Cheeseburger Soup

My good friend, Olivia, gave me this recipe a long time ago. I have adjusted it somewhat from what she gave me, so I'm going to give you my version. This is a very hearty soup perfect for a cold blustery day. Even meat-and-potatoes men will like it, because it includes lots of meat and potatoes!

Cheeseburger Soup

2 carrots, sliced
1 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 c. potatoes, diced
3-14.5 oz. cans chicken broth
1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. butter
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. milk
1 c. sour cream
1/2 lb. Velveeta, cubed
Salt and Pepper to taste

Brown the ground beef in a large soup pot.  Drain and set Aside.

Melt 1/4 c. of the butter in the same pot and saute the onions and the celery until clear. Add ground beef, carrots, and potatoes along with the chicken broth. Simmer until the potatoes are tender.

While this is cooking, melt the remaining butter in a small pan over low heat. Stir in the flour until bubbly and gradually add the milk. Stir until thickened and set aside.

Once the potatoes are cooked to your liking, add the flour mixture to thicken the soup. Stir well, then add the Velveeta. Stir occasionally until the cheese is melted.

Just before serving, take the soup off of the heat and add the sour cream. Stir until incorporated and serve. Goes great with some fresh, hot crusty French bread!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tortellini Chicken Soup

A friend of mine called me a few weeks ago to ask me about this recipe. I had made it for her family one time, and then she asked me for the recipe. She had lost it and was looking for it again, so she came here to my blog site. I hadn't posted that particular recipe, so she called me. Now I am posting the recipe here for you since I have neglected to post it previously.

I thought this recipe came from Pampered Chef originally, but I don't think it did. I have no idea where I got it, but have made it since not long after Jim and I got married. It's still a keeper!

Tortellini Chicken Soup

1 c. carrots, sliced
1/2 c. onions, chopped
1/2 c. celery, thinly sliced
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 t. thyme
1 T. dried parsley
46 oz. chicken broth
1-2 c. dry cheese-filled tortellini, uncooked
1 bay leaf
pepper to taste

Brown chicken in a large soup pot over medium heat 5-7 min. or until chicken is no longer pink. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer over medium-low heat 20 min. or until pasta is tender. Before serving, remove bay leaf.

Depending on how much tortellini you use, you may need to add more chicken broth, especially if you have leftovers. The tortellini will continue to soak up the broth.

Thanks for stopping by!

Easy Italian Stew

Our family has officially taken the foray into organized sports with our oldest son. He's in kindergarten this year, and we have registered him to play soccer with a local youth league. We had our first practice one evening last week. We all went as a family just to watch him at his first practice. He did great! They split their team up and played a little scrimmage against each other, and he scored a goal! Yay! I am anxious for our first game in a few weeks.

I tell you all this, because once you start having practices and things in the evenings, it's hard to plan good meals for your family. I pulled out this Easy Italian Stew recipe when I was making up my menu for the week, because we had gotten some Italian sausage on sale. I wanted to use it, and this seemed like a good recipe for these cooler end-of-summer, preview-to-fall days we've been having. It was quick and easy to make once we got home from our first soccer practice. My husband raved over it, and he doesn't rave very often! Thanks for stopping by!

Broccoli and Chicken Noodle Soup

Hi, Everyone! Sorry I've been delinquent for so long. I lost a month of my life due to a sickie bug I just couldn't shake. It started in mid-March, and I am just now getting back into the swing of things. Needless to say, I wasn't in the mood to try new recipes while I was sick. I stuck to my old favorite comfort food recipes!

Late last week while making up this week's menu, I decided to dig out my Cooking Light magazines from the past two months. I hadn't had much of a chance to peruse them, so I grabbed them and picked a few recipes to try in the coming weeks.


Over the weekend, I made Broccoli and Chicken Noodle Soup. I have accumulated quite a collection of soup recipes, and I think I shall add this one to it. We enjoyed it. Thanks for stopping by!

Chicken and Shrimp Gumbo

Sorry I've been absent from posting lately! Things got a little hectic around here! It was my week to prepare the meal for the WCC Wednesday Family Night, which is our church's Bible study night. Women in the church take turns signing up to take care of the meal each week in the spring and fall when we have our studies.

Our traditional Christmas Eve meal is Chicken and Shrimp Gumbo. When we started staying here at our home for Christmas, we started doing some things to begin our own family traditions. Having Gumbo for Christmas Eve is one of them. Jim tells me that I need to make it more than once a year, and he asked that I make it for the Wednesday Family Night meal. So, I did.


