With Hawkeye tailgating season fast approaching, I thought I would share some of our favorite tailgate recipes. ENJOY…and GO HAWKS!
CHEESEBURGER CHOWDER
2-3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Any cooking oil will work)
1 1/2 lb ground beef
1 onion-diced
1 green pepper-diced
1 to 4 cloves of garlic-minced (to taste)
1 lg (at least 28 oz.) bag frozen hash browns
1 10oz. bag shredded carrots (Or shred 3-4 carrots yourself!)
2-3 large Knorr Beef Bouillon Cubes–the best! (or 4 small bouillon cubes)
2 cups boiling water
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 can nacho cheese soup
1 “chunk” (2 to 4 inches) of a block of Velveeta cheese…more if you like cheese…or less if not!
4-5 cups whole milk or half and half–or a combination of both
Salt and pepper and dried parsley to taste if desired (Remember…canned soup has lots of sodium so TASTE before you salt!)
METHOD:
Heat extra virgin olive oil in kettle. Add diced diced onion, green pepper and garlic to oil and “sweat” on low heat just until soft. Remove from pot and put ground beef in same pot to brown. Drain fat and return onion/green pepper/garlic mixture to pot with browned ground beef. Dump in bag of frozen hash browns. Heat 2 cups water (or a little more) and bouillon cubes in micro until boiling. Stir and add to pot. Add the three cans of undiluted soup. Add diced up Velveeta cheese. Cook on LOW and simmer and STIR for ten minutes. Do not boil–and stir most of the time to keep from burning and sticking to kettle. (You can add more water if needed.) After potatoes begin to soften, stir in milk/half & half mixture and SIMMER five minutes. NEVER let the soup boil or it will curdle.
P.S. Sometimes I stir in an extra can of undiluted soup–maybe a cream of celery. And you can add leftover mashed potatoes which will thicken the soup and add even more flavor..and add an extra cup or two of milk and/or half and half…this recipe is VERY forgiving!! (It all depends on how many Hawkeyes I plan to feed that day…and how thick I want the soup to be!!!) Just have fun experimenting and make it YOUR recipe!!
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