SHINYCOPPERPIG

I woke up yesterday to a broken heater and a balmy 59 degree apartment. After calling, emailing and leaving a voicemail for the maintenance service, I curled up in sweats next to a space heater and the cat.

I normally wouldn’t get near this much dairy but my HUSBAND of one week (we got married!) mentioned a hankering for broccoli-cheese soup. I swallowed several Lactaid pills and we went to work.

This is a good recipe: solid, 30-minute, one pot comfort food. Serve with crusty bread for sopping. The base recipe was Cooking Light’s, but as we all know, you always add more cheese.

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 1 TB olive oil
• 1 chopped onion
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 bottle non-stout beer – we used Anchorsteam
• 1 (16-oz) package frozen broccoli florets
• 1/2 cup grated spicy cheese (chipotle, pepper jack, etc.)
• 2 1/2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 TBS Worcheshire sauce
• 1 tsp + black pepper
• salt to taste
• 10 oz processed cheese, cubed (such as Velveeta)

Directions

Heat a large nonstick saucepan coated with olive oil and cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; saute 3 minutes or until tender. Add broth and frozen broccoli. Bring broccoli mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Add beer and Worchestire sauce. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 minutes.

Separately, combine milk and flour, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Add milk mixture to broccoli mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Stir in pepper, salt and spicy cheese.

Remove from heat; add Velveeta cheese, stirring until cheese melts. Optional: use immersion blender for 20-30 seconds to smooth out portions while leaving most of the broccoli florets whole. Eat with glee! Pairs well with beer.