Broccoli Cheese Soup

Welcome Fall, Welcome Soup Season!

 We love soup season! One pot of soup, a loaf of bread, and your dinner is set. Loads of veggies, make ahead, usually tastes even better as leftovers. So many reasons to love soup!

Here is a recent favorite thanks to Emeril:

"This classic combination of flavors lends itself well to this simple, creamy soup. By cooking the broccoli just right, the soup retains a vibrant bright green color. Serve this as a starter to any meal or with a sandwich or salad for a complete meal. So good for you, too."
--Emeril Lagasse

 Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 cups thinly sliced yellow onions

1 tablespoon sliced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

5 cups chicken stock or canned, low-sodium chicken broth

4 cups broccoli florets

1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded medium sharp cheddar cheese

Simple Croutons, for garnish (optional) 

Note: I had some leftover roasted potatoes that I threw in the blender with the soup and it added some really nice complexity to both the flavor and texture!

Cooking Directions

Heat the olive oil in a 6-quart stockpot over medium heat. When it is hot, add the onions, garlic, salt, and cayenne pepper. Saute until the onions are soft and translucent, 4 to 5 minutes.
Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Once the stock is boiling, add the broccoli and cook until fork-tender, about 5 minutes.
Remove the soup from the heat and let it cool slightly. Then puree the soup, in batches, in a blender, adding the cheese in three additions while blending (see Note). Adjust the seasoning if necessary, garnish with croutons if desired, and serve hot.
Note: Please use caution when blending hot liquids; blend only small amounts at a time, with the blender tightly covered and a kitchen towel held over the top.

Yield: 1 1/2 quarts, 4 to 6 servings

Enjoy!!!

Leftover Mashed Potato Quesadilla

My mother is the master at making something incredible from random ingredients in the fridge. One time she made quesadilla's from leftover mashed Japanese sweet potatoes and goat cheese.  I had some leftover mashed garlic/spinach potatoes that I made last Saturday and wanted to do something with them, so I worked with what was in my fridge. You can use any cheese because people always have some sort of cheese in their fridge right?

-1 red pepper
-1 yellow onion
-some white stilton cheese w/ apricots from a shower I did a few days ago (can get it at Trader Joe's, run to your nearest one and get some it's so good!)
-whole wheat flatbread (also from TJ's, backup because the tortilla's ended up being moldy)

I sliced the onion and red pepper julienne style and caramelized them during the kids naps and set aside until later because I wanted to take them out to play before dinner. To caramelize you can do it a few ways, in the oven on low heat for a few hours occasionally stirring, or saute them for about 1 hr on low heat occasionally stirring, or a quicker delicious method I recently discovered, saute in a bit of olive oil, add some kosher salt (to bring out the liquids) for about 5 mins on medium heat until they're wilted, them cover for 20 mins and turn heat to low and stir about twice.

The rest is self explanatory, just layer the mashed potatoes, cheese and onions. I suggest using a panini grill if you have one, these are often tricky to flip in a pan (well you should see my kitchen after I do it, it needs a full wipe down.) Sorry no photo, they went straight to our mouths.