INGREDIENTS
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) process cheese (Velveeta)
1-1/2 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup sour cream
DIRECTIONS
In a 3-qt. saucepan, brown beef; drain and set aside. In the same saucepan, 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 or until potatoes are tender.
Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt remaining 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 the heat; blend in sour cream.
METHOD
Let’s get started. First, brown 1/2 lb. of lean ground beef. Remove from the skillet and drain.
Now, melt a tablespoon of butter in the skillet and saute 3/4 cup each of carrots, onion, and celery until tender.
Okay, busted. I didn’t actually throw my slow cooker out the window after I made Crock Pot Lasagna. I didn’t want to do it, but I needed to be away from home in the hours prior to dinner. Rather than rush in and try to chop, dice, and saute…I decided to give the old crock pot one more stop on her farewell tour.
If you are making this according to the recipe, this is where you’d add the broth, potatoes, ground beef, basil and parsley to the veggies to and bring it to a boil. Then cover and simmer 10-12 minutes until the potatoes are tender. The crock pot version is basically the same, it just bought me some time.
I put it on just before I left home on the 10 hour setting. Should be fine, right? Wrong. My crock pot hates me. My husband called about halfway through my second errand to ask, “What’s going on with the stuff in the crock pot? It’s boiling pretty hard.” Great. I’d been gone for less than 2 hours. I sighed.”Just unplug it. I’ll be home soon.” 
Home again, I executed the next step. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a skillet and stir until smooth.
Add the butter and flour mixture to the soup. Cook and stir for a couple of minutes until slightly thickened.
Now for the “cheese”. I cut up 8 oz. of Velveeta. I cut the fat a little by using the 2% milk Velveeta.
Add the cheese, milk (I used non-fat), and salt and pepper. Cook and stir until the cheese is melted, then remove from heat and add 1/4 cup of sour cream (I used low fat). In my rush to get dinner on the table, I forgot to take a picture of this step.
Ladle it up into bowls. Mmmm. Cheesy.
I decided to play up this soup’s name with my garnish. I topped mine with a swirl of ketchup, sliced onion, and pickles. I also toasted some hamburger buns for sopping.
By Krista’s Kitchen.
Thanks for inspiring us!
You can see the recipe here: cookingwithkrista.blogspot.com
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