Hamburger Soup

Today, I wanted to make a soup in the Crockpot because I knew that I wouldn't be home at dinnertime. I wanted to use hamburger as the base but didn't have a specific recipe in mind. I briefly looked in a couple cookbooks. I couldn't find anything that jumped out at me, so I decided to just wing it. I browned the hamburger with some onions and garlic (who can go wrong with that!) and added that to some veggies from the fridge/freezer and water with beef bouillon cubes in the Crockpot. I wasn't sure how to flavor it, so I looked up my spices in one of my cookbooks. I chose a few that were suggested for soups...and voila! My soup was born. Jeff LOVED this soup! He loved the flavor. The spiciness was just perfect. I thought it was quite tasty myself. Hope you enjoy it, too!

Click here for printable recipe.

Click here for nutritional information.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/4 cup dried, minced onion
• 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 cup sliced baby carrots
• 1 cup diced potatoes
• 6 cups water
• 6 beef bouillon cubes
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 3 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• Tabasco sauce, to taste (not included in nutritional info)

Directions:
Brown hamburger with onion and garlic. Combine hamburger mixture with remaining ingredients in a slow cooker. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Orange Chicken

This past Wednesday for our mutual activity, the Young Women made Orange Chicken together. I found the recipe on Sparkrecipes. It's healthy, easy, and delicious. It did take longer than I'd expected, but I mostly chalk that up too many cooks in the kitchen (especially inexperienced cooks).

Click here for Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp orange zest
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• 1/4 to 1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (to taste)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb chicken breast, cut into 1/2" pieces
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a small bowl combine orange juice, soy sauce, honey, sugar, orange zest, ginger, cornstarch and pepper flakes. Set aside.

Heat olive oil over med high heat, add garlic cook 30 seconds. Add chicken, sprinkle with salt & pepper, cook for 4-5 min or until no longer pink in center.

Add juice mix. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly, about 1 min.

Serve over rice.