fall is here and the temperatures are dropping and sometimes you just want some good old fashioned warm comfort food like, say, cheeseburger soup. and, of course you could use something like cheddar cheese but if you really want to nail the nostalgic comfort in comfort food, you’re typically going to find a processed cheese like processed american cheesein the ingredients list.

for those of us who aren’t into the emulsified, extruded processed cheese world, the geniuses at organic valley ( *cough* my employer *cough* ) have come up with a 100% real, unprocessed american cheese! it has all the mild, melty american cheesyness you expect but it’s actually made from nothing but 100% real, organic cheese. imagine that!

so i thought i’d give it a try in this taste of home cheeseburger soup recipe, simply substituting the processed cheese with ov american singles. i also doubled the amount of ground beef, because, well, why not 🙂

and wowza. it’s really, really, really(!) good. definitely going to be in our regular soup rotation from now on.

slightly modified directions from the taste of home cheeseburger soup recipe:

ingredients
1 pound ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup diced celery
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
4 tablespoons butter, divided
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups diced peeled potatoes (1-3/4 pounds)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 package ( 8 ounces ) ov american singles
1-1/2 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup sour cream

directions

in a largish saucepan, brown beef, drain and set aside. saute the onion, carrots, celery, basil and parsley in 1 tablespoon butter until tender. add the broth, potatoes and beef; bring to a boil. reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

in a small skillet, melt remaining butter. add flour; cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until bubbly. add to soup; bring to a boil. cook and stir for 2 minutes. reduce heat to low. stir in the cheese, milk, salt and pepper; cook and stir until cheese melts. remove from the heat; blend in sour cream.