Homemade with love

The snowstorm and ice from last week allowed me to do some sewing and prep everything for the taxes. It's good to know that you can get something accomplished when the weather is so terrible. Now this week, we've had some frigid temperatures. So cold, in fact, that when I took the girls to storytime, Sophia walked in to the library, yelling, "Mommy, it's too cold! I can't breathe!" Always drama.

So we've tried to stay in and avoid the cold. In that time, I was able to applique and embroider some little onesies for Valentine's Day for the smallest kiddos at our playgroup. I love to embroider by hand. It's like meditation for me. And the onesies turned out really cute. We packaged up some little bags of M&Ms and boxes of conversation hearts for the older kids, and we made some of the heart-shaped double chocolate cookies (from this post) for the adults to take home. Goodies all around.

I also decided to whip up some broccoli cheese soup this week. The craving was bad, so I even bought name brand cheese at the local Walmart. Name brand is almost unheard of around here! I thought I'd be ambitious and make the soup without a recipe. I figured I had made it enough times that I could figure it out. Ultimate success. This is THE BEST broccoli cheese soup. Like, it's as good as the Panera broccoli cheese soup, which I know well, since that was all I could eat (and keep down) when I was pregnant with Sophia. I'm going to share the recipe with you. Make it. You'll love it!

BROCCOLI CHEESE SOUP

1 small onion, minced
olive oil, drizzle
half of a family-size bag of frozen broccoli cuts
3 cups chicken broth
3 carrots, shaved
5 cups 2% milk
4 cups American/Cheddar shredded cheese blend
1/4 cup flour, sifted
salt and pepper to taste

Drizzle olive oil in a large dutch oven. Heat minced onion over medium heat until they are transparent.
Turn the heat to medium-high. Add half of a family-sized bag of frozen broccoli cuts and 3 cups of chicken broth. (I made the chicken broth with hot water and chicken bouillon.) Simmer broccoli until very tender, 15-20 minutes.
Add shaved carrots, and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Add 5 cups of 2% milk and heat to a simmer. Add cheese one cup at a time and whisk until melted.
Sift flour over soup a little at a time, whisking between each addition to ensure no lumps. Simmer until thick. If too thick, add more milk.
Salt and pepper to taste.