Wednesday, January 10, 2007

WFMW - healthy eating

Every week I think, "I should participate in Works for Me Wednesday - it is such a good idea!" Only I can't ever think of anything interesting that works for me. ;) But healthy eating...this I can do! So here is one of my newest favorites:

“Cream” of Broccoli Soup
Original recipe from allrecipes.com – I tweaked it a bit to make it better.


4 cups water
4 cups broccoli florets
2 T butter
1 onion, chopped
1 large stalk celery, chopped
1/3 c. flour
2 T. chicken broth base
2 ½ c. milk (I used 1% and it was great – I bet skim would work as well.)
¼ t. nutmeg
¼ t. pepper
1 c. shredded cheddar

In a medium-sized cooking pot, add water and broccoli florets and bring to boil; reduce heat and cook for about 3 minutes. Drain, reserving the water.

In a blender, blend half the cooked broccoli until fairly smooth (you may want to add some of your reserved water to help it blend well.) Chop remaining broccoli and set aside.

In a large cooking pot, melt butter, add onion and celery and cook for about 3-4 minutes until soft. Stir in flour; cook, stirring constantly for about 1-2 minutes. Add reserved water and chicken broth base and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium; simmer, stirring constantly until thickened.

Unless you like little chunks in your cream soup (in which case, skip this step) transfer the soup to the blender and blend until smooth.

Return soup and blended broccoli to pot. Stir in milk, nutmeg, pepper, and chopped broccoli, and heat through. Just before serving, stir in grated cheddar.

Garnish with a little more cheddar, if desired.

The soup isn’t particularly thick the first day – it thickens overnight in the fridge, though. If you like your cream soup thicker, you can either make it in advance and serve reheated the next day (very good – we loved the leftovers) or you could try adding more flour or cornstarch to thicken the base.

The lovely thing about this soup is that it tastes really, really, really good, and just about as "creamy" as the not-so-good-for-you versions. It was a hit with both Gabe and Jonathan - hurray for yummy ways to feed the menfolk broccoli! :)

8 comments:

Chris @ Come to the Table said...

Thanks for sharing this. I have been looking for a Cream of Broccoli recipe that I thought seemed easy enough.

We love to eat soup at this time of year

Terri | Sugar Free Glow said...

This looks delicious! I'm a big fan of soup. :)

gail@more than a song said...

This sounds really good! I'm going to save it and try it out.

Rebekah said...

We tried the lentils and sausage recipe that you posted on your other blog (I got there from here--and I got here from your mom's recovery blog--somehow, but I can't figure out how anymore!) last night. It was easy and very good--though Ryan says we need to get spicier kielbasa somewhere.

Rebekah (Ryan Yates' wife--we met once at Autometrix....)

Camiva Mom said...

This suounds yummy Emily. You know after I took Jonathan & Jenn's photos together, we went to your parents home to download the pictures, while we were waiting Jonathan offered these sweet walnuts to me, how did you make those, wow they were good, I would love that recipe, where could I get it? Do you have my email address?

Heather Owens

Emily (Laundry and Lullabies) said...

Hi Heather! I actually posted this recipe on my blog last month...so here is the link.

http://laundryandlullabies.blogspot.com/2006/12/recipes-enjoy.html

No, I don't have your email address, or I'd send this directly to you. I hope you check back for this recipe. and I'm glad you liked it!

Emily (Laundry and Lullabies) said...

Hi Rebekah,
I remember meeting you. I'm glad you liked the lentils and sausage - it really is a hit at our house. And so easy! :)

Amy said...

Ooh, yummy! I shall have to try this one. We love cream of broccoli around here!