The recipe I use comes from the Bubba Gump Shrimp Cookbook. (Yes, Bubba Gump from the movie, Forrest Gump.) For copyright purposes, I won't print the recipe below, but you're welcome to borrow my cookbook if you'd like! The recipe makes 4 1/2 quarts, which is served over hot cooked rice. I made 6 batches--3 with shrimp and 3 without. We got a fantastic deal on precooked frozen shrimp at Meijer, 2.5 lbs. for $9.99!

Come back Monday and I'll share some more of my menu. Thanks for stopping by!

Mexican Chicken Soup

I have had this recipe for years now, and I can't remember where I got it originally. I kept thinking it was a Pampered Chef recipe, but I don't think it is. At any rate, I have made a few changes to it along the way, so I'm just going to give it to you without the original source. It's something different to have for dinner when you're tired of all your regular recipes!

Mexican Chicken Soup

2 c. cooked, cubed chicken
3-14.5 oz. cans of chicken broth
2 cloves of garlic, pressed or diced
16 oz. salsa
1/2 c. rice
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. salt
1-15 oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 c. frozen corn
1-4 oz. can diced green chiles

Let me first say that sometimes I don't precook my chicken. Sometimes I cut up the boneless skinless chicken breast into bite-sized pieces and cook them in the bottom of my soup pot in a little cooking oil. Once the chicken is cooked, I put it in a bowl and set it aside until the recipe calls for it to be added.

Combine chicken broth and garlic in a large soup pot and bring to a boil.

Add salsa, rice, oregano and salt. Cover. Reduce heat to low and cookfor 15 min., stirring occasionally.

Add cooked chicken, black beans, corn and chiles. Continue cooking for 5 min. or until heated through.

Serve in soup bowls with tortilla chips on the side. Top each with a dollop of plain sour cream, or Cilantro-Lime Sour Cream. See recipe below.

Cilantro-Lime Sour Cream

Combine and serve with Mexican Chicken Soup.

1/2 c. sour cream
3 T. chopped fresh cilantro (or more to taste)
1 T. lime juice

I hope you enjoy this great Tex-Mex soup! Thanks for stopping by!

Lasagna Soup

Here's another soup recipe I received in a Family Fun weekly cooking email. It looked like it made a lot, so I made the recipe with 1 lb. of hot sausage and cut the rest of the recipe down to 2/3 as well. It made enough for us to have dinner and then leftovers for Jim to have for lunch.


Lasagna Soup is an interesting recipe, unlike most other soup recipes I have made. Jim really liked it. The boys and I weren't blown away by it, but it was ok. It was something different, which is what I was looking for. We're all getting bored with being cooped up in the house for winter. The boys and I will be glad when spring is here! Thanks for stopping by!

Mulligatawny

Do you remember the Seinfeld episode with the Soup Nazi? Various soups are mentioned in that episode, and one was called Mulligatawny. I have never known what that soup was or what was in it. Just recently, it was on a recipe list in a Family Fun cooking email, so I took a look at the recipe. It's basically a chicken and vegetable soup with a touch of curry. Jim and I love curry, so I had to try it. It is FABULOUS!!


If you read this blog very often, you know that I don't usually follow recipes exactly. I wanted to make this soup so that it would be hot and ready to eat for lunch when we got home from church. I made it up the night before and put it in a crock pot. I basically followed the recipe until the part where you add the chicken broth and tomatoes and let it simmer for an hour. At that point, I put the sauteed vegetable, chicken and curry mixture into the crock pot with the chicken broth and diced tomatoes. I let it cook on low overnight and then turned it off before we left for church. When we got home, we made up some rice, turned the crock pot on high just to heat it up, and Voila! Lunch was served!

I love making dishes that call for a lot of chopped vegetables. I like stand at my cutting board and chop a pile of veggies with my Santoku knife. I've taken some notes from watching the Food Network personalities, and I have to say, I've gotten fairly proficient at it for someone untrained in the culinary arts--not to mention I'm always looking for ways to get more vegetables into our family's diet. You may think this soup sounds a little strange just from its name or because it has curry in it, but don't be afraid to try something new. The curry isn't overpowering at all, and I think you'll be surprised at how good it is! Thanks for stopping by!

