Beef and Portobello Soup

Wowsa, was this a yummy soup. You don't even need to finish reading this. Just go make it. Now. It's good. Here's what you need.

2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 leeks, very thinly sliced
2 portobello mushroom caps, gills removed, halved and thickly sliced
1/2 lb. ground beef, browned
salt and pepper
1 t. garlic powder
4 c. chicken stock
2 c. water
1 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 c. small pasta
1/2 c. green lentils
1/2 c. bulgar

sour cream for garnish

There are two ways to do this:
Number 1:
Heat a skillet with a little oil. Toss in chopped carrots and leeks. Soften those babies up a bit, about 8 minutes. Add mushrooms, and cook an additional 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Throw your ground beef in your hot skillet and brown it. Take your veggies and beef and put it together in a pot with your tomatoes, chicken broth, lentils and bulgar. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Add your pasta to the pot and cook and simmer another 8 minutes r so, until the pasta is tender. Serve!

Number 2:
This is the way I did it: Brown my hamburger. Throw absolutely everything (but the pasta and sour cream) in my big 'ol crock pot, turn that sucker on high and let it meld that stuff together for about 5 hours or on low for 8 or 9 hours. Right before you are ready to eat it, I cooked my pasta separately, then just added it in. I hate mushy pasta and am too afraid to do that part in the crock pot. yes, I am a chicken.

Put a dollop of sour cream in your bowl with your soup, and stir it in. Get yourself a loaf of crusty bread, hot from the oven, grab a slice and smear it with butter. Begin dipping and devouring. So good.

I need to give credit where credit is due. I got the basic idea for this from a Rachael Ray magazine. I did change quite a few things, based on my own tastes and what I had on hand. If you have onions, and no leeks, it will work. The leeks, bulgar, lentils and garlic were my own addition just because I like them so much. And just a reminder, these are all estimates, since I rarely measure anything. (I think I'm lazy.) Soup is wonderfully forgiving, and you can fool around with it and it's still so...comforting. Enjoy!