Recipe: Cheesy Broccoli Soup*

I don’t know about you, but I really have to gird up my loins to face grocery shopping in the Winter.  First scraping off the car, then traipsing through a slippery or slushy parking lot juggling my purse, coupon box, and phone (yes, I am usually on my phone on the way into the store).  But that’s not the worst part.  It’s lugging six or eight bags of groceries back out to the car through the frozen tundra, loading up, and driving home only to go through the same process from the driveway into the house!  Summer is so much more pleasant for shopping.

But should all this stop us? No, of course not, because we need food storage for those hard times ahead!  Prices will keep going up, and after feeding the masses over the holidays, those storage shelves need refilling, right?  Of course right!

In case you need warming up after your shopping trip, here's my favorite recipe for cheesy broccoli soup.

This is quite a large recipe, but you might as well make a lot while you're doing it, then have some to share or use in a couple of days. If you only need to feed a few people, you will probably want to cut this in half.

6 - 8 potatoes, cubed

3 cups thinly sliced carrots

2 cups diced celery

3 to 4# cut up broccoli (I use mostly the tops, cut bite-sized)

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

Cook all these veggies in a pot in canned chicken broth (or water and chicken bouillon cubes).  The liquid should cover the veggies as they simmer.  If you use canned broth, it might take 2 or three cans.

In heavy saucepan, make white sauce with 3 cubes butter, 1.5 teas. dry mustard, 1 to 2 teas. salt, and about ½ teas. black pepper.  Whisk in 2 cups flour until smooth, then add 6 cups milk (do a combination of 1 can of canned milk, then the rest regular milk).  When this is smooth and bubbly, turn off heat and add 2/3 of a 2# block of Velveeta that has been cubed.  Stir until cheese is melted.

Stir this mixture to the cooked veggies (do not drain).  Taste and adjust seasonings (you may need more salt and pepper).  Once the soup is done, keep it warm but try not to boil it after the cheese has been added.

If you aren’t eating it all at once or right away, divide into smaller containers so it will cool quickly in the fridge.

*Originally distributed in January 2013