Fall/Winter Recipe: Homemade Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Today was a very rainy day around here.  Rainy days always give me a soup craving.  (And a blanket, warm socks, and nap craving.)  I thought about picking up some soup from Panera Bread, but meals there are so expensive, so I decided to make my own broccoli cheddar soup.  Here are the ingredients you will need!  Brands of course are up to you.  This recipe serves 8.

1 stick (1/2 cup) of melted butter
1/2 cup of flour
4 cups of half and half cream (I used fat free; use what you like)
4 cups of chicken stock
3 heads of broccoli
1 large carrot
16 ounces of grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

First thing you need to do is turn the stove top on low.  Put in your stick of butter.

Once the butter has melted, stir in the flour.  After you have stirred the butter and flour together for a couple minutes, add the half and half.

Continue stirring and add in the chicken stock.

Looks the same as before, doesn't it?  You have now made the base of the soup.  Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes.

While the base is simmering, go ahead and chop up your veggies.  I actually only ended up using 1 carrot.

I just peeled the carrots, and once I had them peeled, I used my hands and broke them into small bits and put them into the soup.  I was tired of chopping at that point. :)  After your base has simmered for 20 minutes, go ahead and add in the veggies.

Let the veggies cook into the base on low for 20 minutes.

Next, you are ready to add in the cheese!  Yum! 

                                                        Stir, and then add in the nutmeg.



Finally, stir it all up.  Add salt and pepper to taste. I found that mine needed a little bit of salt.  I didn't add pepper.  I'm not a pepper person.  Adam added some to his bowl though.

 I served my soup with a french baguette. 

Since it was only 2 of us for supper tonight, I only used half the baguette.  I cut that half in half and drizzled the halves with olive oil and sprinkled a little bit of salt for some flavor.

I popped it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Then it was time to eat!  The bread is so delicious in the soup.  It was the perfect rainy day supper.  Enjoy!