Whole Wheat Bread Bowls With Hamburger Soup

This is the best supper ever....really. Hamburger soup inside of whole wheat bread bowls!
Don't be intimidated by the bread making. I always have a little talk with myself before making bread. "Now, Sue, remember, bread making isn't hard(especially with my Kitchenaid mixer, thanks mom and dad), it just takes time to rise." Really....
Here is the time break down. 
1. It takes 5-10minutes to let the yeast ferment. 
2. 10 minutes of kneading 
3. and then a total of 2 hours rising.
 4. Baking time says 45 minutes, but that is too long in my oven. I went with 35 minutes and still they were a little bit burnt browner than I wanted! 
The idea came when I was menu planning. One of my favorite cooking blogs, How Sweet It Is, had this recipe. When I menu plan, I take into account the weather of the week as well as our schedule. It was to be rainy on Tuesday, or so the weather guesser  man said. So, I thought, I have lots of whole wheat flour, we love hamburger soup, why not try this recipe?  The hamburger soup recipe is here.   I served it with a caesar salad, but be forewarned, it is sooooo filling all by itself! I taught the kids their cooking lesson, using this as our menu. Our goal is that they will each cook a supper, per week, eventually. ;)

It's Cold Outside....

Well..seems there's a bit of a cold snap, huh??? Let's not talk about that! Let's talk about hamburger soup! Years ago my friend Kerry taught me to make hamburger soup. I always think of you as I make it! 

Start by putting a little olive oil, garlic and onion in a large pot. Soup is not an
exact science as far as I am concerned so feel to substitute, omit, etc!
America's Test Kitchen cooks always talk about the importance of salting the onions to
release their flavor, so do that if you please!

Remember the on sale hamburger this week? Add about a pound and brown.

Here's some fun things to add.
A can of stewed tomatoes and a can of tomato soup. I added about 4 cans of water.

Here I added the on sale broccoli stems.
Not the yucky bottom part, but the tasty part
just below the tree part(don't you love my
ability to name that part!).
I also tossed in two small handfuls of barley.
If you don't like barley(I don't understand why not!)
you could add some rice or noodles.

Here we have some potatoes cut up small and on top I added some
ground pepper and coarse salt. I also cut up carrots small and added them.

It needs to cook for awhile to tenderize the potatoes, carrots, broccoli ends and
to cook the barley.
This is one of my family's favorite hearty soups. Soups are a great way to use up things in your fridge and to serve a yummy meal. It is also a great way to reduce your food budget. We try to have soup once a week in the winter. It's great to have a nice soup in the crock pot when you get home! This one can easily be cooked that way once the  beef ,onions and garlic are browned.
Well..try and stay warm...
Why not enjoy some soup???