Tasty Tuesday - Cheeseburger Paradise Soup

Bet you thought I was dead? Nope, just been sick and crazy busy. Well mostly sick and trying to keep my head above water. Your in luck for the rest of the week though. Be thankful.

It's soup weather. Thank goodness. Now my husband can't make fun of me for wanting soup when it's 95 outside. The weirdo.

Him.

Not me. I'm never weird.

Hey! What are asking him for?!?! He's biased.

I was in the mood for soup, and when I was figuring out what to fix for dinner this week, my husband saw this recipe and was reminded how incredibly awesome it was and that we needed to add it to the weekly lineup. So lucky you, I remember to take pictures (of most of it) and now you can enjoy this stuff too!

Soups on:

In a large saucepan, soup kettle, or cooking device. Lid optional.

Okay, anyway, in the pot add your potatoes, carrot, onion, green pepper, jalapeno, water, bouillon, garlic, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Now, I am guessing that their idea of medium potatoes is different than my idea of medium potatoes, because by the time I threw everything in, the water didn't even cover everything. So, if your idea of medium potatoes is like my idea of medium potatoes, add enough water to cover everything. Just barely. The onions, carrots and peppers will add to the liquid. Trust me. I'm an expert.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, add some butter, beef, and mushrooms and cook until meat is no longer pink. If you need to drain, drain. Otherwise your soup will be greasy. Greasy soup is bad. Hopefully your burners don't suck as much as mine do and your potatoes will be done and you won't have to wait like I did. But when your potatoes get their act together, add in the beef mixture. But first - remember where you added more water? Does your potatoes seem awfully "watery"? If so, drain some out. Leave just enough to barely cover the potatoes and other veggies.

Trust me.

I'm an expert.

Then your going to forget to take pictures of the rest of the steps. But even though there are no pictures, that doesn't mean that you can ignore the rest of the steps, otherwise your soup will just be ingredients floating in potato and carrot flavored water.

Sounds.....atrocious.

Add the milk. Now remember, if you added additional water, you'll need to add additional milk. Otherwise it won't have the creamy texture that your looking for. You can substitute heavy cream or half and half to use less and still get the creamy-ness. I probably added about a cup extra of milk, but I added about 6ish extra cups of water.

Let everything bubble and boil and toil and....stew. In a small-ish bowl, add the flour and the remaining cup of milk. I left my flour the same and everything came out fine even with the additional liquid. Mix it all up until it's nice and creamy, and add it to the pot. Mix everything up and return to a boil. Let everything boil for a few minutes or until thickened. Now, your going to add cheese. Velveeta tends to help thicken, so don't get the soup so thick at this point that you forget that your adding Velveeta, otherwise your soup is going to become more like a casserole. So leave it a little runny, and start adding your Velveeta. It will continue to thicken.

Trust me.

I'm an expert.

Or don't trust me and live with runny soup. To run or not to run that is the question.

So just trust me. I'm an .... well you get the idea.

Once your Velveeta has been added and had the chance to melt and cover everything in its cheesy processed goodness, it's time to grab a bowl and a spoon. Top it off with some grated cheese, and the bacon and a few slices of green onion and inhale.

Note: If you make this the way I did, you'll have enough for several meals. For two of us it came out to about 4 meals...times 3. But that was my goal. Dinner now, and dinner again when it's close to finals and I'm too busy studying to care about cooking and then one more go round next semester. Just get it out of the freezer and let it defrost in the fridge overnight. Then you can either microwave it up, or stick in back in the pot and warm up that way. Either way works. Enjoy!


Hint: Want to print this easier? Just click on the title and print. You can keep what you need and what you don't.


Cheeseburger Paradise Soup

6 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 carrot, grated
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup chopped seeded jalapeno pepper (about 2 peppers)
6 cups water
2 tbsp plus 2 tsp beef bouillon granules
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 pounds ground beef (or turkey)
1/2 pound sliced mushrooms
2 tbsp butter
6 cups milk divided
8 tbsp all purpose flour
1 (16 oz) Velveeta cheese, cubed
crumbled cooked bacon (optional)
grated cheddar cheese (optional)
diced green onions (optional)

1. In a large saucepan, combine the potatoes, carrots, onions, jalapeno, green pepper, water, beef bouillon, garlic, pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper; bring to a boil Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef and mushrooms in butter over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain well. Add to potato mixture. Stir in 5 cups of milk; heat through.
3. In a small bowl, whisk the flour and remaining milk until smooth; gradually stir into soup. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 3-4 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat; stir in cheese until melted. Garnish with bacon, cheese, and green onions if desired.