Something for Soup Weather

Here's a favorite soup recipe, given to me many years ago by my old friend Mercy:

Cream of Broccoli Soup

3 cups water with 3 chicken bouillon cubes and 1 bay leaf

1 large stalk broccoli, chopped

1-2 cups cooked chicken breasts*

½ cup cheddar cheese, grated

½ cup margarine (or butter)

½ cup flour

½ tsp. salt

dash pepper

3 cups milk

Simmer broccoli in chicken broth and bay leaf.  



Make white sauce by melting butter, stirring in flour until smooth.  Add milk and thicken.  Add ½ cup grated cheese.  Stir white sauce into broccoli until smooth, then add chicken.  



Keep on low heat.  Add additional milk if too thick.  



Sometimes I'll make it in the pot on the stove the night before I want to eat it, then pour it into the crock pot so it's ready for use to eat the next night when I get home from work, spent and not in the mood to make dinner.

(To be clear--I've never made this in a crock pot from start to finish.  I have no idea how that would work.)

We love it, and it's a great way to get Heather (and Eric) to eat her (their) broccoli.  (It's not exactly low-fat of course, but I do use skim milk, and that works just fine to my taste.)

Come to think of it, this soup is probably the first meal I ever made for Eric's parents.  As I remember, he and I were engaged but not married yet, and my mom was coming in to town for some kind of school evaluation that she had been assigned.  So, I invited the Cantwells over to meet my mom and made this soup for them all.  There you have it, heirloom soup!  (It's also become our go-to meal on Halloween night--but we have it in bread bowls then--as pictured above.)




*I buy chicken in bulk, and then I cook, shred, and freeze it, using pretty much exactly the method described here.  So, when I make this soup, I just take the shredded chicken out of the freezer and throw it in.  Big time saver.