Food for Thought - Broccoli Cheese Soup

I promised you a Food for Thought even though it is Saturday, and it just feels like soup weather to me. It has been so cold and rainy in Utah this week! We got a bunch of snow in the mountains and we’ve been holding our breath each morning, just hoping the garden won’t freeze. Today we harvested most of our corn and picked all the green beans. We’ve also been making applesauce and I’ve been taking pics so I can share that with you in a week or so. But today I want to talk about soup.

I have a wonderful next-door neighbor named Janice who makes an amazing broccoli cheese soup. I know this because way back when I had one of my babies (hard to remember which one now) she brought us some. It was delicious! I hounded her for the recipe and then it appeared in our neighborhood cookbook. Of course I had to tweak it a little. The potatoes are something we added to make it stretch a little further and be more filling. We love to serve it in bread bowls, although we didn’t this time. I hope you enjoy it!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

1 bunch fresh broccoli
1 medium onion, chopped
1 stick margarine
3 heaping tbsp flour
1 quart milk
1 bag frozen hash browns (country style)
2 to 3 cups grated cheddar cheese
3 chicken bouillon cubes
pepper to taste

Steam and drain broccoli.  Cook hash browns in bag in the microwave for about 6 minutes until they are warm and no longer frozen. 

In a large pan, cook onions in margarine until transparent. 

Add flour.  Stir until thick and bubbly. 

Gradually add milk, stirring constantly until thickened.  Crumble bouillon well and add. 

Add hash browns and cheese. 

Stir until creamy and smooth. 

Add broccoli.  Pepper to taste (cracked black pepper is very important since there are no other seasonings in this recipe). Serve with crusty rolls or bread bowls for dunking.