Broccolie Cheese Soup

I am a soup person. I like soup alot. Its not all I eat, but it is one of my favorite things to eat....as long as its good. This soup is great. Its creamy, cheesy and has a few vegetables thrown in there for good measure. Now you can make this as healthy as you like or not...I have made it using low fat ingredients and skim milk. Either way you go this soup is good. I will try and add a picture tomorrow..I am technology challenged and cannot get my camera to co-operate with me at this time. This soup makes plenty to feed 4 hungry adults with leftovers. Its great served in bread bowls.


Broccoli Cheese Soup

4-5 cups of chopped broccoli
3/4 cup of finely diced carrot
5 1/2 cups of chicken broth
5 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/2 pound Velveeta cubed (you can use regular, 2%, or the Mexican they are all good)
2-3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
pepper to your taste

Directions
In a large pot over medium heat, simmer the carrots for 5 mins then add the broccoli and simmer for 10 minutes more. In a separate skillet over medium heat, melt the butter, add the onions and saute till nice and tender this usually takes 5 minutes or so. Then add the flour to the onions and stir well. I recommend a whisk for this that way you get it really smooth. Its going to form a pasty substance let this cook for about a minute. Keep stirring because you really want to cook the flour to get the raw taste out but not really brown or burn the mixture. Slowly add the milk and stir until thick. Now pour your milk mixture into the broccoli/carrot mixture in the pot and stir well. Then add the cheese, stirring until melted. Finally, give it a little taste and add the pepper the way you like it...typically we don't add salt.


Tips-If you like it spicy go for the Mexican Velveeta and even use a fiesta blend of shredded cheese. Also I don't recommend that you boil it because it burns really easy and the burn taste goes all through the entire soup and you taste it in every bite (just ask me how I know)

Last weeks Cauliflower Soup recipe

Here we go last weeks soup recipe. This recipe is really forgiving and really easy to change up any way you like. What I mean by forgiving is at one time or another I have forgotten steps or ingredients and added them out of order or forgot them all together....I like a recipe that doesn't hold a grudge about the tiny details and still tastes this good. Also you can omit the butter and use skim milk and make it pretty healthy. I actually made this soup on Weight Watchers that way and it was low in points

Cauliflower Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
5-6 cups of finely chopped cauliflower (a large head should get you that much)
1 cup of onion
1 clove garlic (chopped, smashed, or diced)
3 tablespoons of flour
4 cups chicken broth
1 c milk
8 oz Brie (peel and remove the rind)chopped
1/2-3/4 teaspoon of dried thyme
Salt and pepper to your taste
dash of cayenne
green onions, chives, cheese or bacon pieces for garnish


In a large soup pot, preferably non-stick heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic. Saute for 3-5 minutes. Add the chopped cauliflower and saute for another 7-10 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the chicken broth and milk. Cook for 5-7 minutes more till it starts to bubble and thicken up. Now add the Brie and thyme and season with the salt and pepper and cayenne to taste. Cook until the Brie fully melts. Now you can eat it this way or you can put it in a food processor in small batches and puree it till its creamy...or hey if you have an emersion blender like I did at one time and you didn't loose the parts use that.

**Now I cheat alot, I make my chicken broth out of water and bouillon cubes. Occasionally I want to make it heartier and I dice up carrots and celery and add it in with the onions and cauliflower. Sometimes I even go wild and add in a small diced up potato....this recipe is really flexible just make it yours. I top mine with chives cheese and bacon. Forgive the picture I was eating it out of a white soup bowl and it didn't want to show up anything but washed out. This would be my husbands gigantomous bowl and his equally huge helping of cheese.