Hamburger Soup

The weather has been back and forth around here lately, beautiful blue skies with temperatures in the 80's and then dark cloudy spring storms with temperatures in the 60's. That is spring in the Pacific Northwest! During one of the stormy days I decided to make a soup I have been wanting to make for awhile- a hearty Hamburger Soup! Perfect for a stormy day. :)

Hamburger Soup

Ingredients:
1 pound hamburger browned, and cooked through, and thoroughly drained
1 carton Beef broth (32 oz.)
2 medium onions chopped
1 bunch of celery chopped
1 can of corn
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 cup of tomato sauce
2 cups frozen crinkle cut carrots
1 clove of garlic minced (or pressed through garlic press)
salt and pepper
Italian herb blend
olive oil
1 lb soup pasta like you might use for Minestrone ( I used Barilla Ditalini which is like half of a macaroni noodle, you could also use elbow macaroni) - Cooked and drained

In a saute pan saute chopped onions and celery in a little olive oil until onions are starting to be translucent and celery begins to soften. Then in a large soup pan add cooked and drained hamburger, beef broth, sauteed onions and celery, both cans of diced tomatoes, 1 cup tomato sauce, frozen carrots, and a clove of garlic minced or pressed through garlic presser (you could add two cloves if you like a bit more garlic flavor), add salt and pepper to taste as well as a tablespoon of Italian Herb blend ( I use McCormick's Gourmet Italian Seasoning, if you don't have that you could add your own mix of basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary). Add a couple cups of water to the soup as well and simmer on medium to low for a couple of hours, check often and stir, add more water if needed. After two hours, add in drained can of corn, more salt pepper and another teaspoon or two of Italian seasoning to taste. Continue cooking for another 45 minutes or so on a low simmer, cook until veggies are cooked through and softened, and broth has a nice flavor. You can cook longer if you want to on low until you are ready for dinner. Cook and drain your soup pasta, I always serve my soup pasta on the side and we add it to the bowl before ladling soup over pasta, that we we can all choose how much pasta we want, and the pasta doesn't get soggy.

Serve with corn bread and a sprinkle of shredded Parmesan, the cornbread is delicious with this hearty soup, we like to put a slice right on top of the soup! This soup was perfect for our stormy spring weeknight!

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