Found on LavaMagazine by the Lava Editors
I always held the assumption that soups were difficult to make. Inevitably they would require many tools, i.e. food processor, stove top and/or slow-cooker, and a ton of ingredients. Only recently, did it come to my attention that a simple soup could be made with just a few ingredients and a nominal amount of patience. Additionally, a ‘healthy’ soup could actually be prepared devoid of butters, cream and/or cheese.
Soup in the Fall is a total comfort food. Coming home from a long day at work (or after a brisk evening bike ride) to soup waiting for you in the slow-cooker is an excellent way to welcome the evening. Hot soups also contain a ton of health benefits. Vegetable soups are especially good because they help restore necessary water balance, which in turn helps keep our blood pressure (and salt content) under control. Additionally, soups are typically low in saturated fat and thick soups used as main dishes are a great way too get more vegetables into your diet.
A great way to enhance or modify this dish, especially if you were looking to add some animal protein into the mix, would be to ‘drown’ some baked (or grilled) chicken breast in the broccoli soup. Just cook the soup as noted below, and then prepare some chicken breast. Combine the two and bake in a small casserole dish adding some bread crumbs if you want more savory texture and increased satiation. This slow-cooker soup only takes a mere 10 minutes of preparation time and should generate 4-6 servings.
Ingredients:
- – 2-3 large heads of broccoli
- – 1 large onion, diced
- – 2 cans cream of chicken soup
- – 1 can milk
- – 2 cans evaporated milk
- – salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Chop broccoli heads into bite-sized florets.
- Place soup, milk, evaporated milk, chopped onion, and broccoli florets in a slow cooker.
- Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours.
- If serving ‘chunky’, add salt and/or pepper and garnish with whatever you like {I added carrot strings).
- Or, if you prefer your soup ‘smooth’, blend 3-4 cups of soup in a blender until broccoli has broken into small pieces (only about 10 seconds).
- Add soup back to the pot and stir to combine.
- Season with salt and pepper.