Friday, August 22, 2008

Baked Potato and Broccoli Soup

This soup was floating around on tons of food blogs last fall, about the time I started reading them. It must have sounded delicious to me even then, because I printed out the recipe and just recently rediscovered it in my "To Try" file. As soon as I looked over the recipe again, my mouth started to water, and I knew I had to put in on the menu this week.

Okay, so maybe it's a little early in the year to start making soup. Yesterday was probably an especially silly day to make it, since it was 90ยบ here. But I'm sooo glad I made this, and I can't believe I waited so long to try it. This is an absolutely delicious soup. I did make a few changes to the recipe -- I added salt and pepper because it tasted a little bland, and I added sour cream in addition to the other toppings, which gave a delicious, tangy quality to the soup when I stirred it in. Absolutely yummy, and perfect with a grilled cheese sandwich! I can't wait to have the leftovers for lunch today.


Baked Potato and Broccoli Soup
Source: MyRecipes, originally in Southern Living magazine

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 14 1/2 ounce cans low sodium fat-free chicken broth, divided
3 cups peeled, cubed potatoes (I left the skins on because I love the taste, and it was fine)
2 cups broccoli florets, chopped (I used one bag of frozen broccoli florets)
1 small onion, chopped
1 1/4 cups 2% milk
1 8-ounce block 2% reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Salt and pepper to taste
shredded cheddar cheese, fully cooked bacon, chopped green onions, sour cream for garnish

1. Whisk together flour and 1/3 cup chicken broth until smooth.

2. Combine remaining chicken broth and next 3 ingredients in a Dutch oven. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 8 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Gradually stir in flour mixture. Cook, stirring often, 5 minutes.

3. Stir in milk and shredded cheese. Cook mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until cheese melts. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Top each serving of soup with cheese, bacon, green onions and a dollop of sour cream.

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