Broccoli Cheese Soup

I'd been looking for a broccoli cheese soup that didn't involve the ingredient "cheese food"... a.k.a Velveeta. It's more difficult than you might think! I finally found this recipe from the Six Sisters website and it uses actual, REAL cheese, from real cows! YAY! Initially I was a little skeptical about the nutmeg but it does turn out tasting great. I didn't change anything with this recipe except for I doubled it (the amounts listed below are for the doubled version) for my family of 6 which was a good call on my part. There were some leftovers but not much. 

Ingredients

8 TB butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 cups half and half
2 cups milk**
6 cups chicken stock or broth
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
6-8 cups broccoli florets (about 1 head)
2 large carrot, diced
5 cups grated sharp white and/or yellow cheddar cheese plus more for garnish

Directions

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the flour and cook until golden, 3 to 4 minutes, then gradually whisk in the half-and-half and milk until smooth. Add the chicken broth, bay leaves and nutmeg, then season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered, until thickened, about 20minutes.

Add the broccoli florets and carrot to the broth mixture and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.
 Discard the bay leaves.

Add the cheese to the soup and whisk over medium heat until melted.

**Use all milk or all half and half depending on how rich and creamy you want it.  Just be careful if you use all low fat milk that the mixture doesn’t curdle.  The lower the fat content is the easier it is to curdle.

Minestrone

With the coming of the cooler weather I have been craving soup. But I really didn't have a lot of recipes for soups so I've been doing a little research.  I came across this Minestrone recipe from Taste of Home and it turned out really great. Nobody's leaving the table hungry after this meal! Not only is it really hearty but this makes a huge batch. My family of 6 had enough to eat it for two meals.  This would probably freeze really well too if you didn't want to eat it all on two days back to back.

Ingredients:
2 cups coarsely chopped onions
1 cup sliced celery
1/4 c minced fresh parsley
1/4 cup canola oil
2 garlic gloves, minced
5 cups beef broth
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1 cup sliced fresh carrots
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning OR basil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 1/2 cups sliced zucchini
1 can cut green beans
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can chick peas, rinsed and drained
1 cup uncooked ditalini or other pasta

In a large stockpot, saute the onions, celery and parsley in oil until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, carrots, Italian seasoning or basil, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour.

Brown the beef and drain off the grease. Stir into the soup along with the zucchini, beans and pasta. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the vegetables and pasta are tender. Top each serving with cheese. Yield ~ 20 servings.

***You can also do this is a crockpot. Just brown the beef, saute the onions, garlic and celery. Then combine everything into the crockpot except for the noodles. Cook the noodles separately and add just before serving.

No Bake Cookies

This is such a simple recipe but I've never bothered to write it down so every time my kids ask for these I have to go online to search for a recipe. So in an effort to cut down on search time I'm putting it here on my personal food blog. 

Ingredients:
1/2 c. margarine or butter  
2 c. sugar   
1/4 c. cocoa
1/4 c. chocolate chips
1/2 c. milk  
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. peanut butter
3 c. old-fashioned oats

Mix the butter, sugar, cocoa, chocolate chips, and milk in a sauce pan and melt together. Let it reach boiling point and boil for about two minutes. Remove from heat and put in vanilla and peanut butter and stir until peanut butter melts.  Then add oats and stir until completely coated. Drop spoonfuls of mixture onto wax paper and let cool a bit before you eat them.  

Homemade Play Dough

I know it's a little odd to put a play dough recipe on a food blog. But I figured that since all the old cookbooks put together by people from my very small hometown include miscellaneous recipes like this, I thought I'd go for it anyway. Also, when my son wanted to make it last week it took me longer to find my recipe than to actually make the dough so I thought I'd better put it somewhere easier to find. My kids absolutely love to play with play dough, but I hate the store brands because they stick to things (carpets, clothes etc) and it's so hard to get it off. This stuff is super easy to clean up. My kids have literally played with this dough for hours and hours in the past week. If you keep it in a air tight container it will easily last for at least a month. So get off your duff and go be Super Mom!

Ingredients:
2 cups water
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. alum
Food coloring

Mix and cook over medium heat until thick. I'm not really sure why you have to cook it to be honest, because it's not really cooking. You're mostly just mixing the ingredients over heat. It really turns into playdough when you scrape it out of the pot onto a lightly floured surface and then knead it until it's a good non-sticky consistency. You don't need to add any extra flour. If you do it will be too dry. Just knead it until it feels right.