Cheeseburger Soup and Peachy Keen Stamps

My first set of Peachy Keen Stamps arrived today.  I must say I was surprised when I opened the envelope and saw how small they are!  For some reason I had it in my mind that most of the stamps would be about the size of the largest one in the set.

I got PK-490 Everyday Character Face Assortment and today I'm going to work with my Preserves cartridge and make some cutie pie fruit faces.  Growing up, my mother had a set of plaster of paris fruit shapes on her kitchen wall.  Each one had a different smiling, happy face on them.  When I saw the PK stamps that's what they reminded me of!

Okay, back to the Cheeseburger Soup.  This recipe is one I found online and it sounded like something that we'd enjoy.  I made it yesterday with a couple of adjustments to the recipe and DH says it's a keeper.

CHEESEBURGER SOUP

1/2 pound ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup grated carrot
3/4 cup diced celery

1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried parsley
4 T. butter, divided
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups diced peeled potatoes

1/4 cup flour
2 cups (8 ounces) Velveeta cheese
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup sour cream

In a 3 quart saucepan, brown beef; drain and set aside.  In the same pan, saute 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 10-12 minutes until potatoes are tender.

Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt remaining 3 tablespoons of butter.  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 heat; blend in sour cream. Makes 8 servings (2 1/4 quarts).

Now, here's how I made it.

You really cannot cook 4 cups of potatoes along with the sauteed vegetables in only 3 cups of broth.  So, I just used 2 full cans of Swanson chicken broth.

Three tablespoons of butter will not absorb 1/4 cup of flour.  You wind up with a giant yellow ball of thick paste.  I did cook my flour for 2-3 minutes while mashing it with the back of a tablespoon so that it wouldn't have a doughy taste then I dipped out about 3/4 cup of the hot broth out of the soup pot and stirred it into the flour mixture.  That way you won't have a bunch of lumps when you add it into your soup.

I also added the milk and cheese to the flour mixture and let it cook on a real low heat until the cheese melted.  Then I added that to the soup pot.

It did take some time to prepare all the vegetables but once you have that done it only takes about 20 minutes for the soup to cook.

Serve it with a salad and a piece of good sourdough bread and you have a great winter dinner!

I love to cook and I love to play around with paper, stamps and my Cricut---so I'm off to cut out fruit shapes and try out my newest set of stamps!

Let me know if you try the recipe and what your family thinks of it.