Cheeseburger Soup

As adapted from "Eating Forward" by Sandi Richard as seen here

Repeated here for convenience:

1 tsp olive oil, extra-virgin
1 onion
2 celery ribs
1 lb or 450 g ground beef, extra-lean
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
 ¼ tsp fresh ground pepper
 ¼ tsp –  ½ tsp hot chili flakes (optional for spice lovers)
3 bay leaves
1 can Italian or chili stewed tomatoes (14 fl oz or 400 mL)
1 tomato can filled with water
1 can consommé (10 fl oz or 284 mL)
1 consommé can filled with water
1 can pasta sauce (24 fl oz or 680 mL) choose a lower sodium brand or or use reserved 3 cups pasta sauce from Calabrese Lasagna meal (another recipe in the book)
3 cups frozen mixed veggies
 ½ cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated, light
fresh buns or focaccia (optional)
leftover pasta (optional)
…the night before…
1. Heat oil in a large nonstick fry pan at medium-high. I use my electric fry pan for this. Sliver onion, adding to pan as you cut. Finely chop celery, adding to pan as you cut. Sauté until onion turns slightly brown, then add to inside crock of slow cooker.
Reduce heat of uncleaned fry pan to medium. Form tiny little flat burgers (approx 1½" in diameter) in the palm of your hand and brown on both sides. Once browned, add to slow cooker.
…while burgers are browning…
Add the following ingredients to slow cooker:
spice, chili stewed tomatoes, consommé, water from both cans, pasta sauce and mixed veggies. Stir to combine. Refrigerate over night.
…in the morning…
2. Set slow cooker at low heat. Simmer all day.
…when ready for dinner…
3. Serve with a bowl of grated cheddar cheese at the table. Get the kids to lift their little burgers to the top of the bowl so they can sprinkle them with cheddar. I actually find this fun!
Our family loves this with fresh buns, focaccia or… I make extra pasta from another meal so that we can put a little pasta in the bottom of the bowl and pour the soup over top. Either way it’s a meal in one and it is absolutely fun
and delicious!!
Serves 6.




The best part about this one is that everything was ready the night before so in the morning all we had to do was plug it in.  Although it was weird seeing tiny little hamburgers floating around in soup - this tasted really great.  


My parents dropped in unexpectedly and there was enough soup to feed them too.  Both my parents had 2 helpings so I know that they liked it!  DH said that it was really good too.  Miss Almost Vegetarian ate a bit of hers but preferred her bun instead.  Mr Picky gave it merely a so-so as there were too many vegetables present.


We WILL make this one again!