Coconut-Curry Chicken Soup

Jim and I love to try ethnic foods. We particularly love Indian food. Jim was introduced to it in college. He then took me to an Indian restaurant to try it myself, and we both have loved it ever since. We've also been to Thai, Ethiopian, Peruvian, Morrocan, Afghani, Greek, Chinese, and Mexican restaurants. I also had a Thai roommate in college at one point, and she loved to cook. She had all sorts of strange bottles and spices in our kitchen!

I have tried to cook a few ethnic dishes on my own here at home, and some of them have turned out really well. When I saw this Coconut-Curry Chicken Soup recipe in the Cooking Light magazine, I thought I would try it.


Now, I have a lot of unique spices and things in my pantry, but there were a few ingredients in this that I didn't have on hand. We were able to find the curry paste, fish sauce and rice noodles on our last trip to the city to do some shopping.

The noodles weren't exactly what is shown in this picture. The noodles we had were more like spaghetti noodles, but almost clear in color. They had a funny texture, and the noodles were the one thing about the soup I didn't like. Otherwise it had a great flavor, and Jim really liked it. He said it tasted just like the food at the Thai restaurant we used to go to before we had kids. Thanks for stopping by!

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

I have a few recipes that start with boiling a chicken, and I love them all. I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts for a lot of recipes, but nothing beats boiling a whole chicken. I was so excited to find this recipe in the Cooking Light magazine.

I already have a chicken noodle soup recipe that I love. It's a Paula Deen recipe called The Lady's Chicken Noodle Soup, and yes, it starts by boiling a chicken. Of course, like most of my recipes, there are a few tweaks that I make to it, but that's a post for another day.

The Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup recipe was great. We really liked it. It's totally different than the Paula Deen recipe, and both are terrific. It made quite a bit, and I ended up freezing the leftovers to pull out some cold day later this winter. Thanks for stopping by!

Slow-Cooker Chunky Chicken Chili

Once again, I'm going to sing the praises of the Kraft Foods website. I had a late afternoon appointment and wanted dinner to be ready when I got home. So I decided to try this crock pot recipe. I've tried some slow-cooker recipes in the past that did not turn out well at all, so now I'm skeptical of new ones. I have a select few that I use regularly. This recipe for Slow-Cooker Chunky Chicken Chili was better than I expected and a great dinner on a cold blustery day! Thanks for stopping by!

Quick Black Bean Soup

I made this Quick Black Bean Soup as a side to my Spicy Chicken Sandwiches with Cilantro-Lime Mayo that you can read about a few days ago. I really enjoyed it, because I love soup in the fall and winter months. Jim liked it, but not as much as I did. He's not a big fan of beans and lentils. It was a very earthy soup. The lime juice perfectly lightens it up a little, and the ham adds a great touch as well. I added more ham than the recipe called for. (I buy the ham already diced in a 1-lb. package. It's also great for ham and scalloped potatoes or pasta salad.) Oh, and I used yellow onion instead of red.

Thanks, Lance, for the stick blender for Christmas! I got to try it out tonight making this soup! I used an immersible "stick" blender instead of pouring the soup into a blender and then back into the pan again. It worked great! Thanks for stopping by!

Crock Pot French Onion Soup

I have had this recipe for years, and we love it. I made it this morning to have with some shredded beef sandwiches. I'll tell you about that recipe tomorrow. It's perfect to make for fall football Saturdays. Jim loves to munch on it all afternoon. The recipe was in the pamphlet that came with my crock pot.

I've made it up the night before and let it cook all night long. I've also made it in the morning and let it cook on high for 3-4 hours.

You can make it fancy like the restaurants do by putting some soup in an oven-safe soup crock, top it with a piece of toast and some mozzarella cheese, and stick it under the broiler for a few minutes. Thanks for stopping by!

Crock Pot French Onion Soup

1 qt. beef broth
3 yellow onions, thinly sliced
3 T. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T. sugar
2 T. flour
Shredded mozzarella cheese

Pour broth into the crock pot. Melt the butter in a large skillet. Cook onions in melted butter till they are translucent and tender. Remove from heat. Sprinkle on the salt, sugar and flour and stir to combine. Add the onion mixture to the crock pot. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours. Before serving, top with cheese.

Bacon, Cheese & Potato Chowder

I made the ladies this soup for lunch on Saturday during our cd calendar stamp camp. It's from a past Kraft Foods magazine. Do you get it? If not, go to http://www.kraftfoods.com to sign up for it. I love it, and it's FREE! Thanks for stopping by!

