Pho

INGREDIENTS:
beef bones (I usually use 2 beef shanks)
carrots (2-3 thick ones, peeled and cut in big chunks)
ginger root (unpeeled and cleaned)
1 onion (quartered)
beef (chuck roast - some cubed and place in broth, thinly slice rest)
fish sauce
salt
sugar
pepper
star anise (about 8)

bean sprouts
pho noodles
hoisin sauce
siracha sauce

DIRECTIONS:
1. Parboil beef bones in salt and water. Drain, and place back in pot.

2. Add to broth - water, fish sauce (or beef/chicken buillon cubes, or chicken stock). Also add carrots, ginger, onion, and other spices (at least the star anise, but I've also experimented with adding allspice and cinnamon sticks). Also add cubed beef if you want.

3. Bring broth to boil, then lower to a simmer. Simmer for several hours.

4. Continually skim fat off surface of broth. Season to taste along the way.

5. While broth cooks, thinly slice some beef and boil the pho noodles.

6. To prepare pho for eating, place a serving of cooked noodles and bean sprouts (and other desired garnishes) in a bowl. In a separate small pot, add broth and desired amount of thinly sliced beef. After beef is cooked, poor meat and broth over your noodles and veggies in bowl. Add hoisin sauce and/or siracha sauce if you want.

Cheeseburger Soup

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups chicken broth
1 T dried onion (or 1/2 medium onion, chopped)
1/2 lb lean ground beef
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 cup milk
12 oz Velveeta, cubed
2 potatoes, cut in 1-inch cubes
2 small garlic cloves, minced
Tabasco sauce, optional
crumbled bacon, optional

DIRECTIONS:

1. Brown the ground beef. Drain the fat/liquid and add to crockpot.
2. Add all other ingredients to crockpot (except for tabasco sauce and bacon).
3. Cook on low for 5-7 hours.

NOTES:

I used soy milk. It's recommended not to use any milk higher than 2%...or else it will curdle in the crockpot. I also used 16oz of Velveeta. I didn't want to save just 4oz of Velveeta and I figured it wouldn't hurt the recipe to add a bit of extra cheese.

RESULTS:

Very good!! I thought it would be thicker, but it was soupy. We ate it with some bread, but I could've done without it. The potatoes in the soup were good enough starch for me. We also added some bacon bits since we had a bottle of it. It's good with the bacon, but don't add too much or else it will be salty.

Oh, and this recipe made enough to fill about 7-8 bowls. Vuong and I each had two bowls for dinner...then ate it again for lunch the next day.

I will definitely make this again!

source for recipe