Broccoli Cheese Soup

My friend Shalee posted this Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe on her blog.  She said it was "so good you are going to lick your bowl clean" so I thought I better try it.  I hope she doesn't mind that I did a copy/paste here. 

Ingredients:
2 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 medium onion, finely diced (I skipped this)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups half-and-half
2 cups chicken stock or bouillon
1/2 pound fresh broccoli (or frozen if that’s what you’ve got)
1 cup carrots, julienned
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
8 ounces grated sharp cheddar

Melt 1 Tsp butter in skillet. Saute onion. Set aside.

Melt butter in large pot. Add flour using a whisk over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.  Stir constantly and slowly add the half-and-half.  Add the chicken stock, whisking all the time. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Add broccoli and carrots.  I put about half of the fresh broccoli into my mini chopper before putting in the soup.   

Cook over low heat until the veggies are tender for 20-25 minutes. Add salt and pepper.  (I think I skipped that step.)  The soup should be thickened by now. If it’s too thick for you, add a bit of milk to thin.  I'm not sure mine got as thick as Shalee describes on her blog.  I probably didn't do the flour part right. 

Add the grated cheese; stir until well blended. Stir in the nutmeg and serve.

The soup was indeed tasty and my bowl was quickly clean!  I have lots of leftovers though because I knew that Kent wasn't about to eat it, meaning Jake probably wouldn't want it either.

So, I made them potato soup.  I didn't have a recipe, but modified the recipe above to make it work.  I boiled the potatoes until they were starting to soften.  I drained them as I got the chicken broth and milk mixture heating.  I added the potatoes, carrots and a little more milk until it seemed like the right consistency.  The nutmeg was a good touch at the end with a little bit of cheese.  Kent topped his with pepper because I didn't put much salt and pepper in the soup planning on the kids eating it.  It almost looks like mashed potatoes instead of soup.

 We enjoyed supper on the deck.  There isn't many more days we are going to be able to do that here.  The kids didn't eat the soup as well as I would have liked, but that is pretty typical.  Maybe they'll do better with the leftovers.