Its A Soup Day

I looked at the weather forecast this afternoon and saw snow is predicted for overnight and tomorrow morning, nothing accumulating, but still there is the chance of snow. To me, this calls for soup for dinner. An easy soup recipe that I turn to on nights like this, when I want to make soup from scratch, is broccoli-cheese soup. This is a soup I used to eat in the fall and winter when I went over my friend Marisa's house. Her mom made the best broccoli-cheese soup. We would sit at her kitchen table, eat broccoli-cheese soup, drink diet Dr. Pepper and hang out. I don't have that recipe, but my recipe isn't all that bad. Serve it with warm bread and you have a great dinner.

Broccoli-Cheese Soup

1 16oz bag frozen broccoli
3 c. chicken broth
1 c. fat-free half and half'
1.5 c. shredding sharp cheddar cheese (I prefer to buy a block of cheddar and grated it myself, but you can use the preshredded stuff)
1/2 large yellow onion finely chopped
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
3 Tbsp flour
3 Tbsp butter
Tabasco sauce (if you like a kick)

1. In a large soup pot, melt 2 Tbsp butter.
2. Add chopped onion and garlic to the melted butter and cook until fragrant (about 2 mins), stirring so as to not brown the onions.
3. Add salt, pepper, thyme to the onion and garlic and stir together. Cook about another 1-2 mins.
4. Turn heat down to medium-low and add the flour, stirring constantly until all mixed together, then continue stirring for another 2 minutes making sure to not brown the flour.
5. Turn heat up to medium-high and slowly pour chicken broth into onion mixture, whisking constantly until boils.
6. Turn heat down and let simmer for 5 mins, whisk every minute or two.
7. Add bag of broccoli to soup along with a pinch of salt and let cook for 10 mins, stirring every now and then.
8. If you have an immersion blender then take the soup off heat and use your immersion blender to blend the majority of the broccoli into the soup (be careful for splattering). If you do not have an immersion blender, then pour 1/2 soup (with a large amount of broccoli) into a blender and blend the broccoli, then add back to the soup.
9. Put soup back on the heat and add half-and-half to to mixture, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes.
10. Add 5-6 drops of Tabasco sauce if you like a bit of heat to your soup and stir until blended.
11. Add cheese and 1 Tbsp cold butter to soup and stir until all cheese is mixed in and butter has melted.
12. Serve with warm bread

NOTE: if you have left-overs it will only really be good for a day or two.

TS and I enjoyed our broccoli-cheese soup with warm bread, followed by apple crisp. What a great fall meal! Here's to good eating!