Broccoli Cheese Soup

It has gotten cold very quickly in this area.  When it gets cold, I long for soup.  Steamy hot delicious soup.  I know these soups are not low calorie but they are so yummy and warm on a bone-chillingly cold winter day.  I made this soup on Sunday afternoon.  It truly does make 12 servings as the author suggests on the http://www.allrecipes.com/ website.  The recipe was originally submitted by Karin Christian.  We all liked the soup but I have a few suggestions for the future.  I thought that the soup should have been put into a blender or that it could stand a few minutes with an immersion blender to thicken it and smooth out the broccoli a bit.  I like broccoli cheese soup when it has some texture but this was too much for me.  I was not happy with the way the cornstarch thickened the soup so next time I am leaving it out and using a potato or two instead. I also substituted fat free half and half for the milk because I had some in my refrigerator.  If you are cooking for a vegetarian you can easily substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth and no one else in the family will be the wiser.   I think that you could easily reduce the amount of butter by half without any harm to the taste of the soup. Anyway, it is good soup but I like to tweak so go ahead and tweak or leave it as is.  Your choice...

Broccoli Cheese Soup
Prep time:  10 minutes
Cook Time:  30 minutes
Servings:  12

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter (reduce to 1/4 cup)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 (16-ounce) package of frozen chopped broccoli
4 (14.5 ounce) cans of reduced sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
1 (1 pound) loaf of processed cheese loaf (I used the ubiquitous Velveeta), cubed
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2/3 cup cornstarch
1 cup water

Directions:

1.  In a stockpot, melt butter over medium heat.  Cook onion in butter until softened.  Stir in broccoli, and cover with chicken broth. Simmer until broccoli is tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

2.  Reduce heat and stir in the cheese cubes until melted. Mix in milk and garlic powder.

3.  In a small bowl, stir cornstarch into water until dissolved. Stir into soup; cook, stirring frequently, until thick.

4.  Put soup into a blender or use an immersion blender to make soup smooth.

Enjoy!

The Creative Cook