Cream of Broccoli Soup

One day this week when I went online to check our bank account, I had a heart-stopping moment, and a full day of dealing with the banks' fraud dept. and the manager of our local branch office. There had been fraudulent activity that cleaned out our account. I'm sure you can imagine the sense of panic and the feelings of violation that were the focus of the day. Of course, everything is moving along and the bank manager is doing a wonderful job of covering all the charges. But, there is a very large issue when something like this happens, and that is, you no longer have access to your bank account. All is put on hold until the fraud dept. can get the funds back into the bank account. We don't use charge cards, so this was not an option, either.

I share this to bring up the very important issue of being able to feed your family if you can not go to the grocery store on a daily basis, or even for a week. Thankfully, I've had to learn this lesson well over the years and my pantry and freezer are very well stocked. There are no guarantees that we are going to be able  to run to the store; things can happen and, happen very quickly. I would really encourage you to invest the time into checking how long your family could eat in the event of a crises in your home. Your family may need to eat canned or frozen fruit and vegetables for a few days, and to have a supply of meat in the freezer is very wise. Make sure you have plenty of pasta, beans and cereals, as well.

This recipe is an example of what I mean. With a 16-ounce package of frozen broccoli in the freezer, and chicken broth and potatoes in the pantry, dinner was easy to get on the table in spite of the stress-filled day. I served some leftover dinner rolls alongside the soup, and dessert. All was well, and the menus are planned for the next week as the bank gets everything taken care of for us.  Blessings...

Recipe:

1 bunch fresh broccoli (about 1-1/2 lbs.)- See Note

1/2 cup chopped green onion (yellow onion can be used)

2 tbsps. butter

1 cup diced potato or leftover mashed potatoes

2 cans (14-1/2 oz. each) chicken broth

1/4 - 3/4 tsp. seasoned salt (add salt in 1/4 tsp. increments to desired taste)

dash cayenne pepper

1 cup fat-free half-and-half or milk of choice

1. Trim outer leaves and tough ends from broccoli. Cut into small pieces and parboil in boiling salted water in a large saucepan for 5 minutes; drain well. 

2. Saute onion in butter in saucepan until soft but not brown, about 5 minutes. Add potato, chicken broth, seasoned salt and cayenne pepper. Heat to boiling; lower heat; simmer 15 minutes. Add broccoli; simmer 5 minutes longer or until vegetables are tender. 

3. Cool soup a bit. Pour mixture half at a time into blender; cover; puree until smooth. Return mixture to saucepan. Add cream and heat through. If the soup is too thick for your taste, add more cream to thin to desired consistency. Add more salt and pepper, if needed.

Yield: 8 cups
Note: You may use a thawed 16 ounce pkg. of frozen broccoli pieces in place of the fresh. Add the thawed broccoli pieces to the pot after the potatoes are tender, just as you would the fresh cooked broccoli, and cook another 5 minutes or until the broccoli is tender. Continue the recipe as written. I can usually get frozen broccoli much cheaper than fresh, so this keeps this meal very inexpensive.