A cool front has officially moved through da boot and with that, the desire for something warm and hearty for dinner; I decided to make a cream of broccoli soup.
I love all kinds of soups. I actually think that I could eat soup every day but on a cool autumn or winter day..what could be better?! And so, when I awoke to these cooler temperatures on Monday morning, I decided that I wanted to make home made cream of broccoli soup for dinner. I wanted this soup to be a little different from your usual broccoli soup; I wanted it to be hearty. This is how I accomplished just that!
First, chop up 2 cups of broccoli.
Start steaming the broccoli while you are preparing the other ingredients.
Grate 1 carrot.
Chop up 1 stalk of celery.
Chop 1/2 of an onion.
Chop 1 cup of mushrooms (First "twist" because I love mushrooms!).
Pour about 2 T. of olive oil into a pot and heat it up...
Throw in all of the chopped ingredients, including 2 cloves of garlic and the steamed broccoli and stir over heat for 1-2 mins.
Add 3 cups of chicken (or vegetable) broth and bring to a boil.
After it begins boiling, turn it down to simmer.
Add 1 can of chicken (Second "twist" because I want to make this dish hearty!) and make sure you chop it up with a spoon as you add it in.
Pour in 1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream.
Throw in several hands full of mild cheddar cheese (when I make this soup next time, I will use a small jar of Cheez Whiz instead because it melts better). Now, add some salt and pepper to season it a bit and just stir the soup and let it simmer for a while.
Now that your soup is ready what is better to go with it than some bread! I like to make crostini and settled on preparing some black olive and mozzerella cheese crostini to accompany my soup...
Just grab a loaf of bread and slice off a few pieces.
Drizzle a little olive oil on the bread and toast it.
Put some chopped black olives on the toasted bread...
Top it with mozzarella cheese and then pop them back under the broiler to melt the cheese.
And THIS is what my dinner looked like!
This was a simple yet yummy and hearty meal. I enjoyed it so much that I think I will serve it again for lunch today when my mother comes for a visit!
BON APPETIT!
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