When I was a teenager, my mom would let me stay home from school to go on “adventure days” with her and my grandmother. Our adventures ultimately revolved around shopping 🙂 We would always go somewhere different, to a different mall and shop at stores that we normally didn’t.
Even though we’d shop-till-we’d-drop, we didn’t always buy lots of stuff… but it was always guaranteed we’d go somewhere yummy for lunch! During the late 80’s and early 90’s there wasn’t a huge selection of restaurants in our closest shopping area. We had a basic selection of fast food joints, but there as only a limited selection of sit-down chains restaurants.
But on our adventure days, the shopping areas we’d go to had a much better selection of places to eat. Chi-Chi’s, Red Lobster and TGIFridays were the restaurants I’d get the most excited to eat at – I think as a child of the 80’s that’s the tale-tale sign of an emerging food, right?? One of my all-time favorite soups is Cream of Broccoli Soup, and I remember how exciting it was to get it for lunch on those days at TGIFridays.
The flavor still takes me back to those fun days, playing hooky from school with my mom & gram. Fast forward 15+ years, I can’t imagine getting so excited about a cup of cream of broccoli soup at Friday’s — but I do get super excited when I can replicate that amazing, comforting food taste with a quick and easy recipe!
Last Thursday I made this soup, it wasn’t the main feature of our dinner. It was just something I was throwing-together while making dinner. In fact it came together so easily, my husband even commented that it couldn’t be done so quickly, when I served him up a bowl before dinner.
I reminded him that good-food doesn’t take a lot of time & effort!
Gluten Free Cream of Broccoli Soup
Ingredients
- 1 head broccoli
- 1/4 cup Organic Grass-Fed Butter or Ghee
- 1 clove Garlic
- 1 rib celery
- 1 cup Onion
- 1 teaspoon Dry Mustard Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon White Pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
- 4 cups Chicken Bone Broth
- 2-4 tablespoons organic potato starch or arrowroot starch
- 1 cup chopped Carrot
- 4 cups half and half
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese optional
Instructions
- Separate broccoli tops from stems. Divide the top broccoli flowers into bite sided pieces and set aside for later in this recipe (roughly 3 cups). Discard the tough, pithy bottom stem. Coarsely chop the remaining stems, should yield roughly 1-2 cups
- In a 3-quart pot or dutch oven, over medium heat, saute broccoli stems, onion, garlic and celery in roughly 2 tablespoons of butter until soft.
- Add bouillon, mustard powder, white pepper, sea salt and water, mix well to combine. Simmer over medium heat until the vegetables are soft.
- Carefully transfer cooked mixture to your blender along with 2 tablespoons starch and puree until completely smooth.
- Set pureed mixture aside for a few minutes while sautéing broccoli flowers and carrots with 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat in your (dirty) pot for about 2-3 minutes.
- Add pureed mixture to the broccoli and carrots, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 5 minutes to lightly cook broccoli and carrots.
- After 5 minutes, remove lid and add in the half & half. Keep heat on low and cook for an additional 5 minutes to fully cook carrots. Season with additional white pepper and sea salt to taste. For a thicker soup, puree about 1 cup of the liquid with an additional 1-2 tablespoon starch.
- Serve bowls of creamy broccoli soup topped with shredded cheddar cheese, if desired.
- Enjoy!
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