Cheeseburger Soup
- Bess Hawthorne
- Dec 4
- 3 min read
Join Maggie Sears as she shares her love of hospitality and how she thinks outside the box as she and her husband work to facilitate fellowship. From a yearly fall party to snow-day fun to boat outings with friends, Maggie shares how she and her family build relationships and lasting memories. She offers practical tips on what to pare down, what to keep stocked for easy hosting, and how to make your home a welcoming space for children. Plus, she reveals her unique must-have kitchen item you won’t want to miss! We're so glad you're here!
Recipes:
Cheeseburger Soup
Serve with:
Sourdough Focaccia (See recipe below.)
Salsa and chips as an appetizer - optional. (See recipe below.)
Maggie’s Salsa
Submitted by Maggie Sears
Ingredients:
1 (28 ounce) can fire roasted tomatoes
2 (10 ounce) cans Rotel Original (diced tomatoes and green chiles)
¼ red onion, roughly chopped
5-6 cloves garlicÂ
1 jalapeno, roughly chopped (remove seeds if desired)
1 handful of cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon sugarÂ
Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Pulse several times until the salsa reaches your preferred texture (chunky or smooth).
2. Taste and adjust ingredients to taste.
3. Refrigerate to let the flavors meld until ready to serve.
Sourdough Focaccia
Submitted by Maggie Sears from the For the Love of Sourdough cookbook
Makes 1 thicker 9x13 pan or 1 thinner 13x18 flat bread
Â
Leaven:
½ cup water
â…“ cup White Kamut flour or â…“ cup + 1 tablespoon organic all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon starter
Dough:
2 cups water
â…” cup leaven
3¼ - 3½ cups White Kamut flour or 4 cups organic all-purpose flour
2½ tsp French gray coarse salt
3 tablespoons oil + more for hands
Directions:
1. Add water to a medium-sized bowl and pour leaven on top. The leaven should float.
2. Add flour, then salt. Mix with a dough hook, large spoon, or hands until fully incorporated. The dough will be sticky.
3. Cover and let bulk ferment for 1 hour. Do a series of stretches and folds. Bulk ferment for another hour. Do a second stretch and fold. Leave the dough to bulk ferment for three additional hours.
4. Prepare a 9x13 or 13x18 pan by pouring 2 tablespoons olive oil into the center. Pour some oil on hands and pull the dough out onto the oil.
5. Perform one final series of stretch and folds except this time pull one side into the center, and the other over the top. Repeat with the top and bottom of the dough so it looks like a folded envelope in the center of the pan (similar to how you fold up a sourdough boule loaf). Flip over so the top is face up.
6 Cover the pan with a plastic proofing bag or plastic wrap. Let sit for another two hours as a final ferment. The dough should begin spreading out in the pan, taking up more and more space the longer it ferments.
7. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Remove from the bag and pour remaining 1 tablespoon oil on top of the dough and spread it around with hands. Using fingertips, begin pressing into the dough, creating indents and spreading the dough out toward the edges and corners of the pan. Once finished, the dough will fill the pan and be full of finger indents. Make sure the dough is a uniform thickness: if it is thicker in the middle than the sides, you risk the center of the bread not cooking all the way through.
8. Sprinkle finishing salt over the top of the prepared dough. Add any additional ingredients at this point (the options are endless). Cook on the middle rack for 25-35 minutes or until the internal temperature reads 200°F and the underside is golden brown.
Tip: If you are finding the center of the focaccia is not cooking all the way through before the top is brown and finished, try covering it with tin foil for 15 minutes of the bake and remove it partway through.
Recommended Items:
Norwex Dust Mop
Africa mat called tuh-bug (winnowing basket)
A few of the books that helped shape my vision for the family table: