🎶 Baby It’s Cold Outside 🎶 – Time to Make Cheeseburger Soup!

If I make homemade soup, someone is sick or it’s cold outside. Well, it’s cold in Florida this week. . . cold for Floridians anyway. (It actually snowed in Tallahassee today!) We won’t see any snow this far south, but we will be seeing socks with flip-flops and shorts under winter coats because sadly, most of us really don’t know how to dress for this weather. Unless we travel to colder climates, it just doesn’t pay to buy cold-weather clothes. (I just saw a pic of a guy outside with oven mitts for gloves!) Women will proclaim the day as a “sweater day” and pull out sweaters and boots that are rarely worn. It’s kind of fun and it’s never lasts, which according to my sixth-generation Floridian husband, is a good thing.

It’s also kind of fun to come in from the cold and have warm soup for dinner. This is a simple pleasure not usually given to Floridians. Sure, we eat soup but that cold-day-warm-soup thing is in a class of its own. I’m sharing one of my favorite soup recipes – kids and grownups both love it and it’s hearty enough for a meal.

1/2 pound ground beef

3/4 cup chopped onion

3/4 cup shredded carrots

3/4 cup diced celery

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

4 tablespoons butter, divided

3 cups chicken broth

4 cups diced peeled potatoes (1 3/4 pounds)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups (8 ounces) Velveeta processed cheese

1 1/2 cups milk

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup sour cream

In a 3-qt. Saucepan, cook beef until no longer pink, drain and set aside. In the same saucepan, sauté onion, carrots, celery, basil and parsley in 1 tablespoon butter until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add broth, potatoes and beef, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt remaining butter (3 tablespoons). Add flour, cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until bubbly. Add to soup, bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add cheese, milk, salt and pepper; cook and stir until cheese melts. Remove from the heat; blend in sour cream.  Makes 8 servings or 2 1/4 quarts.

If you really want a treat, bake a batch of delicious corn muffins to go along with your soup! Stay warm!