I am a huge soup lover.

I love sitting down with a yummy bowl of soup, especially when there starts to be a slight chill in the air. Cheddar Broccoli soup is one of my favorite go to soup recipes, but I sometimes find it to be a little heavy with all the cream and cheese. So I tried to lighten it up a bit and was pleasantly surprised how good it turned out. My kids didn’t even notice the difference 😉

Here is what you will need:

• 1/2 of a medium size spanish onion – chopped
• 2 heads of broccoli
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 1/4 cups of fat free half & half
• 2 cups of fat free, low sodium chicken broth
• 1 not to large carrot – peeled and shredded
• 8 ounce block of extra sharp cheddar cheese – shredded by hand ( Please never go fat free on cheese ) 😉
• teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of pepper

Here is what you will need to do:

Cut off heads of broccoli and then separate into tiny broccoli heads. I like my soup chunky, but you don’t want big pieces of broccoli in the soup. I then take a handful of the tiny heads and chop them to bits. This will help with the broccoli flavor in your soup.

Next, sauté the 1/2 cup of chopped onion in 1 tablespoon of butter until translucent. Remove from pot and set aside.

Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter in the pot and add the 1/4 cup of flour.  Whisk together and cook for a few minutes.  When ready add the 2 1/4 cups of fat free half and half, whisking constantly to get it all blended together nicely.

 I then add the salt and pepper and 2 cups of low sodium fat free chicken broth. Stir all together and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Give a good stir, cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Remembering to give a good stir from time to time.

When 25 minutes are up, uncover and remove from heat.  Add the shredded up cheddar cheese and stir until completely blended. Taste to see if any more salt or pepper is needed. And then…

Enjoy

xoxo

Jill