Cheeseburger Soup

There were many different things cooking in our house when I was growing up. Many of them came from little ole me. I cracked open my Mother`s circa 1940s Betty Crocker cookbook at the age of eight years old and I never looked back. One of my jobs as a youngster was to crawl on my belly and light the pilot on the stove. I never lost a hair on my brow.  My passion has always been baking but I also love to cook practically anything. If it looks good, I will try to replicate it. Sometimes I fail. Sometimes I have great success.  I share those successes with my friends in person and online all the time. They have been telling me that I need to write a cookbook. Well, I think this is the best place to start. I can share with you. All of my recipes are either solely by me or I learned them from someplace else and added my own twist to them.

 Since it is still too cold to actually be Spring in New London, I want to share a nice warm soup.   It is called Cheeseburger soup. I learned about it on the Food Network television show called Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It was so unusual that I had to make it.  Trust me. You are going to love it!

Cheeseburger Soup

Servings: 4-6

Cook time: about an hour

Ingredients:

-1 1/2 lb. ground beef

- 32 oz can of Chicken or Veggie stock

-1 pint of half and half

-1/2 of 32 0z size block of Velveeta, cubed

- 1 large white onion, diced

-3 Tablespoons of butter or margarine

-2 medium tomatoes, chopped

-2 cups of iceberg lettuce, chopped

-Salt and pepper to your taste

-1/4 cup flour mixed with 3/4 cup of water  (for slurry/thickener)

Directions:

In a Dutch oven or heavy bottomed large pot, melt butter. Add onions. Cook on medium heat and sweat for 2-3 minutes until translucent.  Remove and set aside. 

Add ground beef to pot, cook on medium heat , season with salt & pepper and cook until browned and a bit crispy. Drain fat and set aside.

Put your flour and water into a small container with a lid. Shake until incorporated. You do not want any lumps. This will be your slurry.

Keeping heat at medium low, add your chicken stock, & flour slurry to the Dutch oven. Bring to boil, scrapping bits off the bottom.

Add half & half and Velveeta. Cook until all the cheese is melted, not boiling.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Add hamburger and onion back into the pot and lower heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for about an 1 hour.

  Now here is the part that you are going to think is strange, but trust me. Add the tomatoes and lettuce into the soup. Stir and serve. 

Enjoy!

This is a low carb meal.