New Favorite Fall Soup

Well, I have been on Pinterest for well over a year now, and have pinned several recipes that my family has tried and either loved or not. My cousin Katy lived with us this past year, which was AWESOME. It gave me a female companion who is witty and wise and fun...since we are pretty much all boys around here. But she also got the brunt of a couple things: our adoption process, bless her heart (people....adoption is not for the faint of heart or the lazy, but OH it is so worth it), and my cooking experiments, double bless her heart. I do plan to go in and create three separate foodie boards on my Pinterest site....one for recipes we loved, and one for recipes we tried and just didn't love, and one for recipes we have yet to try.

Today I want to share with you MY version of a pinterest recipe, found here, that we have tweaked and made our own. The link I just embedded is not MY version of the recipe, though. I will list mine below. My boys LOVE this. The reason I changed the recipe is twofold: I like a little more liquid in my soup, as well as veggie chunks, and the boys absolutely REFUSE to eat a meatless meal. Bacon alone is not enough meat, ha! Stayton saw me cooking it the first time and said "Well I don't know what this is, but I'm about to tear it up!" Now, I know a couple of my family and friends will ask how I cook like this with a new baby....but it is really simple. During his afternoon nap I chop veggies and such. The early prep is out of the way, and once Daddy gets home to hold Jake, I get to cookin'! Ok, here is our version:

Ale and Cheddar Soup

Servings: Makes 5 servings
Total Time: 1 hour or so

Ingredients:

1 package of bacon, cooked, and torn into 1-inch pieces
1/2 bag of frozen chopped onions
3 stalks of celery, diced
5 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
2 tsp minced garlic from jar
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
3 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup flour
1 bottle of ale (beer)
4 cups chicken broth
3/4 cups heavy cream
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
cayenne to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1 rotisserie chicken, shredded into bite-size chunks

Instructions:

1. Cook the bacon however you choose, saving most of the grease. Allow to cool and tear into chunks.

2. In a large soup pot, pour the bacon grease you saved into it and add the onion, celery and jalapeno. Cook until tender, about 10 min.

3. Add the garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

4. Add the butter and let it melt and get bubbly. Then sprinkle flour and let it cook until it turns golden brown, which is about 2-3 minutes.

5. Add a bottle of beer, we chose Heineken just because...also add the bacon, chicken, and broth and cook for 10 minutes.

6. Add the cream, mustard, Worcestershire and cheese, stirring until all is melted together.

7. Season with cayenne, salt and pepper until you love it. Also pop some good 'ole Texas Toast into the oven and get it nice and crispy like a giant semi-soft crouton. (Is Texas Toast sold in other states? Is it called Texas Toast there? Boy howdy, Texas Toast is something to be proud of.)

8. Serve and enjoy...and those herbs you didn't use all of in the recipe? Hang to dry for next time! Save money, remember??

MMMMmmm...I hope you like our version of this delicious comfort food! More recipes to come!

Also, lastly, don't forget to sign up for my giveaway if you live in DFW! Contest ends Friday at 4!

~peace~