Fun Food Friday- Cheeseburger Soup

One of the ways to get points in this challenge I am participating in is to eat 4 servings of vegetables each day. Let me tell you, that is a lot of vegetables every day :). So I've been trying to find different ways to get all my vegetables in and one of those is with this soup. It's full of vegetables! And yet, it's still delicious (okay, I've actually grown to really like vegetables, but still, you see a soup called "Cheeseburger Soup" and yet in the picture of ingredients you see way more vegetables than hamburger or cheese, you wonder how it can really be any good :)). I think it would really be good with some bacon added in, but then I would have to deduct points because bacon is on the unhealthy list :), so we go without, but feel free to spruce it up to your liking. :)

Ingredients: Celery, Carrots, Onion, Potatoes, Ground Beef, Cheese, Milk, Flour (I used wheat flour but white would work too), Chicken Broth, Olive Oil, Salt, Paprika

First you want to cook the vegetables, so add your chopped carrots, celery and onion to a pan...

And drizzle on a little olive oil

Stir it around and cook for 10 minutes, stirring every so often so the vegetables don't get burned

Jonathan thought he was quite funny to "spray me with water" while I was making his dinner :)

I like to put the flour and spices in a dish before I put them in the pan because as soon as you add them you need to start stirring so they don't burn and it's hard to stir and measure out all the seasonings at the same time, so if you just put them all in a bowl together beforehand, you can dump them all in together (hopefully that makes sense, if not, just trust me on this one :)). So to a small bowl add 1 TBS wheat flour...

1/2 tsp of paprika...

And 1/2 tsp of black pepper

I also like to get my liquid together because again, if you stop stirring the flour mixture to get the liquid it can quickly burn. So measure out 3 cups of chicken stock...

And 1 cup of milk

Add the flour mixture to the vegetables...

Stir and cook for 1 minutes, stirring continually

Add the liquid. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring often

Remove from heat and blend with an immersion blender (if you don't haven an immersion blender, you should get one, they're awesome :) but you can also use a regular blender or food processor)

Return the soup to the heat and add 2 peeled and diced potatoes. Cook for 10 minutes

Add 1 cup of shredded cheese (I used Colby-Jack but you can use whatever you like)

Stir until the cheese is melted

Then just add 1/2 pound of browned ground beef (I like to brown a bunch together and then put it in bags in the freezer to use for soups, so that's why mine is coming out of a bag. Obviously if you don't have already browned ground beef, you will need to go ahead and brown it at some point during this soup making process :)).

And there you go, Cheeseburger Soup, chalked full of vegetables

Eat it with a salad with Romaine Lettuce and Cauliflower and you're on you way to 4 servings of vegetables! :)

My boys, especially the twins, love this soup!

Micah will eat it as long as I take some out for him before I put the ground beef in, the kid is not a fan of meat, we're working on this :)

 

Cheeseburger Soup

1 tsp olive oil

1 small onion, diced

3 large carrots, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 TBS wheat flour

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp black pepper

3 cups chicken stock

1 cup milk

2 potatoes, peeled and diced small

1 cup shredded cheese

1/2 pound ground beef, browned

 

To a medium saucepan add the diced onion, carrots and celery. Drizzle with olive oil. Stir and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the flour and spices, stir and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add stock and milk and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender (or food processor or regular blender). Return to heat and add potatoes, cook for 10 minutes. Add cheese and beef, cooking until the cheese is melted.