Bacon, Cheese & Potato Chowder

3 c. milk
1 can (10.75 oz.) condensed cream of potato soup
2 c. frozen Southern-style hash browns (the cubed ones, not shredded)
shredded cheddar cheese
crumbled bacon (We like the Oscar Meyer Real Bacon Bits in the
yellow bag in the salad dressings and croutons aisle.)
thinly sliced green onions

My Notes: I always substitute 2 c. milk and 1 c. sour cream for the 3 c. milk. I like the extra flavor that the sour cream gives. Also, I never garnish with the green onions. I'm just not a fan.

Mix milk and soup in large saucepan. Stir in hash browns. Bring to boil on high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 10 min., stirring frequently.

Ladle into soup bowls. Top evenly with the cheese, bacon and onions. Serve with a crusty whole grain roll or bread.

More of My Notes: I've also put this in a crock pot to cook. If I need it quicker, I'll cook it till finished on the stove, and then put it in a crock pot on low to stay warm if we're eating on the go or munching on it all day on a college football Saturday!

Pasta Fagioli, Wheat Rolls & Pumpkin "Dirt"

Pasta Fagioli

2 lb. ground beef
12 oz. chopped onion
14 oz. diced carrots
14 oz. diced celery
48 oz. canned, diced tomatoes
2 c. cooked red kidney beans
2 c. cooked white kidney beans
88 oz. beef stock
3 tsp. oregano
2 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
2 tsp. dried parsley
1 1/2 tsp. hot pepper sauce
48 oz. spaghetti sauce
8 oz. dry small shell pasta

This recipe makes nine quarts of soup. I often make half a recipe for us as a family. These amounts do not have to be exact. For instance, when I make half a batch, I don't want two half cans of beans left over, so I go ahead and use a whole 15 oz. can of both types of kidney beans. Spaghetti sauce comes in 26 oz. jars, so I just use a whole one. Beef broth comes in 14.5 oz. cans, so I use four. You get the idea.

Saute beef in a large soup pot until it starts to brown. Add onions, carrots, celery and tomatoes and simmer for about 10 minutes. Drain and rinse beans and add to the pot. Also add beef stock, oregano, black pepper, parsley, hot pepper sauce, spaghetti sauce, and pasta. Simmer until celery and carrots are tender, about 45 minutes.

You can serve this soup with some grated parmesan cheese sprinkled on top and rolls. Yum! Perfect for a chilly fall or cold winter day!

Another note, I have made this soup in a crock pot. I simply brown the ground beef on the stove first. Then I layer all the ingredients into the crock pot as I would add them into the soup. Cook on low for about 8 hours.

Whole Wheat Rolls

2 1/4 c. bread flour
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/3 c. milk
7/8 c. water
2 T. brown sugar
1 1/2 T. butter
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. yeast

Load the bread pan according to the instructions for your machine. If you are using your machine to bake the dough as well, use your machine's whole wheat cycle if it has one.

I let my bread machine make the dough, then I make the rolls. I quarter the dough, and then cut each quarter into thirds, making twelve. I drop them into a greased rectangular pyrex baking dish and let them rise for about 30 min. Bake in a 350 oven for about 30 min. or until you can see that they are baked and not doughy on the bottom.

Pumpkin "Dirt"

This is the recipe for plain old "Dirt" made with vanilla pudding and Oreo cookies. I tried something different last fall, and we really enjoyed it. Use pumpkin pudding instead of vanilla and ginger snaps instead of Oreos for a pumpkin version of the dessert.

1/4 c. butter
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 c. powdered sugar
3 1/2 c. milk
2 small pkg. vanilla instant pudding
12 oz. Cool Whip
20 oz. pkg. Oreos

Grind the Oreos in a food processor until they are crumbs. Set aside.

Cream together butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar. Gradually add the milk. Whisk in the pudding mixes. Fold in the Cool Whip.

Starting and ending with Oreos, alternate layers of cookies and pudding mixture.

This recipe can be made in other varieties as well. Make "Sand" with vanilla wafers, and try them with butterscotch pudding. I've served this in a clean child's sand bucket with the shovel as a large spoon at summer picnics. I've seen it served in a clean flower pot with an artificial stem of flowers placed in it until serving time. Of course, there's the ever popular way of serving it with gummy worms too. Have fun making this dessert!

Thanks for stopping by!