as they are of chicken soup, so I thought I would combine the two. Here's the very easy recipe I came up with.

Easy Crock-Pot Spicy Black Bean Chicken Soup

Put into your crock pot on high-

3 cups of chicken stock

3 chicken breasts

1 bunch of celery chopped

2 medium onions chopped

add water to bring liquid level at least an inch above meat and veggies

add salt and pepper and a few dashes of Italian seasoning

Let this cook in your crock-pot on high until chicken is cooked-like 4 hours.

Then remove chicken and cut it into bite size pieces and return to pot.

Then add half a bag of frozen crinkle cut carrots, fresh is fine too of course, I just love the convenience of frozen crinkle cut carrots.

Add 1 can of Rotel (southwest flavored tomatoes) Choose a mild version if you don't like too much spice, you could also use regular crushed tomatoes and add your own jalapeno so you could control the spice.

2 cans rinsed black beans

1 can drained sweet corn

season again- to taste- with salt pepper and Italian seasoning

Let this cook until carrots are cooked through, and soup is nice and hot. Add water if needed to bring the level of broth to desired amount.

This soup is wonderful served with nice warm sweet cornbread, we like to dunk our cornbread right into the soup. This soup hit the spot!

I also thought I would share this yummy after school treat I made for the kids using a recipe from The Pioneer Woman Blog for Monkey Bread. I had left over tube biscuits from last week, and I have always wanted to try making Monkey Bread. I love the recipes from the The Pioneer Woman, and I love her new show on Food Network, here is a link to The Pioneer Woman Cooks On Food Network. Can't wait for her holiday cooking episode in December!

Here's a look at our yummy Monkey Bread treat!

I still have a bit more work to do on the Thanksgiving decor, I'm still finishing up the mantle, which I hope to have done soon. Here are some of my little tables & bookcases that I finished decorating today.

Here are my little harvest ducks.

Here is the candle in between the ducks close up, I love the little house painted on this candle holder, and it looks so pretty lit up!

I kept out my jingle bell crow trees, and put my harvest angel in front.

Here are my Pilgrims standing by my beeswax taper candle (I love beeswax candles!) and my nesting boxes.

Lastly my little Pilgrim and Turkey Harmony Ball Pot Belly Pots, I have collected many of these little Pot Belly figures over the years, for all of the seasons, as well as a few of the historical figures. I think they are fun!

Hope everyone is having fun getting ready for the upcoming holidays!