easiest ever broccoli cheese soup

I bought a head (is that what you call it?) of broccoli last week, with much healthier, loftier, intentions for it. However, there it sat for a week. Lonely, refrigerated. It’s days numbered. So, since it’s still all snowy here and since we have a very minimal grocery budget left, I decided to make one of my favorite soups for lunch. This is seriously the easiest, least expensive thing. And it’s delicious. Make this soup once and it will be a family favorite forever. I’m almost embarrassed to post the recipe since it’s so easy and probably so bad for you. Who cares. There’s plenty of other meals for you to be healthy.

Easiest Ever Broccoli Cheese Soup From My Mom’s Church Cookbook From 1987
Makes about 4 big bowls
– 2 cans Campbell’s Cream of Celery Soup
– 1 Jar Cheese Whiz (yes, seriously).
– 1 “head” of fresh broccoli (the original recipe calls for frozen, but then you can’t control the quality or the occasional woody bit of stalk you’ll run in to when you use the frozen kind)
– Half & half
The directions from the cookbook go like this: combine all ingredients and heat.

My Directions:
1. Fill soup pot with a shallow amount of water. Bring to a boil.
2. As you’re waiting for water to boil, use a kitchen scissors to cut little broccoli florets directly into the water. You can make the pieces as large or as small as you like. I like small little trees with an occasional large one here and there.
3. Boil the heck out of the broccoli. I’m not sure how long. As long as it took me to change Eva, get Riley fresh water, and change into sweat pants. You just want the broccoli to be tender and kind of falling apart.
4. Turn off heat, put lid on soup pot, and use lid to drain most of the water out of the pot. For me, I keep about an inch of the bright green broccoli water in the pot.
5. Put soup pot back on stove and turn heat to medium. Pour in soup and Cheese Whiz and stir until well incorporated. Once it’s mixed well, add half and half until your soup reaches your desired thickness. I used probably just over a cup. (Tip: when you’re reheating the soup, you can add a little more half and half or milk to stretch it a little further).

Optional add ins: I add about 1/8 tsp black pepper and garlic powder. I also top with shredded cheese because, why not? I’ve also added shredded rotisserie chicken to make it more like a meal. Shredded carrots are also nice.

Serve with bread and enjoy. Stay cozy! xo, linds