Recipe for comfort - beer cheese-cheese-cheese soup.

A big pot of soup is the perfect cure for a rainy, blah night, but who has time for something that tastes like it's been cooked all day? Not this girl. I need something quick and easy to put together, but something that can simmer on low until The Bob is ready for dinner. This is my take on beer-cheese soup – I took the basic idea from several recipes to come up with my own, and it was delish if I do say so myself.

Here's what you need:
3 slices bacon, diced
1 clove (or so) garlic, minced fine (I used the preminced jarred kind to save time)
1T butter
2T flour
1t dry mustard
1 small can chicken broth
1 cup (or so) half and half
1 12 oz. bottle of beer (I used a Bud, but anything works - the alcohol cooks out)
16 oz. (or so) Velveeta, cut into chunks
1 jar (5 oz.) Kraft Pasteurized Process Cheese Spread with Bacon
1 jar (5 oz.) Kraft Old English Sharp Pasteurized Process Cheese Spread
Salt & pepper to taste

Here's all you do:
1. Cook the bacon in the bottom of a large saucepan until crisp. Remove to a plate to drain and reserve for garnish.
2. Add the butter and the garlic and sauté until the garlic is transparent and flavorful, just a minute or so.
3. Turn the heat down a smidge, and add the flour and dry mustard to the pot. Cook, stirring, for a few minutes until the mixture forms a pretty thick paste.
4. Whisk in the broth, then the half and half, until incorporated. Add the beer and stir. Let this come up to a simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Add the jarred cheeses, one at a time, stirring until melted. Add the Velveeta in chunks, stirring until melted.
6. Taste for seasonings, and then simmer on low, stirring pretty often, until you just can't stand it any more! I let mine simmer for about 20 minutes.
7. Ladle into bowls and garnish with the reserved bacon bits, and/or anything you like. Bob topped his with bacon AND croutons.

I thought pumpernickel bread sounded good to dunk into this soup. I cut slices of the bread into strips, brushed with butter and toasted in a 450º oven until they were crispy.

While this soup was delicious on its own, we immediately thought of about 3-4 different things you could do with this as a base. This would be awesome with crab meat and/or shrimp. It would be great as kind of a chowder with a couple of potatoes and some drained corn. Tonight I plan to take some fully cooked chorizo flavored smoked sausage, slice it into disks and add it to the soup.

Experiment with what you like. But, try it this the first time. You will sink down into that bowl of cheesy goodness and it just won't matter what the weather's doing outside.

We never get tired of a good old casserole – especially with tater tots & cheese!

You already know that The Bob is a casserole junkie. I swear if you layered nails and glass in a dish and covered it in cheese and topped it with crushed potato chips, he would lick his plate clean. I think he might eventually catch on to nail & glass casserole, so I guess I will keep looking for easy, cheesy casseroles to make the man.

I came up with this one as a substitute for my Reuben Bake, and it went over pretty well.

Here's what you need:
1 lb. fully cooked, skinless smoked sausage
1 can green beans, drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 oz. Velveeta, cubed
Tater tots (YES, tater tots!)

Here's what you do:
1. Preheat oven to 350º. Spray an 8" square baking dish with non-stick spray.
2. Cut the sausage into 3/4 inch disks and put in the bottom of the pan. Top with the green beans. Spread the soup over top. Top this evenly with the Velveeta. Then (and this is my favorite part!), put tots all over the top. Really pack them in!
3. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly, and the tots are nice and golden brown.

Modify to your heart's content, but for goodness sake, keep the tot! This actually reheated pretty well the next day, so it won't go to waste.

A comforting meal that is so simple to make – hamburger stroganoff

I know there are times when The Bob and I feel the need to hunker down, and we have had that feeling after the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Watching the non-stop coverage is painful, and we feel for the families and friends of the students and university personnel who are the innocent victims of this horrible crime.

I have a feeling we are not the only ones who need a bit of comforting right now and one way we can comfort each other is through food. It may not be totally logical, but for some reason it works. Last night I put together a super-easy hamburger stroganoff – a yummy, creamy, mushroom-y, meaty feast for the two of us. There are "upgrades" you can make to this meal if you have the time and energy, but I took the easy way last night.

Here's what you'll need:
1 lb. hamburger
Dash of garlic powder
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream
1 cup half and half (folks, this is not diet food!)
1 can sliced mushrooms, drained
2 teaspoons paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Here's how you do it:
Crumble the ground beef in a deep skillet and sprinkle with as much garlic powder as you like (I used about 1/2 teaspoon, not too much). Brown and drain. Add to the skillet the remaining ingredients and stir until it's all incorporated. Bring up to a bubble and stir occasionally until it's thick and creamy. That's all there is to it.

You can let the stroganoff simmer gently over very low heat while you prepare egg noodles and then ladle a big generous serving over top. It would probably be delicious over mashed potatoes or rice, too. (I did the low carb thing and had mine over mashed cauliflower and it was wonderful.)

The upgrades, you probably figured out, would be to mince a clove of garlic to replace the garlic powder, and of course you can use fresh mushrooms instead of canned if you feel like slicing.

The thing about a dish like this is that, while it has flavor, it's not overpowering. It's bland in a good way – the way Nigella Lawson describes bland – more as a texture that is soothing. Which was the whole point last night.

I hope you try this the next time you're feeling the need to sink down into a bowl of pure comfort.

Thankfully – an easy leftover turkey casserole

I know it's been a few weeks since Thanksgiving, but I made a turkey breast in the crock pot this past weekend (see my previous post here for the how to), and had some leftovers I wanted to use up. This time of year, The Bob requests big comfort foods, so I cooked up this easy pseudo-Thanksgiving-leftovers casserole for him. This is falling-off-a-log simple.

You'll need:
1 box of cornbread stuffing mix (such as Stove Top; serves 4)
1 can of corn, drained
about 2 cups cooked turkey, cut up
1 jar of turkey gravy
1 pkg instant mashed potatoes (serves 4; flavored is okay)

Here's how to do it:
1. Preheat oven to 350º. Spray a 9x9 square baking dish with non-stick spray.
2. Prepare the potatoes per package instructions (I did them in the microwave), and reserve.
3. Put the stuffing mix in the bottom of the dish and pour the water/butter over, following the package for measurements. Stir to make sure all the stuffing is moistened. Press into the bottom and slightly up the sides to create a crust.
4. Over the stuffing, layer the corn, the turkey and the whole jar of gravy. Drop the potatoes on top and smooth with a spatula. I raked a fork across the top to create a lattice pattern.
5. Pop in the oven for about 30 mintues, until heated through and the top is a little browned.

You could easily use chicken in place of the turkey, and switch up the stuffing and gravy to suit. Bob likes corn, but that could be omitted.

An easy, very fast, turkey casserole that you'll be thankful for on a weeknight.