For those of you that have been following the blog for awhile, you’re familiar with my husband Shawn. He is a meat & potatoes guy, the more beef and bacon, the better. He has also been averse to ANY soups and stews for pretty much his whole life, even if each separate ingredient is something that he likes (beef stew for example). This leaves out a large chunk of easy (and inexpensive) recipes that he won’t eat which has been a huge challenge. He will eat chili out of a can, seafood or clam chowder but that pretty much is the limit.

Well last week I found a cream-based soup recipe that I thought he may actually like. I adapted this recipe from the blog A Fragile Faith who’s writer Deanna is a long-time reader of this blog (thank you Deanna!!). It is also an adaptation of the Cream of Vegetable Soup in Nourishing Traditions. I have included the original Nourishing Traditions recipe below for your reference. I don’t think my husband would eat that soup (the cheese is really what appeals to him in the soup) but I will be making the original version for me.

Not only did my husband eat the soup for dinner one night, but didn’t even complain when we had the leftovers three days later (I made a double recipe). SCORE!!

Cream of vegetable soups are great because you can make them into a ‘one pot’ meal and you can hide things in them that your kids wouldn’t eat whole, like zucchini. In this recipe I also added chicken to make this extra satisfying. You could always use your leftovers from roasted chicken.

GAPS Compatible

This recipe is also compatible on full GAPS if you tolerate dairy ok – just substitute cultured sour cream for the heavy cream. If you don’t tolerate cheese, then probably the original cream of vegetable soup below would be a better choice.

Enjoy! And please report back to let us know if your soup-averse family members will actually eat this soup!

Tips for making Broccoli Cheese / Cream of Veggie Soup

• This recipe is great because you can use the veggies that you have on hand. You could also try other root vegetables and leeks would also be good.
• Don’t forget the cayenne or Tabasco (if you don’t have an issue with nightshades)… it gives a slight tang to the soup but doesn’t make it spicy.
• Leftovers of this soup are great. Add any other cut up leftover cooked vegetables. If you need to ‘strech’ the soup into more servings you could add a bit more chicken stock and cream.
• Despite the list of ingredients, this recipe comes together quickly and really will take no longer than 30-45 minutes to prepare (depending on if you need to cook chicken or not).

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Difficulty:

Easy

Equipment:

• Enamel Cast Iron soup pot
• Chef’s Knife
• Box Cheese Grater

Ingredients:

• 1 pound broccoli, cut up into small florets (use the stalks too, peeled and cut up)
• 1/2 a large onion, chopped
• 3 carrots, grated or chopped into circles
• 1 clove garlic (or more to taste)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (less if you’re using salty cheese) [See Resources]
• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 3 cups chicken stock, divided
• 2 Tablespoons arrowroot – you could leave this out if needed
• 1 Tablespoon water
•  2 cups heavy cream (for full GAPS substitute cultured sour cream) [See Resources]
• 1 cup (8 ounces) grated cheese (whatever you have on hand, we used sharp cheddar and parmesan)
• 1 cup (8 ounces) organic cream cheese, softened  (you can use the yogurt or cream cheese from making whey)
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne (or just use Tabasco to taste)
• 2 cups cooked diced chicken leftover from roast chicken dinner (optional)

Preparation:

1. Set out cream cheese to soften.
2. Start cooking chicken if you’re not using leftover chicken.
3. Put 1 cup of chicken stock, the salt & butter into the soup pot and add the broccoli, carrots, onion and garlic, cover and steam veggies.
4. While veggies are steaming, in a small cup combine the arrowroot and water into a slurry.
5. When the veggies are soft, use an immersion blender to blend up the veggies into the consistency that you’d like. I like to leave a few chunks but mostly blend it up.
6. Add the arrowroot/water slurry and mix thoroughly. Add the heavy cream and the other two cups of chicken stock.
7. When the soup is up to temperature after adding the cream, add the cream cheese and other spices.
8. Once the soup is up to temperature again, whisk in the grated cheese.
9. Cook for about 10-15 minutes or to desired thickness. Add cooked chicken and cook until just heated through.

Sally Fallon’s Cream of Vegetable Soup

(Potage Bonne Femme)

Page in NT: 212

Ingredients:

• 2 medium onions or leeks, peeled and chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 medium baking potatoes or 6 red potatoes, washed and cut up
• 2 quarts chicken stock or combination of filtered water and stock
• several sprigs fresh thyme, tied together
• 1/2 teaspoon dried green peppercorns, crushed
• 4 zucchini, ends removed and sliced
• sea salt or fish sauce and pepper
• piima cream or creme fraiche

Preparation:

Melt butter in a large, stainless steel pot and add onions or leeks and carrots. Cover and cook over lowest possible heat for at least 1/2 hour. The vegetables should soften but not burn. Add potatoes and stock, bring to a rapid boil and skim. Reduce heat and add thyme sprigs and crushed peppercorns. Cover and cook until the potatoes are soft. Add zucchini and cook until they are just tender—about 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs. Purée the soup with a handheld blender. If soup is too thick, thin with filtered water. Season to taste. Ladle into heated bowls and garnish with cultured cream.