Zippy Cheeseburger Soup- Hypoglycemic diet Liberal (make strict using tips below)

This is another family favorite! It's a full meal all on it's own: thick, creamy and hearty! If you aren't worried about the diet and losing weight, have some homemade bread on the side to dip- super yummy! :D There are several ways to make this soup, check the tips below for variations :)

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 Lbs ground beef

2 Tbsp butter

2 cups fresh tomatoes-blended (or 1 large can plain crushed tomatoes)

3 Cups water

1 cup chicken or beef stock (homemade preferable)

1 Tbsp Onion Powder

1 Tbsp Garlic Powder

1 ½ Tbsp Basil

1 ½ Tbsp Parsley

1 Tbsp Sea Salt

½  tsp fresh ground pepper

1 head of Cauliflower- chopped small

1 large onion-chopped

2 stalks celery -chopped

1 cup shredded carrots

2 Tbsp flour

2 cups shredded cheese

1 cup un-whipped Whipping Cream

½ cup sour cream

Instructions:

1. Using a LARGE frying pan, brown your ground beef in butter. This requires some patience, restrain yourself from stirring before it goes a deep brown! This gives a lot of flavor to your soup!
2. In a VERY LARGE soup pot, start your chicken/ beef stock, water and tomatoes on high with lid.
3. Once these two things are going,  begin chopping your Cauliflower, this is the thing that takes the longest to cook, so you want to get it in your pot of boiling yumminess soon!  Once added, grate and add your carrots.
4. By this point, your beef may need to be stirred, take a look and if so, stir and add your spices, chop and add the onions and celery to your meat. Once your meat is completely cooked, add to soup and set timer for 15 minutes, turn soup to low and have a rest  :)
5. When timer goes off, make sure cauliflower is done. Turn heat to medium.
6. Stir the flower in ½ cup water with a whisk till lumps are gone and stir into soup.
7. Once soup comes to a boil, turn OFF the heat and stir in the whipping cream first, once well stirred in, taste and add more salt as needed. gently stir in cheese and serve! YUMMMMM :D

Tip: To make your soup Hypoglycemic Strict, cut out the carrots and onions. Add extra celery and onion powder. Add some mushrooms or use mushroom variation in tip below!

Tip: Mushroom Cheeseburger soup variation: cut out the tomatoes and soak dried mixed mushrooms- about ½ cup or so,  in boiling water for 30 mins. You will need to do this FIRST! I use the mixed dried mushrooms from Costco and tear them up while the water is heating up, this takes a few minutes, so will add to your cooking time. It’s MUCH easier to tear them before soaking them, once they have soaked, they are really hard to cut. Use the mushroomy water with the mushrooms in your soup- SO yummmmy :) use 1 cup sour cream instead of ½ cup. And use ½ cup whipping cream instead of 1 cup. 

Tip: Original Cheeseburger Soup variation: Cut out the tomato and use 2 cups milk later in the cooking.Omit the Whipping Cream and use 1 full cup sour cream. You may need to add a little extra sea salt.