This soup is wonderful. Hearty enough to fill my hubby and still basic enough not to "gross out" the kids. We used the cheap chicken hot dogs and it worked out great.

I work weekends now so I have to rely on quick meals to get us through. I know it dosen't sound appealing, but believe it or not, it was. I changed up the cooking process, but it was all there. Only change I made ingredient-wise was use no-salt chicken broth instead of water. I tossed the carrots, potatoes and parsnips in EVOO and salt/pepper/rosemary and roasted it in the oven for about 25 minutes or until browned while I was showering. I tossed all the remaining ingredients in the crockpot with the roasted veggies and let it cook on low all day. Came home and dinner was done. I served it with grilled cheese. We all ate and were happy.

The kids love this..

The soup should get 5 stars for ease and 4 for taste. I feel that I could have used 1 more parsnip. Also, I added an additional 1/2 tsp of basil and a couple more dashes of pepper. Lastly, I did not put in the whole 16oz of hot dogs. I used all but 3 dogs, otherwise it would have been too much. We would make this again, as we were surprised how creamy and satisfying this soup is. This could be a main course by itself! Just need some saltines on the side.