Cheeseburger Soup

This is one of my favorite stretch-a-buck recipes--it makes enough for two meals (family of four) and is great for company. Very kid-friendly! Comfort food at its best. Mmmmm!


Ingredients:
1 tbs Olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, shredded
1 tsp dried basil
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 lb lean ground beef
6 cups chicken stock
3 cups frozen hash browns (half the bag-ish)
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk
8 oz velveeda cheese (I use 2%), cubed (or 4 oz velveeda and 1 cup shredded cheddar)
1 tbs yellow mustard
1 large scoop sour cream
Salt (seasoning salt is yummy in this!) to taste
Pepper to taste
Optional: dash of hot sauce

Make it!
In a large pot, brown ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Drain fat. Add olive oil to pot and saute onion, carrot, garlic and basil until soft. Season with salt and pepper. Return meat to veggies and add chicken stock.

Cover and bring to a boil. Add hash browns and bring back up to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or until hash browns are cooked through.

Melt in cheese. Whisk flour and milk together and add to boiling soup. See how it tastes and add seasonings. I like to add a dash or two of hot sauce at this point. It just adds a little zing in the background. Right before serving, stir in sour cream and mustard. Enjoy!

Serves 6-8

Freezes well!