Tomato Basil Parmesean Soup

It's no secret that we love Rao's in this house.  Their pasta sauces are some of the yummiest I've ever tasted!  My favorites include Vodka Sauce, their new Four Cheese Sauce, Arrabiata, Garden Vegtable, Tomato Basil, Garlice sauce, Marinara (AND Sensitive Marinara).... Basically all of them!  

This past month, Tomato Basil has been my favorite favorite.  The flavor of the month if you will. 

A while back, I had found a recipe for Tomato Basil Parmesan soup.  If you've read my blog before, you know that I love making soups in the crockpot - I HAD to try it!  The original recipe called for canned tomatoes and dried basil as the main ingridients.  Honestly.... I wasn't impressed.  Fresh ingridients can make all the difference in how a soup tastes.  But the basil I had purchased from the farmers market wilted, so I couldn't use that. I had two bottles of Rao's Tomato Basil Sauce on hand and I decided to try it out.  After all, Rao's uses fresh ingridients in their sauce, and I already know it tastes good!  So, another Craftmeister cooking experiment....

And what a successful experiment it was!  

Here's what you need:

2 jars Rao's Tomato Basil Sauce

4 cups chicken broth

~2 cups of celery 

~2 cups of carrots

~2 cups onion

1 tablespoon oregano

1 bay leaf

3/4 stick of butter

2/3 cups flour 

2 2/3 cups half n half 

1 1/2 cups of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Salt & pepper to taste 

1 teaspoon dried basil 

Chop the carrots, celery and onions.  Put them in a food processor to dice them very tiny.  Add the Tomato Basil sauce to the slow cooker.  Stir in chicken broth, veggies, bay leaf, and oregano.  Cook on low for 6 hours. 30 before done time melt the butter in a sauce pan and stir in the flour.  Add this to the crockpot and mix it in.  Warm the half n half and stir it in with the Parmesan cheese. Stir it all in. The soup will look more orange than tomato red.  Sprinkle in dried basil and add salt and pepper.  Serve hot with grilled cheese sandwiches. 

And there's bacon in those grilled cheeses, double yumm :) 

Cheeseburger soup

There's something wonderfully nostalgic about handwritten recipes.  But the thought of having recipie cards flying all over my kitchen gives me a headache.  I'd loose them all.  So I started a recipe book for my kitchen!  It has music notes on it, so I'm trying to think of a clever name for it, like "Kitchen Symphonies" or "Dinner Music" or "Songs For the Tummy". I'm still brainstorming..... 

But here's one of my favorite handwritten recipes.  The last time I made it was the first time I made it, and it was a huuuuge hit.  It filled up the entire crockpot and it was all gone that same night!  Everybody loved it.  And I think you will to! 

Here's the recipe, taken from my personal cookbook!

Start out with onions, garlic and ground beef. Brown all together in a skillet, then drain and add it to the crock pot. 

Veggies!  Peel the potatoes and cut them bite sized.  You can use whatever potatoes you'd like; red, russet, white, etc.  I use white potatoes.  I also added celery, two stalks.  Celery is a superfood, and I think the crunch represents lettuce on your burger.    After they're washed and chopped, add to the crock pot. 

Then add the broth, salt and peppers, and ketchup.   I used probably about double the amount of ketchup than the recipe states. I always use a lot of ketchup on burgers, so I figured I should add extra to the soup.  The recipe calls for mustard but I don't add mustard, and I wouldn't even think of it!  Up here in New York we don't put mustard on burgers!  Yuck!     Mix it all up and cover for like 5 hours on high, 10 hours on low. 

About an hour before dinner time, melt the butter in a saucepan.  Add flour and milk and whisk it all together.  Take pan off the heat and add cheese. Add to soup after it's all melted. 

 

I think I may need a bigger crock pot! 

The cool thing about this being cheeseburger soup is you can make it taste like most cheeseburger varieties!  Like turkey burgers? Use ground turkey meat instead of ground beef.  Or add mushrooms and use Swiss cheese for a Mushroom & Swiss Classic.  You can top the soup with cooked bacon crumbles, chopped pickles, or extra cheese.  Personally I like the way it is right from the pot.  :) 

I hope you enjoy this soup if you do try it! 

~the craftmeister