Monsters of the Midway

Now that was fun! Not only did Chicago's fans have fun watching our Bears beat the Vikings 27-13 but the Bears seemed to be really enjoying themselves. Perhaps it was the retro Monsters of the Midway jerseys but there was a real spark of football fun!

Before I move on to planning the menu for Thursday's game against the Dolphins, let me share today's game winning recipe - Wild Rice Beef Vegetable Soup. At the last minute, I added a bit of melted cheese on top as a nod to Brett Favre. If I had known that real grass was such a problem for Minnesota, I may have added some spinach!

Ingredients:

1 pound stew meat, cut in bite size pieces

1 onion diced

2 stalks of celery diced

2 carrots diced

1 large can of beef broth

2 cans Veg All

1 can diced tomatoes

1/4 cup Mike Ditka's Hall of Fame Salsa

1 box of wild rice (cooked)

fresh sliced mushrooms

sliced Provolone cheese

Directions:

1. Brown stew meat in 1 TB Olive Oil and 1 TB Butter

2. Add onion, carrots and celery and cook until onions are translucent

3. Add beef broth and diced tomatoes, simmer for 45 minutes

4. Add Veg All and Mike Ditka's Hall of Fame Salsa

5. Continue simmering soup while preparing wild rice according to package directions

6. Add cooked wild rice to soup

To Serve:

Place individual servings of soup in a bowl. Put fresh mushrooms on top of soup and cover with a slice of Provolone cheese. Place in microwave for about 1 minute to melt cheese. Serve, Enjoy and Go Bears!