Broccoli and Cheese soup

I was so excited to make this soup not just for its yumminess, but to use my all new 5 speed kitchenaid immersion blender. I know, Yayyy Right !!:) My husband gifted me for my birthday and I'm in love with it.

I used it to chop and blend. I've a feeling I am going to use it everyday. Now back to the soup :)

I love broccolis in my

minestrone

soup, but I don't go beyond that. We once bought canned soups for a easy meal replacement. Though it was quick and convenient, it had a lot of sodium content in it. So we quit buying canned items. But the good thing was, I discovered broccoli and cheese soup is not as bad as I thought it would be. Infact my daughter loved this soup.

I made lighter version of this soup with low fat cheeses and no cream / Heavy cream. It is textured and stomach filling. This can be done in less than half hour.

Ingredients:

• Broccoli florets - 2 cups
• Chopped onion - 1/2 cup
• Carrots - 2 small- chopped
• Garlic pods - 4
• cheese (cheddar / Mozzarella) - 1/4cup + 1/4 cup
• Milk - 1 cup
• Butter/ olive oil - 1 tbsp +1 tbsp
• wheat flour - 1 tbsp
• salt and pepper - to taste

Direction

Chop and steam broccoli florets with little water either in stovetop or microwave.

Then roughly chop /dice onion, carrots and garlic and keep it aside. Meanwhile heat the pot with olive oil or butter.

Once the pot is hot, add in the chopped onion and carrots and saute for few minutes until tender. Then to that add a cup of water and cover it with lid. Few minutes later add the steamed broccoli too.

Meanwhile in another pan, heat and add a tbsp of butter. Once hot, add a tbsp of wheat flour to that and keep whisking to stop forming lumps. Once the flour mixture slightly turns colour, slowly add in milk while whisking on low heat. After the milk mixture boils it will thicken, to that add the cheese and keep mixing until cheese melts.

Now add the cheese sauce to the veggies and mix well.

Blend and Enjoy hot soup.

Notes

:

• you can ignore carrots if you like
• If you like a thinner soup, go ahead and add milk.
• If you prefer smoother soup than textured soup instead of blending everything, just add in finely chopped broccoli to the cheese mixture.
• Typically half milk and half heavy cream is used while making cheese sauce. If you are planning for a cheat meal, go crazy :)

Enjoy and happy cooking !