Broccoli Cheese Soup

I have long had a love affair with broccoli cheese soup and interestingly never made it.

Years ago, a friend's dad earned my cook-y respect in a major way by serving me his homemade broccoli soup that he made in a crock pot with cream cheese, frozen broccoli and cream (or milk? I can't remember).

More recently I had to break up with Panera's broccoli cheese soup when I learned it was not vegetarian. (Yeah, I guess the fact that there was no little "V" should have tipped me off earlier but what can I say... I was a woman in love.)  It was a rough breakup.

Anyway, here's my recipe from the other night. It came out really tasty. I didn't have any onions in the house, but if I had I would have added those too.

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1-2 tablespoons butter

1 cup water 

1 extra large knorr vegetarian vegetable bullion cube

1 cup milk

2 oz shredded cheddar.

8 oz whipped cream cheese

2 fresh broccoli heads, chopped up into very small pieces. You can get a little stem in there too.

Start off your garlic with your butter simmering in the pan. You want the garlic to get a little brown but not burnt. When that's accomplished, add your water and your bullion cube and stir. You can raise the heat. Add your broccoli too. Let your bullion do its bullion thing.

Now you're going to add your dairy stuff.

First add the cream cheese and STIR LIKE THE DICKENS. You want it to melt in. Stir a lot, keep the heat on the low side because if it boils it can separate (which doesn't really affect the flavor but looks pretty ugly).  When the cream cheese is incorporated fully into the soup, add your shredded cheddar and again, stir like the dickens until it is fully melted in. Add your cup of milk, still stirring.

When your milk, cheese and broth are well mixed and soup is hot enough to eat, it's done!

Serves 3-4.