Broccoli Cheese Soup

It has been a weird week at work.  On Monday, I was so busy that I furiously worked all day and stayed late.  Today I leisurely worked on a couple of projects that I have had on the back burner for a while.  It's good to have variety.  If my job was always hectic, I would be stressed.

I am going home for Thanksgiving this year.  To avoid throwing away perishables, I haven't gone grocery shopping for a week.  

As of today, I have finished all my fresh vegetables and fruit.  I'm now down to eating pantry items.  Unfortunately, I still have a few days before I leave.  I may be eating out a little more than usual in the coming days.

I found this broccoli cheese soup recipe on allrecipes.com.  It uses processed cheese.  I think this was the first time I ever bought a block of processed cheese.  Processed cheese is made from cheese, emulsifiers, saturated vegetable oils, salt, coloring, and whey.  

It sounds like a  American concoction, but it was created by a man from Switzerland in 1911.  James L. Kraft was the first person to apply for a U.S. patent for processed cheese in 1916.  The shelf stable processed cheese we know and love was first commercially produced by Kraft Foods in 1950.

The ingredients are 1/4 cup butter, 1 onion, 24 ounces of frozen broccoli, 4 14.5-ounce cans chicken broth, 20 ounces processed cheese, 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, 2/3 cup corn starch, and 1 cup water.

I sautéed the chopped onion in the melted butter for a few minutes.

I added the garlic and continued to sauté the onion and garlic for around five minutes.

I added the frozen broccoli and chicken broth.  I brought this up to a simmer and let it cook for ten minutes.

I added the processed cheese and stirred until the cheese was melted.  I added the milk.

I mixed together the cornstarch and water.  I poured the cornstarch slurry into the soup.

I brought the soup up to a simmer and let it cook until it was thickened.

This makes soup for a crowd.  The processed cheese has a distinct flavor.  It's not bad, but it's different.  It melted well to make a creamy and smooth soup.

It was a very thick and luscious soup base.

It was packed full of tender broccoli.  It was flavorful.

 I enjoyed the soup.  It was hearty, warm and filling.