Soup - Broccoli Cheddar

I love broccoli cheese soup. As a matter of fact, it is one of the only ways that I will eat broccoli. I especially like this soup at Jason's Deli. They have the best!

That, actually, might be the downfall of this particular recipe. While it tasted fine, it was not all that and a bag of chips - like I had wanted it to be. I won't say where I got it (since I don't want to discredit the source), but I did get it online and that particular blogger had raved about how great this recipe was. I followed it to the t- but it was not great. I will have to try this soup again - perhaps making up my own recipe? I'll let you know what I find out.

On another note - I made peanut butter truffles again last week, but this time with my own recipe...they were pretty dang good and JC ate about half of them on his own before I finally told him to take them to work and share! They're not quite perfect yet, so I'll keep working on that.

In the mean time, here is the recipe for the soup:

Broccoli Cheese Soup

1 can chicken broth (about 1 3/4 cups of broth)
1 small onion, diced

1/3 c. flour
1/4 c. butter
Pepper to taste (I used about 1/2 teaspoon)

2 c. milk (I used 1% with great results)
1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese (the sharper the better for flavor - I used sharp cheddar and hopefully next time will have extra sharp cheddar on hand)
1/2 c. shredded swiss cheese
steamed chopped broccoli (the amount of broccoli really boils down to preference - I wanted a lot of broccoli in my soup, so I chopped and steamed approximately 2 1/2 to 3 cups of broccoli florets)

Simmer chicken broth and chopped onion for 15-20 minutes in a covered small saucepan, until onions are soft. Heat milk in microwave for 1-2 minutes. In a separate medium-sized stockpot, melt butter then add flour and pepper. Cook together for a couple of minutes, then whisk in warmed milk. Stir and heat together on medium-high heat until soup starts to thicken. Next add chicken broth and continue to stir until well blended. Add cheeses and steamed broccoli. Serve immediately.

Makes approximately 4 servings (with two adults and three kids, we finished the pot of soup in one dinner serving it in bread bowls, so if you are serving more adults or serving the soup in regular bowls, I would consider doubling according to the number of people)

So here are some of the changes I suggest doing when making this particular recipe - first - I simmered my chopped onion (finely chopped!) in the chicken broth for about a half hour...then did become clear, but they remained a little too crisp for my liking.

Second - I normally like most cheeses, however, I didn't like the stronger taste of the swiss cheese in what was supposed to be broccoli cheddar....I say do a little less swiss and a little more cheddar in its place.

I personally like my broccoli to be really soft...I got one of those steamer bags in the frozen section...I don't think it got soft enough. It was convenient, but it might be better to put the broccoli in a food processor briefly, breaking up any bigger chunks that might hold their fresh crunch.

My last grievance was that it was kind of grainy...not sure that many other people would notice. My husband didn't, and neither did my baby...they both ate tons of it. I am not sure why it did this, but I am going to look into it. It might have been the flour, it might have been that I heated my cheese to hot? Not sure. Just watch out when you make it and beware that it has that tendency....

Otherwise, the flavor was pretty good and making it was SO easy! Really simple to make - and it was perfect for the freezing weather we're having here right now.