Hamburger Soup

This recipe came from an old church cookbook that my mom had. I always vary what I put in it depending on what I have around, but the basic concept is a hamburger stew with tomato juice in it. It is a favorite comfort food!

Hamburger soup
1 lb hamburger (or turkey)
6 potatoes
1 large onion diced
4 stalks celery diced
2 cloves garlic minced
4 carrots sliced
4 cups beef broth
2 cups tomato juice (V-8, homemade, or pureed diced tomatoes)
2 heaping T italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
2 bay leaves

Brown the meat with the onion and garlic, drain off any fat. Add to crockpot with remaining ingredients. Cook on high 4 hours or low 6-8 until veggies are tender.

Italian Stew

1 lb stew meat cut into small peices
1 lb Hot sausage browned
1 onion diced
4 ribs celery diced
3 cloves garlic minced
6 potatoes diced
1 can kidney beans drained and rinsed
4 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 cups beef broth
1 T dried basil
3 bay leaves
1T dried oregano
1 t dried rosemary
1 pinch red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste~ about 1 T each
Add all the ingredients except for the canned tomatoes to a large, at least 6 quart, crockpot. Puree the tomatoes in a blender until smooth. Pour over other ingredients in the crock pot. Cook 4-6 hours on high or 5-10 on low. This stew would freeze very well without the potatoes

Creamy White Chili

This Chili was fantastic! I thought that adding the sour cream was really weird when I read the recipe, but I had all the ingredients on hand, so I gave it a try. It turned out so great, I made two batches and DH ate one all by himself. I made this two ways too. The first one I used sour cream and milk, the second with plain yogurt and milk. We could not tell the difference between the two. I also added a hand ful of chopped fresh cilantro at the end, it finished it off very well. I served this with cornbread.


Marie Callendars cornbread.
1 yellow cake mix prepared according to directions minus and oil
1 cube of butter melted
1 cup of cornmeal.

Mix and bake 35-40 in a 9x13 cake pan.

Creamy White Chili
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon oil (I used olive oil)
2 cans (15 1/2 ounces each) Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth
2 cans (4 ounces each) chopped green chilies
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whipping cream
In a large saucepan, saute chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil until chicken is no longer pink. Add beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream and cream. Garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired. Serve immediately.

http://realmomkitchen.blogspot.com/2008/09/creamy-white-chili.html


My changes:
I used fat free plain yogurt in place of sour cream and milk in place of the whipping cream.

Sausage Potato Soup

This was one of those nights were I had a bunch of misc things in the fridge that needed to be used up so I created this soup. It was pretty good, the kids thought the sausage was too hot and next time want me to make it with bacon instead.

1 lb hot sausage
1/2 onion
3 celery ribs
4 cloves garlic chopped finely
a handful of baby carrots sliced thick
1/4 oil or grease
1/4 cup flour
2 cups half and half
2 cups milk
8 potatoes~I used gold fingerlings, but russet or reds would have been better
salt and pepper to taste
3 bay leaves


Brown sausage and then add the veggies to soften and slightly brown. My sausage was pretty lean so I kept the grease in it. If you want you can drain the grease and use oil instead. When the veggies are soft and the sausage is browned add the flour and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the milk and/or half and half, potatoes, and bay leaves. Simmer for 1 hour stirring occasionally.

I served them with breadsticks

Easy Cheesy Breadsticks
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 T yeast
2 T sugar or honey
Mix together and let sit for 10 min til bubbly

3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 real grated parmesan cheese

Add the salt and cheese to yeast mixture. Add the flour 1/2 at a time until the dough has formed a ball.
Knead dough 10 times. Sprinkle cornmeal on your pan. Roll out on baking pan. I used my round stoneware.
Melt 1/4 butter, add 4 cloves garlic chopped. Pour butter mixture over the dough evenly. Sprinkle 1/4 dried parsley and more parmesan to taste on top.
Bake at 350 for 15-20.