Hamburger Soup

This is one of my Mom's favorite recipes which I have now stolen and made my own.  So if anyone asks this is MY recipe.  MINE.

What makes it even more MINE is that after listening to my Mom recite the ingredients over the phone I promptly forgot all the measurements and kind of made it up as I went along.

This soup is surprisingly tasty.  It's like sneak attack tasty.  Not that anything I make isn't tasty, but after seeing all the ingredients in this soup you might think "meehhhh.  I don't know . . ."  But that's ok because you don't need to know.  You just need to believe.

Start by cooking up about 1lb of hamburger.  And please season it.  The world will be a better place if you do.  1/2 tsp salt and pepper should be plenty.  Drain this and set it aside.  Or cook it while getting everything else ready pretend you're Martha Stewart.

Also, cook up 1 C of macaroni, drain it and set it aside.  Teeny noodles are really great but if you recall we currently have an abundance of macaroni, so that's what we're using.

See that in the background?  That's celery.

Isn't it pretty?  Since I didn't have exact measurements I chopped up about 3/4 C celery.  Also, the recipe calls for carrots but we didn't have any so whatever.  After we ate dinner I thought "this would have been really good with some corn in it!"  Too bad.  It would have been good.*

*see note above re: everything I make is tasty, with or without said corn.

Now comes the fun part.  Get a big pot and add 4C of water.  Then add 1 packet of onion soup mix,

1 tsp basil, 1 tsp oregano (or to taste) 

1 Tbs soy sauce (remember the trust!), 1 8oz can of tomato sauce, and 1/2 tsp of seasoning salt.

Let this simmer for just a minute while you gather your wits and prepare for the final assembly!

This is also a good time to practice simultaneously blowing the steam out of the way while quickly snapping a picture so that you can get a decent photo of the steamy goodness.

Try not to pass out.

Then add in your hamburger and your macaroni.  If you're making this ahead of time (how proactive!) then don't add the macaroni until the last minute.  This will keep it from absorbing more water and turning to macaroni-mush.

Time for the last, tasty ingredient.  Parmesan.  About 1/2 C will do.  For once it's not worth adding more because it all kind of congeals at the bottom if you add too much.  But don't be fooled!  This really ties everything together and is essential for achieving maximum tastiness.

And if you really want to take it up a notch, add a notch of sour cream to your bowl!

That doesn't really work does it?

I was really hoping it would catch on and soon everyone would be saying "yes please, just a notch of sour cream for me." 

Is that really asking too much?