Healthy-ish "Cheeseburger" Soup

Okay, so normally I would NOT gravitate to anything called "Cheeseburger Soup", but as a married woman I SUPPOSE I should consider the other person eating these meals I prepare. :) My husband was (sweetly) helping me pick out some meals on Pinterest, and he saw this. Since he actually piped up and tried to help, I felt like it was my duty as a wife to honor this one request. It's really not UNhealthy, and I figured it was worth a try on this busy week.

This recipe is a combined adaptation that takes inspiration from a Weight Watchers recipe and a blogger's recipe posted on Pinterest. I also slimmed it down a little on my own. (It could probably taste better if you "fattened" it back up. The husband approved of this version, so we're sticking with "skinny"!)

Ingredients: 

cooking spray
1 garlic clove, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 lb. ground turkey (or use ground beef for heavier version)
2 tb. all purpose flour
3 cups canned chicken broth, divided (I had a little less than two cups (14.5 oz) on hand, so we used    what we had. It seemed like enough for me!)
1 cup low-fat evaporated milk (I used fat free, and I used about 14 oz on accident. But then I figured it would compensate for the low amount of broth!)
8 oz Velveeta 2% reduced fat cheese, cubed
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1 can Rotel
baked lowfat tortilla chips (we like Tostitos!)

Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over med-high heat for about 30 seconds. Add garlic, onion, and celery; cook, stirring frequently until vegetables are tender. (About 5-10 minutes) Coat your crock pot (or large slow cooker) with cooking spray and put the vegetable mixture in.

Place the same skillet over medium-high heat and brown/break up meat.  (I break mine up pretty fine for soup, but it's your call!) Drain meat and add to slow cooker.

In a small cup, combine flour and 1/2 cup broth; stir until lump-free. Pour this flour/broth mixture into the skillet and add the remainder of the broth left. Bring this to a simmer, and pour into crockpot. Add the evaporated milk, cheese, paprika, salt, pepper, and rotel.

Cover the crock pot and cook on LOW HEAT for 2 hours. Serve soup topped with crumbled tortilla chips (and sour cream if desired).

Okay...I know these are not the best pictures, but I was too hungry to worry about good photography. :)

The husband described it as "if Rotel dip were a soup...", which I suppose is good because Rotel dip is DEFINITELY his favorite guilty pleasure tailgate food. On a cold election night (which is kind of like a tailgate in our home), it worked for us!