Broccoli Cheddar Soup

It's cold here. If you don't live in AZ you're probably chuckling and shaking your head saying, "Silly girl...it doesn't get cold in Phoenix." But it is. Right now according to the weather on my phone it's 34 degrees at 11:50 AM. Brrrr. Once it's cold (or even AZ cold which usually means low 60s for the high), I want to eat soup. I love soup, and I'm always looking for a tasty homemade soup recipe. I rarely eat canned soup anymore because the ingredients are mostly stuff I don't want to put in my body, and they're just too darn salty for my taste. Except Campbell's tomato soup. I'll eat that when I'm sick, HFCS be damned! I like it made with milk and crushed up saltine crackers stirred in. Yum.

Anyway, one of my online friends, Stephanie, posted this recipe on the message board website I frequent, and I was dying to try it. My kids are pretty hit or miss when it comes to soup, but they love broccoli and cheese, so I took a chance that this one would be something they'd like. Plus Stephanie is a nutrition consultant, so I knew I could trust that this was something healthy to feed my family.

Broccoli Cheese Soup
Source: The Mamasphere via Stephanie

1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 medium chopped onion
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups half-and-half cream
2 cups chicken stock (I use homemade)
1/2 lb fresh broccoli
1 cup carrots
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

1. Sauté onion in tablespoon butter. Set aside.

2. Cook melted butter and flour using a whisk over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.

3. Stir constantly and add the half & half.

4. Add the chicken stock. Simmer for 20 minutes.

5. Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Cook over low heat 20-25 minutes.

6. Add salt/pepper/nutmeg to taste. Puree with immersion blender.

7. Return to heat and add grated cheese.

*****

I've made this twice in about the past month, and it's a big hit with my family. My boys always grumble a little when I've made it, but they both eat it all up. Actually I made it this past week and doubled the recipe to take some to an injured friend and her family. They all liked it, too. It's really hearty and filling, and it comes together pretty easily, too. I really should just double it on a regular basis so I have some to eat for lunches or stick in the freezer because one batch goes pretty quickly. This is definitely a great addition to my go-to soup repertoire! Add a salad and some crusty bread or rolls, and you have a great meal!

Pintrest Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

I know I waxed poetic about my love for Pintrest.com recently. I think my addiction is growing...I may need an intervention at some point. There are just so many yummy recipes, crafty projects, neat house ideas, cute outfits. Sigh. Complete time sucker, let me tell you.

Anyway, if you have a Pintrest account, chances are you've seen this recipe. I'm fairly certain everyone I know on Pintrest pinned this at some point in the last couple weeks. I love a good casserole, so I was excited to make it. Plus my brood loves broccoli, and I loved finding a casserole recipe that didn't include cream of something soup. Turns out it's from a blog called Get Off Your Butt and Bake. I haven't checked out many other posts, but I think I probably will. She calls it Chicken Broccoli Supreme. I changed mine up a bit from how the recipe appears on that blog, so the recipe below is how I made it.

Pintrest Chicken and Broccoli Casserole
Source: Adapted from Get Off Your Butt and Bake blog

1 lb. broccoli (steamed slightly if fresh, thawed if frozen)
3 cups cooked chicken breasts – Break up in small pieces
3 cups Grated Cheddar Cheese, divided
1 tube Ritz Crackers
1/2 stick melted butter
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder

SAUCE:
1/3 C. Butter melted
1/4 C. Cornstarch, dissolved in 1/2 C. COLD Water
1/3 C. Chicken Broth
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
2 Cups skim milk
1 1/2 cups of the above Cheddar Cheese

Directions:

In greased 13×9 pan, layer the broccoli and chicken, then set aside. In saucepan over medium heat, combine the sauce ingredients--melted butter, cornstarch dissolved in water, chicken broth, seasonings, and milk. Stir well, and continue stirring until sauce has thickened. Turn heat down to low, and add 1- 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese. Stir until melted. Pour over the chicken and broccoli. Top with 1- 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese.

Melt the half stick butter, and add the poppy seeds, garlic and onion powders, and stir well. Crush Ritz crackers in large zip-lock bag with a rolling pin. Don’t crush too small. Add crumbs to the melted butter. Sprinkle crumbs over the top of the grated cheese.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until hot & bubbly.

*****

I used frozen broccoli for mine, so I just threw some in a microwave steamer for a couple minutes so it wouldn't be frozen. I didn't want to completely heat it for fear it would get soggy in the casserole. The original recipe calls for two sleeves of crackers and an entire stick of butter for the topping. I thought that was a bit much (plus my kids are cracker monsters and had eaten all but the one sleeve of crackers I stashed away, so I really didn't have much choice), so I also cut down the amount of butter too. I was worried it was going to be a bit bland, so I threw in the garlic and onion powders to give it a little kick. It really helped. I think next time I would probably season the chicken a little, too. I baked mine earlier in the day and just threw the chicken breasts in a pan into the oven; in hindsight I should have done something to them so there'd be a little more flavor. You could easily add some seasoning to the sauce as well.

