Broccoli and Cheese Soup

I am now attempting to catch up on loading some old recipes to the blog, so bear with me... there may be a bunch of posts in fairly short order. Broccoli cheddar soup is one of my favorites. The original recipe called for a light Velveeta style of cheese; being of French descent I just couldn't do it so I used some real (pre-shredded) cheese. As far as soups go this is such an easy one to make... a short list of ingredients, very little chopping, and quick cooking time. Easy even for me to make on a weeknight. It is suggested that you serve this with a crusty bread. I will offer a suggestion that, if serving this to small children, don't. My kids ate only the bread when I made this and had basically no soup. Maybe serve this with spinach or brussel sprouts... it will look super tasty to them in comparison.



Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (16-ounce) package broccoli florets
• 2 1/2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
• 1-2 oz shredded pepper jack cheese

Preparation

1. Heat a large nonstick saucepan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; saute 3 minutes or until tender. 
2. Add broth and broccoli. Bring broccoli mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 minutes. 
3. Combine milk and flour, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Add milk mixture to broccoli mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. 
4. Stir in pepper. Remove from heat; add cheese, stirring until cheese melts.  
5. Place anywhere from one-third of the soup to all of the soup in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth. Return pureed soup mixture to pan.

Photo and recipe courtesy of myrecipes.com