Pretty Little Apron

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Classic Beef Macaroni Soup

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Snow day food alert! This Classic Beef Macaroni Soup was the perfect pot of delicious last week when we had a snow storm in the middle of March. I was not ready for snow in March, but a big pot of soup can fix any problem, right?


This is such a standard, simple recipe. Sometimes I wonder, do people even want to see recipes THIS EASY. I always find myself saying, yes! Of course they do! Not every recipe has to be elaborate, or out of the box. Simple, classic comfort food is a thing because it is one of the best ways to eat. I’ve been making this soup for my kids for a number of years now, and I thought it was time to share it!

Not only does this Classic Beef Macaroni soup taste delicious, it is so quick to make. From start to finish I want to call it a 30 minute meal, but with the boiling time it may be a few more minutes. With the short cook time, I can make this any day of the week, then have the perfect leftovers for the rest of the week.

Classic Beef Macaroni Soup Recipe Tips

  • The most important thing to remember with this recipe is to stir the pot while your noodles are boiling. The macaroni noodles have a tendency to stick to the bottom of the pot, so I would not suggest just pouring in the macaroni and walking away.
  • After my soup was boiling I realized I had some excess grease pooling on the top of the pot. I just took my large metal spoon and removed it.
  • I topped my soup with a little bit of extra sharp cheddar cheese. This is optional but highly recommended by someone who thinks cheese is basically life.
  • This soup gets better and better in the refrigerator! After all of the flavors come together over night, you may notice you love it even more!
  • The tomato product I use are just plain strained tomatoes. I’ve been using this product for years, and it is one of my most loved pantry staples! You can use it in just about anything. This is a no salt added product so you don’t have to worry about your soup being super salty in the end. The product size is 24 ounces, so you will be using the whole jar.


Beef Macaroni Soup

Beef Macaroni Soup

 

 

Thick and Creamy Cheeseburger Macaroni Soup

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Ok, I admit my husband was right on this one. Don’t expect that I’ll be singing his right-praises any time again soon, but this one was a homerun! No, it was a grand slam. But don’t ask me anything else about baseball because those are the only two terms I know so let’s just move on.

While I was slaving over a hot pot of soup my husband walked by and suggested I add some mustard. Like, for real. Sometimes he is the voice of reason, but I was skeptical about this one for a minute. Then I remembered this genius little pizza we used to make at a café I worked at and I thought maybe he was on to something. I reluctantly added a little and it was pure manly goodness. It was reminiscent of those two love birds ketchup and mustard coming together on one bun, and oozing out in some sort of orange goodness that only ketchup and mustard can produce. If you are totally salivating right now this one is for you! Now where’s the bacon!?!

cheeseburger soup

This is one of those dishes that just won’t go away. You think you are done but you just keep coming back for more until your day is officially a fat day now. You know, one of those days where you’ve eaten like a cow for the past 10 hours but your still considering a huge bowl of ice cream after the kids go to bed? Yeah, this may or may not induce a day of shameless eating because it is just so good and you can’t get away from it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

cheeseburgermac3 (1 of 1)

Some tips for this recipe… you may need to adjust the seasoning to taste. Also, if you prefer a thicker soup add 2 Tablespoons of flour at the end to thicken it up more. This will reduce the amount of broth you will have. This isn’t a super brothy recipe to begin with, so if you’d like it thinner I would suggest adding an additional cup of milk.

Roasted Poblano and Cheddar Mac

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poblanomac

My husband brought home a poblano pepper that I didn’t use in chili, so I challenged myself to coming up with a new recipe to use the pepper in. My kids request mac n cheese every time I ask them what they want for dinner, so I combined the two and it turned out to be a great twist on mac n cheese. It was really delicious with just a hint of spice. This side could easily be turned into a main dish by adding some extra veggies and seasoned black beans. If you are tired of the same old mac n cheese, I would highly recommend trying this recipe!


Sweet and Spicy Chili

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chili4


If you have seen any of my other posts you may have noticed I do serve sweet potatoes often! My kids love to eat them as fries, and I like to put them into many dishes. The hint of sweetness they provide compliment many other ingredients. I started putting sweet potatoes in my chili after my husband bought a butternut squash that I needed to use before it went bad. It worked so well I moved right on to sweet potatoes and now I rarely make chili without them. This is a staple recipe in my kitchen and I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

I also serve this with whole wheat cornbread, and you can find that recipe here. I followed this recipe but instead of using cream I used milk and it came out perfect.

Also, here is a link to the tomato product I use. We do stay away from canned tomatoes because of the possibility of chemical leaching into the product.