Matriarch Bacon Cheeseburger Soup

Back in the day I posted a recipe that I had just made up on the fly.  The other day my sister in law Leanne told me she was making it, and that she makes it often.  How crazy is that?  I posted it early 2008.  Crazy.  It was called Matriarch Mushroom Soup and you should probably try it.  I think I only made it once because I’m crazy like that.  But it WAS delicious.

So last night I figured I’d get on this recipe bandwagon and blog another made up on the fly recipe.  Read the link to the soup on why and how I love being adventurous in the kitchen.  Onto the FOOD.

So yesterday was rainy and awful and cold and blucky.  Perfect day for soup.

Here’s the recipe…it’s always always always up to you how much you want to use.

3 slices bacon (chopped)

1 onion chopped

3 cloves garlic

a bunch of mushrooms

bunch of celery leaves (I didn’t use celery celery because the leaves have loads of flavour and no one puts celery on their burger!)

2 carrots cut in half (for flavour.  Again…no one puts carrots on their burger)

1 lb ground beef

pinch of salt at every step

bullion, water or stock

some Braggs Soy Seasoning

(I didn’t have worchestershire sauce or bay leaves but I would use them if I did)

a cup or so of macaroni

1 chopped tomato

chopped parsley

1/4 cup cubed cheese

Start by browning up the bacon.  I buy mine from a local butcher and I’ve been to the farm where the piggies are raised I never recommend buying meat from a grocery store.  I’m lucky to live around a LOT of farms.

You wanna make sure the bacon is nice and brown to get all of that flavour out of it.  While it’s browning…get on your trusty onion goggles to ensure a tear-free experience.

chop the onions, garlic, mushrooms, celery and cut a few carrots in half.

Remove the bacon and set aside.  Add in the ingredients you just chopped and then add a bit of salt so they sweat faster.  They should pick up all the little bits of brown bacon goodness on the bottom of the pot.  That’s called de-glazing.  You learned a new cooking term!!  Aren’t I handy??

Once all that stuff is nice and gleaming and a bit soft, add in your ground beef and cook it up till it’s nice and brown and lovely.  Make sure the heat isn’t too high.  You don’t wanna burn that garlic!!  It’s burning point is a lot lower than everything else.

This is when you add in your broth.  I used a thing of chicken broth cuz that’s all I had…then I added water and some Better Than Bullion.  About this much…

Then you add in half of the bacon (for the flavour) and heat to boil, turn the heat down and simmer away.  I was in a rush so I only simmered for 10 minutes before I put in the macaroni.  Actually my husband put in the macaroni…I was in the shower.

Cook until the macaroni is to your liking.  I added that in there because it needed some starch and you can’t very well cook a hamburger bun in to soup…silly people.  I like my noodles nice and squishy in soup.  Maybe that comes from all my unfortunate years of eating campbells soups…yuck.

Once everything is all wonderful and yummy, taste the soup to make sure the seasoning is to your liking.  It’s a good idea to season at every step…it brings out the flavours better.

To serve the soup remove carrots, pour a bowl, top with chunks of cheddar, crunchy bacon, fresh tomatoes and some parsley to add the freshness that you would get in a hamburger.

Enjoy!!

 

For dessert (I don’t usually make dessert) I made some self frosting Nutella cupcakes.  Nutella is peanut free and it’s delicious…we eat it like crazy here.  The cupcakes were a bit dry but the tops with the nutella swirled in with the cake…those were delicious.  It’s more of a pound cake, which it has to be to keep the nutella on top..hence the bit of dryness…just dunk it in some rum and you’re good to go ha ha.  It was still yummy.  Of course I added extra vanilla.

yum yum pigs bum!!

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