Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Broccoli Cheese Soup and Irish Soda Raisin Bread



This is a surprisingly easy meal to make and perfect for a rainy day to warm you up. Full of fresh, healthy ingredients and low in calories! It passed the 'Hungry Man' test, too, as Hubby loves it!


Broccoli Cheese Soup
4-6 servings
Ingredients:

2 large heads of Broccoli
2 stalks of Celery
1/2 cup chopped Mild White Onion
32 oz Chicken Broth (low sodium)
8 oz block Swiss Cheese, grated
4 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 cups milk (I used 1 percent)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Chop Broccoli into bite size pieces, discarding tough stems. Chop Celery and Onion.
Place vegetables and broth in a large saucepan or small soup pot. Bring to boiling; reduce heat, cover and simmer until vegetables are tender.


(Once vegetables are tender, at this point you can reduce the heat to low and cover and keep warm while you prepare the Irish Soda Bread. During the last 10 minutes of baking, bring the soup back up to a simmer and add remaining ingredients to finish off.)

In a medium bowl combine milk, cornstarch, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk well until cornstarch is thoroughly dissolved. Add to cooked vegetables.

Cook, stirring constantly at a low simmer, until thickened and bubbly.

Remove from heat. 

Add cheese and stir until cheese is melted through.

 Irish Soda Raisin Bread
4-6 servings
Ingredients:

1/2 cup White flour
1  1/2 cups Whole Wheat flour
1/4 cup flax seed meal or additional 1/4 cup WW flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
1/2 cup Sugar
1 beaten Egg
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter, melted
3/4 cup Buttermilk
1/2 - 1 cup raisins (depending on how well you like raisins)

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix together all dry ingredients except raisins in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center, pour in wet ingredients (butter, egg, buttermilk)

Mix together to form a pliable dough. Add raisins while mixing.

Turn out onto a floured board and knead about 10 times or until dough is no longer sticky. Form into a circular loaf.


Cut a cross on top


Bake on ungreased baking sheet in pre-heated oven at 375 degrees for 50 minutes to 1 hour until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped.

Let stand 5 minutes before cutting.

This bread is best served right away, as it tends to dry out after a day or so. It is delicious toasted the next morning for breakfast. Wrap well in aluminum foil and store in the refrigerator for next day serving, or in the freezer for long term storage.



4 comments:

  1. Low calories? I might have to try this one if it fits into my new diet!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well didn't this just come at the perfect time! My Mom has a small garden to the side of their house and she brought over an abundance of broccoli she has grown. I was trying to come up with a new recipe and this looks amazingly perfect! To be honest, I'm a little intimidated by the Raisin Irish Soda Bread...I love to cook but not much of a home-made baker. Will give it a try though! Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Sarah, aren't you lucky to have fresh broccoli from your Mom's garden!
    The bread might seem intimidating, but if you gather all the ingredients and have them handy, it goes together very fast. But the soup would be just as good with store bought bread! Happy cooking! xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dearest Karen,
    What a great recipe for the broccoli cheese soup. Guess I could use the shredded rice cheese for this one. Thanks for sharing!
    Hugs,
    Mariette

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by! Your comments are important to me and are very much appreciated. xx Karen

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