Broccoli Cheese Soup

Broccoli cheese soup is one of my favorite soups. It was the soup that made me appreciate broccoli as a vegetable. I'm trying to find the perfect combination of veggies, cheeses, and flavors. This is a pretty good pit stop on that journey.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

What You'll Need: 

5 tbsp butter
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp spicy brown mustard
2 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup half and half
3 1/2 fresh chopped broccoli pieces
2 carrots, grated
2 cups freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

How to Make It: 

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for another two minutes. Add the flour to the mixture and cook for one minute, stirring constantly to prevent it from burning. Slowly pour in the vegetable broth, milk, and half and half. Add the Worcestershire sauce, mustard, nutmeg and bay leaves and cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Remove the bay leaves from the pan and add in the broccoli and carrots. Cook another 6-8 minutes or until the veggies are cooked and a bit soft. Remove the soup from the heat and add in the cheeses and salt and pepper to taste (you're probably going to want to be generous with both of them.) Cover to keep warm until ready to serve.

Lazy Sunday Pasta Bake

You don't have to just make this on Sunday. It is, however, a very lazy dish, and I've made it a few times when I wanted something that tasted like real food but didn't actually require me to do much. 

Lazy Sunday Pasta Bake

What You'll Need:

1 box bowtie pasta
1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce
1 packet dry Italian dressing mix (found with the salad dressings at your grocery store)
1 bag shredded mozzarella, or 2 cups (8 oz) shredded mozzarella if you like to shred your own

How to Make It: 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 13x9 pan with nonstick spray. While the oven is heating up, cook the pasta according to the package directions. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the marinara sauce and the Italian dressing mix .When the pasta is done, drain it thoroughly and add it to the marinara mix. Stir everything to combine, and pour it in the prepared dish. Top it all off with the mozzarella. Bake, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is melted and everything is nice and bubbly-hot.

If you're feeling adventurous, you could add some extra diced tomato (straight from the can is fine), mushrooms, cooked sausage, or even more cheese, if you feel like your arteries could use some extra build-up. But adding ingredients to the dish kind of takes away from the point: it's yummy food to eat when you don't feel like actually cooking!