Broccoli Cheddar Soup

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Panera should be scared.  I'm very close to beating out their Broccoli Cheddar soup. This was very necessary for me for three reasons: it's expensive, it's not vegetarian, and I had a deep love for it before the switch.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup
from Mega Nerd Runs
Serves 2

• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1 Tb. butter or non-hydrogenated margarine
• 14.5 oz can (or carton!) cream of mushroom soup
• 1 1/2 cups 1% milk (Organic would be best since even the low fat versions are creamier)
• 1 cup cheddar, shredded
• 2 large carrots
• 1 large head broccoli

Prep the veggies. Chop the broccoli into bite-size pieces. Peel carrots and grate them. Be careful while grating the carrots; it's easy for them to slip.

Steam broccoli until tender crisp. If you don't have a steamer (like me!), use a small colander and a lid to improvise. Bring about 2 inches of water to boil in a saucepan. Use a colander that can sit inside without getting into the water. Put veggies in colander and place a lid on top, bringing it as far down as possible. Not perfect, but close! And I get perfectly steamed veggies every time.

Get the rest of the ingredients ready to go.

Saute onion in butter until soft, about 3-4 minutes.

Add cream of mushroom and cheddar. Stir well and let melt.

After cheese is completely melted, whisk in milk.

Add broccoli and carrots. Stir well and let simmer until heated through and slightly thicker, about 10 minutes.  Viola! That's it.

Serve with a multi grain or French bread. I was ridiculously excited to find this little buddy at Trader Joe's. I rarely buy French bread because the baguette is so big and I just end up eating the whole thing, about 1000 calories probably. This baby has only 3 servings! $0.80 too! I swear, I almost did the happy dance in the bread aisle.

This soup is dangerously close. I don't think it's quite right because it was too mushroomy for me. This is probably because the organic cream of mushroom is way more mushroomy than campbells. But, alas. It was deeeelicious, comforting, and provided a lot more veggies! Not to mention how simple it is!! I was thinking of trying cream of celery next time and just adding soy sauce if it needed a meatier flavor. Either way. You need to make this.

Nutritional Information (for 1/2 soup): 361 calories, 20g fat (13g sat), 31g carbs, 3g fiber, 17g protein

I was surprised by how filling this soup was. I wasn't expecting it to be and it definitely was!

This weekend is all about catching up. What is it about winter that makes me get behind? Oh yeah - the cold. I don't want to clean. I don't like wearing pants. I just want to stay under the covers and stay warm. I realize the pants comment seems weird...but I really mean just around the house. Because of all my "pants" are too short or too big. Only my yoga pants fit correctly - and if I wear them all the time then what do I wear to do yoga? Exactly. Winter is evil.

But this weekend, I will conquer winter. One dish at a time.