Happy St. Patty's Day!

May your beer be green, may your sandwich be a Ruben and may your luck be finding a Leprechaun with a pot of gold!

Cheeseburger Soup

I got this recipe from Taste of Home's recipe of the day and it looked good, I had all the ingredients so I thought I'd give it a try and I am very glad I did, it tastes just like a cheeseburger!

Cheeseburger Soup

1/2 lb ground beef
3/4 c chopped onion
3/4 c shredded carrots
3/4 c chopped celery
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
4 tbsp butter, divided
3 c chicken broth
4 c peeled and diced potatoes
1/4 c all purpose flour
8 oz Velveeta cheese, cubed
1 1/2 c milk
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 c sour cream

In a large pot brown beef, drain and set aside. In the same
pot add 1 tbsp butter and the onion, celery, carrots, basil
and parsley cook until veggies are tender, about 10 mins.
Add the broth, potatoes and beef, bring to a boil, cover
and reduce the heat and simmer for 10 mins till potatoes
are tender.

In another pan add the rest of the butter and flour and
cook for 3-5 minutes until bubbly. Add to the soup. Bring
to a boil and cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat
to low and stir in the cheese, milk and salt & pepper. Stir
until the cheese melts. Remove from the heat and stir
in the sour cream.

Yields 9 1 cup servings
7 points

Breakfast in the Tropics

Here's something fun that you could do a fun snowy day like today. It sure would seem like having breakfast in the tropics!

Beer Cheese Soup

I have been looking for a good beer cheese soup recipe for years and I was at my friend Tammy's for a day of scrapbooking and she made a recipe book and this recipe was in it. Of course I had to ask if I could have the recipe to try and she said sure. I took the recipe home and made it, brought it to a pot luck at work, and EVERYONE loved it! So as we say at Red Lobster "Winner, winner, seafood dinner!"

Beer Cheese Soup

2 c water
2 cans beer
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 c chopped carrots
3 c cubed potatoes
1/4 c chopped onions
1 can cream celery soup
1 can cream chicken soup
1 can cheese soup

Cook all together until veggies are done. Add 1 lb
Velveeta cheese.

Be careful as Velveeta will scorch easily so I turn off the
soup and add the cheese. You could also put it in a
crock pot and then add the cheese. This soup is good
with added ham or California medley veggies. If you don't
want to add the beer, you can just add more water instead.

Strawberry Pretzel Bars

One of the girls at work brought this in for a pot luck and they are amazingly good.

Strawberry Pretzel Bars

2 c finely crushed pretzels
3/4 c butter, melted
1 c plus 3 Tbsp sugar divided
2 (4 servings) pkgs strawberry jello
2 c boiling water
1 16 oz pkg frozen strawberries (see note)
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 12 oz container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 13x9 pan with cooking spray.
In a med bowl combine pretzels, butter and 3 Tbsp sugar. Press
into bottom of the pan. Bake 8 mins; let cool.
In a large bowl, dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Add strawberries
and chill until slightly thickened.
In another large bowl, with an electric mixer on med speed, combine
cream cheese and remaining sugar until smooth and creamy. Fold in
whipped topping and spread evenly over pretzel crust. With mixer on
low speed, beat gelatin and strawberries until berries are broken up.
Spread over cream cheese layer. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or
until firm.
Note: Although the strawberries need to be thawed slightly so that they
are not frozen solid, the colder they are the faster the gelatin will thicken.

Serves 12

Pizza Dip

We had a pot luck at work and I wanted to bring something different so I found this recipe blog surfing. It is very easy and very good. Everyone at work loved it and almost licked the plate clean!!!

Pizza Dip

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup mozzarella, grated
1/4 cup Parmesan, grated
1 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella, shredded/grated
1/4 cup Parmesan, grated
2 ounces pepperoni, sliced
2 tablespoons green pepper, sliced
2 tablespoons black olives, sliced

Directions
1.Mix the cream cheese, sour cream mayonnaise, mozzarella and Parmesan and spread it across the bottom of a pie plate.
2.Spread the pizza sauce on top and sprinkle on the cheese, pepperoni, green pepper and olives.
3.Bake in a preheated 350F oven until the sides are bubbling and the cheese cheese has melted and turned golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Serve with baguette slices.

Baked Ham & Swiss Casserole

I got this recipe from my friend Tammy and it is great for using up ham from your holidays.

Baked Ham and Swiss Casserole

8 oz pkg pasta, I use whatever I have on hand such as elbow noodles
3/4 c chopped onion
2 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 c cubed ham
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 8 oz container sour cream
1 1/2 c shredded Swiss cheese
1/4 c milk
1 tsp Dijon style mustard
1 2.8 oz can french fried onions

Cook pasta according to pkg directions. In a small pan, cook onions in butter until tender.
Combine all ingredients except the french fried onions and mix well. Put into greased 11.7
pan. Cover and bake 35 mins at 350 degrees or until hot and bubbly. Uncover and top
with french fried onions. Bake 5 mins longer. Let stand 10 mins and the serve.