All in all, this was a casserole that we really liked. Boy #1 put up a bit of a stink about eating it, but the rest of us all enjoyed it. I think he was just having an off day--chicken, broccoli, and cheese are all things he normally loves. Who knows with five year olds. Am I right?! This is definitely something I'd make again, especially since most of the ingredients (aside from the crackers, which my family just tears through too quickly) are things I normally have on hand.

Broccoli with Garlic Butter and Cashews

I know I've mentioned the parenting message board I'm a member of before, The Mamasphere. This recipe was posted by one of the members and got rave reviews from everyone that's tried it. The member's username is AmRo, so it was dubbed AmRo's Broccoli Cashew Yumminess by someone else. We've actually had this several times as a side dish and as a main dish by adding chicken and serving it over quinoa. See, I wasn't kidding about incorporating quinoa more often! I love the flavors of the sauce and the crunch the cashews add to it. Really I'm just a sucker for anything with cashews.

Broccoli with Garlic Butter and Cashews

1 lb of broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
1/3 cup of butter (I cut this to about 1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Several twists of black pepper (to taste)
2 cloves garlic, minced
Chopped cashews, as few or as many as you'd like, but probably no more than 1/3 cup.

1. Steam the broccoli until tender/crisp.

2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for a minute or so. Mix in the soy sauce, brown sugar, and pepper. Bring to bubbling, then reduce heat to low and simmer for a few minutes to thicken a smidge. Add the cashews, pour the sauce over the broccoli and stir to coat.

*****

Super easy and super tasty!! I've made it with fresh and frozen broccoli and had good results both times. It really comes together quickly, and it's so good. I've toasted the cashews each time I've made it. Plus the ingredients are things I normally have on hand. Well, not always the cashews but everything else.

I forgot to take a picture before I was packing up the leftovers.

Spiced Cod with Broccoli Quinoa Pilaf

I felt like I was on such a roll there for awhile getting my blog updated and caught up on back posts. Then things got crazy. This past week I was completely overwhelmed getting Boy #2's bedroom switched from baby room to big boy room. I never painted when we moved into our house a year ago, and I wanted to get his room painted before his new furniture came, so I spent literally every free moment this past week working on his room. I decided a striped accent wall would be a good idea. It wasn't. His room in our old house had tone on tone stripes (flat and glossy paint in the same color) and it was a BITCH. I knew stripes would be bad, but kind of like childbirth, I'd forgotten just how bad they were. Ugh. I was up until midnight Thursday night measuring and taping. Of course it didn't help that I measured the length of the room wrong the first time. Double ugh. But it's done and looks fantastic and he is now the proud owner of a bunk bed. No more crib for my little guy! Anyway, every aspect of my life was neglected this past week as I got his room ready. Plus my oldest has had swim lessons the past two weeks, so things have been nutty.

I told the husband that one of the things I want to do this weekend is get caught up on my blogs. I have seven posts I want to do for just this blog, so we'll see how far I get. I turned on some cartoons for my kiddos this morning (do you have Boomerang network where you are? Oh my gosh, I love it!! I love letting my kids watch the cartoons I watched on Saturday mornings when I was little.) and it's mostly keeping them entertained, except that they're boys and fight a lot, so I have to keep intervening.

Anyway, I don't even remember when we had this it's been so long ago, but it was tasty and pretty easy, so it's worth posting. I received it in a recipe email I get from Real Simple magazine. I had some cod in the freezer and thought it would be a tasty way to fix it instead of fish and chips. That's all I know to do with cod. Did you know that cod are actually a really mean fish? I had no idea. The husband and I were watching a show on octopus awhile ago, and apparently cod fish eat octopus. Crazy, huh? I tell ya, I'm a wealth of knowledge.

Spiced Cod with Broccoli Quinoa Pilaf
Source: RealSimple.com

3 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
kosher salt and black pepper
1 cup quinoa, rinsed well
2 cups chopped broccoli
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup roasted almonds, coarsely chopped
2 scallions, sliced
4 6-ounce pieces skinless cod, halibut, or striped bass fillet
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Heat 1 teaspoon of the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and season with ¾ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and starting to brown, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the quinoa and 1½ cups water to the saucepan and bring to a boil; reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer gently until almost all the water has evaporated, 10 to 12 minutes. Fold the broccoli and raisins into the quinoa, cover, and cook until the quinoa and broccoli are tender, 8 to 10 minutes more. Remove from heat and fold in the almonds, scallions, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Season the cod with the paprika, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and cook until opaque throughout, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Serve with the pilaf.

