Cheeseburger Soup.

Last night I was contemplating hibernating for winter.  Aside Thanksgiving and Christmas, I'm not too interested in the coming months.  Wake me up in time to celebrate the dogs birthday on St. Patricks' Day and call it good.  The sad part, it's not even winter yet!  But last night was chilly.

After finally being home for the night at 8:30 pm.  Gary and I put on some comfy clothes and headed to relax by reading.  His reading material: The Country Today.  My reading material: Taste of Home BIG Book of Soup.  Even though we had just eaten I was on a mission to find the next soup I would make to warm me from the cold and help me through winter.  Gary said hibernating is not an option.

I called out soup titles to the sound of "that sounds good" and "I'd like that" and "make that one."  In the end it was the Cheeseburger Soup that won.  So much so that I made a special trip to the grocery store to get the one ingredient I was missing.  That's how good this soup was sounding.

I am happy to report that my special trip was worth it!

Cheeseburger Soup
(adapted from Taste of Home)
1 pound ground beef
1 cup each chopped onion, chopped carrot, chopped celery
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
4 tablespoons of butter (divided)
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups peeled & diced potatoes
1/4 cup flour
8 ounces cubed process cheese (Velveeta)
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
ketchup

Brown ground beef and set aside.  In large soup kettle, saute onion, carrot, celery, basil and parsley in 1 tablespoon butter until vegetables are tender.

Add broth, potatoes, and beef.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.

In a small skillet, melt remaining butter.  Add flour and cook for about 2 minutes then add to soup.  (The recipe said until bubbly, but mine just globbed together and I threw it in the soup like that).  Add process cheese, milk, salt, and pepper to soup.  Cook and stir on low until the cheese melts.  When serving, top each bowl with a squirt of ketchup.  And a piece of toast or a homemade roll!  I will soon be attempting homemade rolls!

Delicious.  And if you are like my husband you'll want to include pork in some way, shape, or form.  My suggestion for this dish: add bacon.  We might do that with some of the leftover soup.  But I'm sure it would taste just as good...if not better!