Recipe for Quick and Tasty Broccoli Soup-Meatless Monday

What do you do when you have some sad looking veggies in the fridge?  Make soup of course!  I based this soup on the success I had with asparagus soup made from the discarded stems.  Super quick and easy, and with a chunk of crusty homemade bread, a perfect meatless Monday light supper.

That is one tired broccoli!

I wanted a little bit of a chunky soup but if you want a velvety smooth soup, cook the broccoli in the broth a lot longer and process it until it is smooth.  The chunky soup separates slightly when cooled but when reheated it comes back together nicely.

Time: 25 minutes

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients:

·         1 medium head of broccoli, stems and florets chopped

·         3 cups vegetable broth

·         2 TBSP fresh thyme, chopped

·         1 TBSP olive oil

·         ½ cup chopped onion

·         1 ½ TBSP fat free half and half

·         1 tsp salt, plus more if needed

·         ½ tsp pepper, plus more if needed

·         Grated aged Parmesan cheese for serving

·         Optional: chunk of crusty bread for serving

Method:

·         Saute onion, broccoli stems, salt, pepper, and thyme in olive oil over medium heat for 7 minutes.

·         Add in broth and broccoli florets and simmer for 15 minutes (longer if you want a smooth puree).

·         Remove from heat and cool briefly then pour into food processor or blender.

·         Puree until well blended, about 30 seconds (longer for smoothest puree).

·         Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.

·         Stir in half and half and serve with a sprinkle of cheese and a chunk of crusty bread.

This was really good with some homemade brown soda bread.  I'm perfecting the recipe to share with you, not there yet, although Mr. ELEB thinks it is great.  

What do you do with your tired veggies?  Oh, and Happy Halloween, hope you didn't eat too much candy!

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Recipe for Quick Broccoli Slaw

This is so quick, easy and tasty it should be in everyone's recipe file.  I have a wonderful recipe for a broccoli salad (I'll share next time I make it) but it is a bit labor intensive, not something you can throw together in a hurry.  Like when you have people coming over for dinner in an hour.   And you are driving home and realize you forgot to think about a side dish/salad when you were excitedly throwing the ingredients for slow cooker steak sammies into the crock that morning.  And you don't have anything resembling a vegetable in the fridge.  And you haven't showered yet... Okay, you get the picture.  When this happens to you, run to the nearest store and pick up these four ingredients to throw together a very satisfying Quick Broccoli Slaw.



Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 6 servings


Ingredients:

• 18 oz (1 ½ bags) broccoli cole slaw mix
• ¾ cup light ranch salad dressing
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• ½ cup diced cooked bacon (I bought the already cooked stuff)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Combine all ingredients.
• Chill and serve.

What do you throw together when you are short on time?


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