School is in full swing now, busy in-and-out schedules keep us moving all day. We still manage a family dinner each day and I am now understanding my mother's love of the slow cooker. Start dinner, run and grab the kids take them to after school activities and come home to a done or nearly done meal. It's magic!
This recipe was my first attempt at cheddar broccoli soup. I wanted something that is creamy and hearty but a little healthier than the traditional soup. I also didn't want to dirty a bunch of pans and needed it to cook while I was running the kids around, hence the slow cooker. As an added bonus my four year old loved helping me add the ingredients to the slow cooker. I used my immersion blender but didn't quite blend enough so I tried out my normal blender and it was perfect. The soup was just shy of being deep enough and my immersion blender was splashing a bit. It's hard to believe there is no cream or whole milk in this recipe!
Ingredients
4 cups of chicken stock1/4 cup whole wheat flour
6 cups fresh roughly chopped broccoli
1 cup peeled and washed shredded carrots
3 cups cheddar cheese (we love tilamook sharp cheddar)
garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste
Recipe
- Pour the chicken stock and flour into the crockpot. Using a whisk combine until the flour is completely incorporated.
- Add broccoli and carrots. Cook on low for 3 hours or until broccoli is cooked.
- Remove 2-3 cups of the broccoli, don't worry if you get carrots too. Chop these and set aside.
- Add garlic powder, salt and pepper now. I just add a sprinkle of each.
- Add the cheese a cup at a time and let melt. Stir it up before each addition.
- Blend until smooth with immersion blender then add reserved chopped cooked broccoli. If you don't have an immersion blender you can use a normal blender but be careful the soup is hot! Allow to heat a few minutes if the soup has cooled.
- Serve with a sprinkle of cheese.
