I had a misconception about the crock pot. For some reason I thought it was supposed to be easier. I thought I could skip all sorts of pre cooking steps and the crockpot would do all the work. I see now the crockpot just does the boiling. I would still have to saute and brown or roast and flavor each layer of ingredients the way I would a stove top soup or stew. So I’m actually using an extra pot and I still have to watch it the same as I would have to watch a pot on the stove cooking something for hours. For this soup, I began by sauteing my vegetables in olive oil and tarragon and rosemary to brown them, 1 large onion, 2 carrots, 2 stalks of celery, 8 cloves of garlic, 1 fat bay leaf, 1/3 head of cauliflower. I chopped 2 large potatoes and added to the crockpot and poured the sauteed vegetables on top. 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, 1 tsp tarragon, 3 sprigs fresh thyme, a few shakes of red pepper, I added a shredded ham hock from in the freezer then added 8 oz low sodium chicken broth, then added water to cover. I cooked it on low for 4 hours, then added half a bag of kale and cooked on low for another hour.