Sooner or Later…

Since Little Missey first made her existence known I’ve been on a cheesy goodness quest.  Melted cheese…so good…so friendly…so much easier on the brain than most anything else in life.  The weather has cooled and melted cheese once again calls.  Last night it was soup:  Potato Broccoli Cheese Soup. 

This is for a family of 8 with 2 teenage boys that wants some for tomorrow too.

Potato Broccoli Cheese Soup

Potatoes – peel & dice about as many as your family uses for mashed potatoes.  I use about 4 -5 lbs.

Onion – one diced

1 can evaporated milk

Broccoli – at least one package frozen.  I use about 2 ½ pounds.

Instant mashed potatoes

Canned Cheese* – ½ block of Velveeta shredded.  I use ¼ can or so of commercial canned Nacho Cheese (those huge cans in the Walmart aisle).

Salt – to taste when finished. 

Pepper – Good amount.

Garlic – Amount your family likes plus a bit more.  We use amounts that would make most people blanch.  From a jar of chopped our has 2 or 3 heaping soupspoon full which loosely estimated is at least 5 Tbls.  We don’t fear vampires around here.

Put the potatoes and onions in a large size stock pot and barely cover with water.  Heat until the water boils and the potatoes are nearly done.  Check for dons by poking with a fork.  If the fork goes in easily & the potato feels very soft it is done we want nearly done so not quiet that soft.  Not a problem if these get too done thought.

Stir in garlic & add the frozen broccoli.  Stir and cook until water returns to a boil.  Pick out one clump and check to see if it is hot enough.  If the water is boiling it should be, but checking never hurts.

At this point add the can of evaporated milk.  You could add regular milk until it reaches what you consider ‘soup’ in terms of ‘broth’ amounts. OR you could add some powdered milk until the ‘broth’ looks milky.

Add small amounts of mashed potatoes and stir until it is thicken to your family tastes.  We like a bit thicker so my amount was about ½ c. or so.  OR take about ¼ of the potatoes out, mash well and return to pot.  This will thicken things up nicely. 

Add cheese & pepper.  Heat & stir often until everything is nicely melted.

Finished.

This soup takes very little time to make.  This recipe is very loose because it is a very forgiving soup.  I tend to use the amounts we have on hand—sometimes more, less, or none of some of the ingredients—and it turns out fine each time.

*Yes some call this ‘FrankenCheese’ oh well, right now the real stuff in the amounts we need is a budget buster. Sometimes this particular kind of cheesy goodness just hits the spot.  I  buy the commercial size can of Nacho cheese instead of Velveeta.  This is made to have water or milk added to it which makes it a good buy.  It can be used for anything melted Velveeta is used for however; we have not used it to make grilled cheese.  The boys like to use it to make nachos for snacks.  I have used it on baked potatoes, vegetables, and homemade macaroni & cheese.  A caution:  if you be careful to get a plainer brand unless your family really likes spicy.  Our olders do but not the younger ones.  The spicy does make a nice soup. 

In the future I’d like to try dividing up the cheese into jars and then canning them.  This would save room in the fridge and would give smaller amounts for future use.  There are times when that is a lot of cheese even in a family our size.  It would also give us some stores for emergency times—open and use food.

Anyway—there is one cheesy goodness for a cold day.