Soup's On: Cheesy Broccoli Soup

Welcome to the 2nd Annual Soup's On Recipe Link Up!

I have a delicious soup to share with you today.

It's one of my favorites and SO easy to make!

 Here is what you need:

1 stick butter
Diced Onion (I am a cheater & buy pre-diced onion because my eyes are so sensitive to onion)
2 Tablespoons Minced Garlic (I am a lazy with this also & buy the pre minced garlic)

1/3 cup flour 

  4 cups of whole milk (I like it creamy so I do 2 cups whole milk & 2 cups of Half & Half. I am sure you could use low fat milk if you wanted to cut the fat)
1 can chicken broth

3 heads broccoli, cut into florets
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 cups grated cheddar cheese

Directions

In your soup pot, melt the butter and saute the diced onions and garlic:

 This is what pre-minced garlic looks like. Love it. Lazy cooks unite!

 After 5 minutes of sauteing the butter, onions & garlic, add in the 1/3 cup of flour.

Stir it in until it is all dissolved and cook heat it up for a few minutes.

 Add the can of chicken broth.

Add in your milk/half & half and have your stove on simmer.

 While the soup is simmering, dice up your broccoli. I just use the florets & discard the thick stems.

I like big broccoli chunks, but cut them up to whatever size/consistency you like.

 Add the broccoli to the soup!

Add some salt & pepper. I like LOTS of pepper.

 Cover and simmer on low for 30 minutes. Make sure the soup doesn't boil. Nothing is worse than boiled milk. Yuck!

 After 30 minutes & right before you serve the soup, it's time to add the cheese.

You will need 4 cups of cheese. Again, I am lazy so I use the pre-grated bags.

I like a mix of cheeses, so I always do a 2 cup bag of Sharp Cheddar and a 2 cup bag of triple cheddar.

 SLOWLY add the cheese to the soup, a handful at a time.

Stir each handful in so that the cheese is nice and melted.

 You will get a very nice consistency:

 Sometimes, if I have bacon in my fridge, I will cook some up to add as a garnish to the soup.

The soup is wonderful on it's own, but who doesn't love bacon?!!?\

I dice up some bacon, line a baking sheet with foil & bake in a 375 oven for 15-20 min.

Oven cooked bacon is the way to go. So easy!

 When it's time to serve the soup, I add another sprinkle of cheese & some bacon!

And, I always serve it with french bread. I love bread. And carbs. And bacon.

 Yummy. Comfort Soup at it's finest!

 Very easy to make & delicious. And, like I said before, you don't need to add the bacon, the soup is still wonderful without out it!
**Serves about 8-10 people**

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The linky will be open until next Wednesday February 27th.