Hamburger Soup

This week Sunday night at our house was pretty quiet.  Just the dogs and me.  I had some hamburger I needed to use, so I made Hamburger Soup.  This is kind of my own creation, but it originally started with a recipe from Harley and Reagan’s grandma, Maureen.

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This is a really (I mean R-E-A-L-L-Y) easy recipe, and it can be changed up very easily depending on personal taste.  I threw this batch together in less than 1/2 an hour:

Brown two pounds of ground beef sprinkled with salt in a large sauce pan.  You can drain the grease at this point, but I didn’t.  I used it to cook the onions and the grease cooked off as the onions cooked.  Add two chopped onions and cook until transparent.  Add 8 cups beef broth (I didn’t have beef, so I used chicken).  Add chopped carrots (4 full carrots – I used about 3 cups of baby carrots), 4-6 chopped potatoes, 1 can black beans, 1 can corn, 1 can diced tomatoes, and 1 cup plain white rice.  I added 1 teaspoon ground paprika, 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes, 1/2 teaspoon basil leaves, and one bay leaf.  Bring to a boil, turn to low and let it simmer for an hour or so until the rice is completely cooked.  The end product ends up being more of a stew than a soup, it is very thick.

Like I said, it’s really easy to adapt for different tastes – add cumin and cayenne pepper for a spicier soup.  When this soup was done and cooled, I put half of it in the freezer for later, but I still had enough left over that Aaron and I will have plenty to eat the next couple days.  It’s yummy, enjoy!