Cheeseburger Soup

There's a first time for everything! Normally this type of recipe wouldn't appeal to me but for some reason I thought "why not?" and I'm glad I tried it. It was a filling soup, easy to make, cheesy, and creamy. It was not, however, very photogenic like some other meals.

Cheeseburger Soup

1/2 pound ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
4 tablespoons butter
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups cubed potatoes
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups cubed Cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup sour cream


DIRECTIONS

In a large pot, melt 1 tablespoon butter or margarine over medium heat: cook and stir vegetables and beef , until beef is brown.

Stir in basil and parsley. Add broth and potatoes. Bring to a boil, then simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10-12 minutes.

Melt the remainder of butter and stir in flour. Add the milk, stirring until smooth.

Gradually add milk mixture to the soup, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Stir in cheese. When cheese is melted, add sour cream and heat through. Do not boil.

***I used less onion, no celery (didn't have at the time but would definitely use it), no herbs (boring huh!! my spice cupboard hasn't been replenished since we moved in!) and didn't measure the broth. Instead of using 2 cups grated cheese, I approximated 1 cup shredded cheddar and some velveeta (for consistency--I thought the velveeta would be creamier).

The original recipe came from allrecipes.com. You can follow the link here to read other reviews, etc. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cheeseburger-Soup-I/Detail.aspx