When your favorite football team is as terrible as ours, it’s best to make tailgating the “main event” of game day. So we had a dozen or so people over for an at-home tailgate party before watching the Browns game. After everyone went home, and the dishes were done, it was time to assess the leftovers.
Hmmm….a couple of brats, a ton of baked beans, the remnants of a veggie tray, burger fixins’ and a lot of Bloody Mary supplies. (no beer..that we drank every last drop of to drown our sorrows)
Given the volume of baked beans which are not something we eat a lot of in our house…I decided to incorporate those into a soup because I know my daughter, Julia, will slurp it up! Go time.
I started by cutting up two slices of peppered bacon (from the very elaborate Bloody Mary bar a guest came with!) Once I fried those up in a small stock pot, I added some chopped onions (red and white, but you could use whatever you’ve got) leftover from the burger toppings platter, and let those soften. To that I added chopped celery and carrot (probably the equivalent of one carrot and one stalk of celery) and cooked on a medium high until those too were soft (just 3-4 minutes).
(I added corn to this original batch because I had some around and thought it would be good for color. I think it enhanced the soup, but it’s not necessary)
I sliced up one bratwurst into bite sized pieces and dumped that in to the mixture, along with 2 cups of beef broth. Once that was brought to a boil, I added 1 cup of baked beans, and 1/2 cup of Bloody Mary mix. Given the contents (peppered bacon, seasoned beans, and the drink mix) I went easy on the salt and pepper, but do it to your taste. I also added dash of hot sauce.
Let that magic simmer for about 25 minutes and you’ve got yourself a soup that will fill your belly and keep you satisfied through Monday Night Football.
Cheftovers 