Broccoli Soup

The "recipe" I have for this soup has to be the most bootleg one in my possession. It's written on a random page in a notebook, and I can't even remember where I found it at originally. The recipe for broccoli soup simply reads:

"Equal Parts of:

Flour

Chicken Broth

Water"

Yes, that is it. There were no instructions on what to do with those equal parts, no times, or temperatures given. That is all that the entire page said so, I free styled this one. Last winter was the first time I can remember having broccoli soup. It was so good and I fell in love with it. Don't ask me why I've never had it before, but I've been missing out! Besides the obvious broccoli, I knew there was cheese involved, and both were absent from the recipe list of equal parts.

Broccoli is one of my favorite veggies! Many people have to be bribed, or tricked into eating this green vegetable. There are a few recipes I can think of off the top of my head that use broccoli as the main ingredient. I love it, so you'll be seeing more of it. Your whole life you've probably heard how healthy and good for your body broccoli was, but weren't convinced. Well it's true and it doesn't have to taste bad!!

Did you know...

~1 cup of broccoli can have as much protein as 1 cup of rice or corn, but with HALF as many calories

Broccoli is full of many vitamins and nutrients such as:

• Potassium- promotes regular muscle growth and brain function
• Magnesium & Calcium- helps regulate blood pressure and for bone health
• Vitamin C, Zinc, & Beta-carotene- helps skin repair and strengthens immune function
• Fiber- maintains low blood sugar and helps with digestion
• Vitamin A- good for structures of the eyes as you mature

The list of benefits can go on and on. One key to making sure these nutrients stay in the vegetable is to not over cook it! For example, if you boil vegetables until they're limp and colorless all of the vitamins have been pulled into the water. This leaves it tasteless and nearly void of nutrients.




Soup!!!!


Using my large trusty measuring cup (holds up to 4 cups) I poured 4 cups of water in a large pot to boil. I chose four, because I had enough bouillon cubes left to make 4 cups of chicken stock! I followed the instructions to make the chicken bouillon, reduced heat to medium, added equal parts of flour (4 cups) and stirred.

Since this was a huge amount of dry ingredients being quickly added to wet, it became very chunky. To fix this, I added the 4 cups of water (equal parts) and continued to stir. The mixture was still thick, so I tossed the spoon, upped the temperature, grabbed my potato masher, and added a little more water. Yes, it was that thick! Next time I make this soup I'll mix all of the wet ingredients before adding the flour. I think this will help prevent any chunks.

After seeing the chunky base, I started having second thoughts on this equal parts recipe. I didn't want to waste my good cheese and broccoli if it was going to be thrown away. My stomach suddenly spoke up--So I continued on! To make this soup quickly I used frozen broccoli spears. If you can picture what the small squares of frozen veggies look like--the bag of frozen broccoli I used was a little bigger than that. Just slightly thawed, I cut the spears into bite sized pieces, tossed 'em in, and occasionally stirred. When the ingredients started to come together I added a small bag of monterrey cheddar cheese.

I was still giving this concoction the side eye and worried it would be bland. I didn't know about this flour, water, and cheese biz, so I sprinkled in enough ground pepper to cover the top of the soup. This probably equates to 1 tablespoon, roughly. Once, all of the ingredients were in the pot I kept stirring to make sure everything was mixed well. To melt the cheese and cook the broccoli I put a lid on the pot, and let it simmer. Every few minutes I'd check on it, stir all sides, and walk away.

After about 10 minutes of simmering, the broccoli soup was finally looking like the soup that inspired this adventure! Taste testing every couple minutes let me know when the soup was done. I didn't want the broccoli to be too tender, so I let that guide me too  ^_^  Ladled into a bowl, this broccoli soup was very much enjoyed.

This recipe can be easily modified to meet many needs. I thought of this AFTER I wanted to share it with a friend, and then remembered I used the chicken base, and they're of the meatless persuasion!

Possible Mods:

1. Use a vegetable or beef stock instead of chicken
2. Want more soup? Use less broccoli
3. Want more veggies? Use bigger bags/bunches of broccoli
4. Like it spicy? Try pepper jack instead of cheddar
5. Want it healthier? Try whole wheat, or gluten free flour
6. Need smaller quantity? Try using 2 cups equal parts instead of 4
7. Need larger quantity? Try doubling the equal parts to 8 cups

Are there any other ways to modify the recipe? Comment below!! Try it out and let me know how it goes. Once I got through a few kinks at the beginning it was smooth sailing. I'll definitely be making this broccoli soup again!!