Nutritional Information
Per Serving
Calories 464
Fat 16g
Sat Fat 2g
Cholesterol 65mg
Sodium 833mg
Protein 37g
Carbohydrate 44g
Sugar 7g
Fiber 6g
Iron 6mg
Calcium 109mg

*****

I haven't used quinoa very much, but I really liked it. Actually this may have been the first time. I tried to make quinoa stuffed peppers one time, but it didn't go over well, and I don't think they were ever eaten. This time we all really liked it. I love that it's high in protein. Did you know that technically it's a seed, not a grain? See, wealth of knowledge. I didn't have raisins in mine because for some strange reason we were out of them, but honestly raisins in it sounded kind of weird, so I wasn't that upset we skipped them. This dinner came together really quickly which was nice, too. This was a dinner I really liked and would readily make again. Note to self: find more ways to incorporate quinoa into our diet!

Sorry for the lame picture...the husband's iPhone camera was all I had available.

Easy Chicken 'n Greens

In an effort to try and be more productive during the day (note that the key word in that sentence is TRY), I think I'll start updating the blog while the boy watches his morning shows. I'm on the computer then usually anyway, so it makes sense. Oh, and I still have two sick kids in case you were wondering. We're heading to the doctor's office this morning. Hopefully it's nothing serious.

Over the weekend when I was planning meals for the week I went through all the recipes I've posted on here to see if I could find a chicken dish we had liked but hadn't had in a long time. I was surprised to find that there weren't any, and it didn't even seem like we ate chicken that much. Which is weird because I think we have it once a week at least. So I broke out one of the new cookbooks I got for Christmas, the one my mother-in-law gave me that's from the school where she teaches. I had a lot of the stuff called for in this one, and I had seen that bok choy was on sale, so I figured it was meant to be.

Easy Chicken 'n Greens
8 skinless bonelss chicken thighs or 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 large garlic cloves
1 head bok choy or broccoli
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. white wine or chicken broth
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
2 c. baby or sliced carrots or other vegetables
2 tsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Remove skin and fat from chicken and discard. Thinly slice garlic. Thickly slice bok choy or cut broccoli florets (about 4 cups). Heat oil in large frying pan over medium heat. Dip chicken into flour and shake off excess. Saute until lightly golden, about 5 minutes each side. Add garlic and continue to saute for about 3 minutes. Add wine or broth, red pepper flakes, and salt. Bring to a boil and add carrots. Partially cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer 10 minutes, turning chicken partway through. Add bok choy or broccoli and sesame oil. Continue simmering, uncovered and stirring often, until vegetables are done as you like, from 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

For a more concentrated sauce, remove chicken and vegetables to a heated serving plate. Boil broth until reduced to about 1/2 cup. Pour over chicken and serve.

*****

I think it sounds super yummy!! I'm going to cook up some rice to go with it and call it good since there are vegetables mixed in it. I think I may use the other half bag of stir fry vegetables I have in the freezer that was leftover the from Pork Katsu the other night instead of slicing up carrots.

*****

Eh. That's really all I have to say about this. I was concerned that it would be kind of bland, so I added some Chinese 5-Spice Powder to the flour to spice it up a bit. It helped a little but not much. I'm sure with proper tweaking this could be good, but I don't think I'll take the time to make it again to figure out what to do with it. I got a late start on dinner, too, so since we were already going to be eating late I didn't take the time to play around with anything tonight either. At least I didn't have to buy a lot of ingredients for it.

The husband just finished having a plate of the leftover pasta from last night, I had some blueberry coffee cake. That's how unimpressive this was. I had really high hopes since I assumed people would have submitted their best recipes for a cookbook like this, but I guess not. Or whoever submitted it likes bland food. Sigh. So disappointing.

Beth's Broccoli Slaw

My friend Beth from MOMS Club made this salad for my friend Jen B. when her father passed away recently. Jen LOVED it and got the recipe from Beth. I think she's made it a couple times since then and has rave reviews every time. I've been anxiously awaiting broccoli to be on sale so I could try it.

Beth's Broccoli Slaw
In large bowl mix:
2 heads broccoli, cut into florets and finely chop about 1/2 of the stalks, cut about 15 baby carrots. Approx 1/2 cup of raisins, Approx 1/4 cup of cashews.

In medium bowl mix:
1 cup mayo, 3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar, and 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Directions:
Pour Mayo mixture over broccoli mixture, toss, and chill for minimum of 1 hour before serving.

*****

I almost didn't make this because the husband doesn't like broccoli. The boy and I, however, do, so husband lost out. More for us I figure, although I'm going to make him try one bite of it. I was a bit shy on the mayo, but hopefully that doesn't affect it too much.