Chili Cheese Soup

Ingredients:

• onion
• celery
• carrots
• Velveeta cheese
• Rotel tomatoes and chilies
• chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 can Wolf Brand Chili (no beans)
• cream or cream cheese

You may be wondering how much of the above ingredients to use. If I use a one pound block of Velveeta, I would typically use a cup of onions, a cup of celery and a half cup of carrots, but it’s really up to you, and how veggie-rich you want it to be. The same with the broth if you want a thick soup you’re only going to add 2 to 3 cups of the broth. If you want a thinner soup you want to add at least four.

Step 1 – Chop the onions, celery and carrots finely and sauté them until tender over medium heat in a skillet with just a touch of olive oil. While all the vegetables are cooking, put the Velveeta cheese into a microwave-safe container with a lid and microwave for 5 min., then add the whole undrained can of Rotel tomatoes and chilies. Cook for one more minute, stirring before you add the tomatoes and chilies, and stirring again when you pull the mixture out of the microwave. If it’s not completely melted, microwave another minute or so, then add the full can of Wolf Brand chili without beans and stir again.

Step 2 – Your vegetables should be tender by now, so add 3 to 4 cups of chicken or vegetable broth. Pour the Velveeta cheese mixture into a large soup pan. Then slowly add the broth and vegetable mixture to it, stirring constantly. If you like the mixture as is, you’re done. If you’ve put too much broth in, it will benefit from adding either a dash of cream or little softened cream cheese. Add to taste.

Step 3 – Bring the whole mixture to a boil, then turn the heat down to simmer and let the flavors meld together. Do not simmer too long because the soup becomes too salty.

Step 4 – Spoon into a bowl and top with a little cayenne pepper a little sour cream, and maybe even some sliced fresh jalapeños.

Garnish with a whatever is handy. In the picture below, we used a few crushed blue tortilla chips and some sliced scallions.