Yummy soup

Writing a blog isn't as easy as I thought it would be, I guess my life's not as interesting as I thought. So I've been thinking about things I'm good at, and cooking is one of those things, I'm trying to find my niche I guess. So, I'm thinking that occasionally I'll post a recipe I like and photos of me making it. Kinda like Pioneer Woman (but the pictures won't look nearly as professional).

Here's the first recipe:
Broccoli and Cheese Soup:















1 stick of butter
1/4 cup of flour
1 can of chicken broth
1 cup of heavy cream
1 cup of milk (or you can omit the cream and use 2 cups of milk)
1/2 pound (8 oz.) of Velveeta
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
broccoli
salt to taste

Mr. McHacker (my hubby, he's a computer hacker, but don't worry he's a white hat... well...maybe more like a gray hat) and I were eating a LOT of Broccoli Cheddar soup from McAllister's and Quiznos, so I figured if I could learn to make it, it might save us a little money. I found a recipe online that I thought sounded good and modified it a little. Mr. McHacker says it's TaStE-TaCuLaR (whatever that means?)

First, melt the butter:










Then, add in 1/4 cup of flour:



Stir the flour into the butter and reduce the heat to low. Let it cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. It'll look like this:


Pour in the cream, milk, and chicken broth:



Turn the heat back up and bring it to a boil:


Add the salt:

Reduce the heat and simmer 10 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, cut the Velveeta into small chunks so it will melt easier. I'm a little bit OCD so all my cheese cubes have to be the same size :-) Steam about a half a bag of broccoli in the microwave (in a bowl) for 2 minutes, then cut it into small pieces.


Add the Velveeta (I forgot to take a pic of putting it, but you know what it looks like), then the cup of cheddar:

Around here, we really like cheese, so I added another cup :-)

Then add the broccoli:


Mix it well and let it cook about 5 more minutes. While it's cooking, toast some of these:

If I were professional, I would have shown you a nice, new package of these, but I already had these in the pantry. I guess you can see we like these, we've eaten almost the whole package :-)

This is the finished product. It makes four servings, so Mr. McHacker and I will have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow :-)



This is a very creamy and filling soup, but if you want to make it healthier, I think it'll still taste good. This is the way I always make it, but next time I make it, I'm going to use the modified recipe with the healthier substitutions:

1 stick low fat margarine
1/4 cup flour
1 can low sodium chicken broth
2 cups skim milk
1/2 pound (8 oz.) Velveeta 2% milk
1 cup shredded reduced fat cheese
broccoli
salt to taste

Let me know if you try either version and what you think of them.

*HUGS*
Crystal