Bread bowls and Soup

With cold weather upon us it was time to break out the soup recipes again.

Luckily my kiddos have all developed a love for most of the soups I make. Broccoli cheddar is a favorite of all except one. And she isn't the picky eater, I know this is just personal preference.

Anyways, when I suggest Broccoli cheddar soup yesterday they all cheered, except the one. Then it was suggested that mom should make bread bowls for everyone. Initially, I thought,"you've got to be kidding me!" But then the one who didn't like the soup had a look of hope on her face. So I succumbed.

I found this recipe on my favorite site. The only change I made was I made six bowls instead of 8, I used my kitchen aid for all the kneading, and I used Bakers Bread flour from Sams club instead of all purpose. Really people, not only the type but the brand of flour makes a difference. Trust me I have made a lot of bread and the flour and yeast that you use makes a difference.

They turned out beautiful. The kids were all very excited and ate up the soup and the bowl!

For the soup I modified a recipe I found last year.

Here it goes

2 tbs butter
two chicken breasts
onion
garlic
pinch nutmeg
pepper
dried parsley
3 cups chicken bouillon-or broth
1 cup milk- with 1 cup flour
11 cups of water
three potatoes peeled, cubed and partially boiled
two carrots diced
two heads of broccoli- I used frozen, so I had to cook it less time. I just estimated how much to use.
three cups of cheese

I placed the chicken cut up, in a big stock pot with the butter. If you are going to use onion this would be a great time to put it in. We don't use onion, it hurts us.

After the chicken has browned I add the spices, carrots and one cup of bouillon. Let the chicken cook the rest of the way.

Then add the rest of the chicken bouillon (or broth) and the 11 cups of water.

Bring it back up to boil and while it is heating mix the milk and flour. Mix until it is smooth- no lumps, and slowly add it too the hot soup. If you have some lumps once you add it don't worry, they will cook out, beat them a bit with a whisk and they will disappear.

Add potatoes and broccoli. I turn the heat up and let it get to a rolling boil then turn down a bit but not too much because I like the broccoli to get pretty soft, so I can break it up with the spoon, before I serve. I usually cook this part for about 20-30 minutes. If using fresh broccoli, you will have to cook it a bit longer. Once we are about 5-10 minutes away from eating I add the cheese and stir. I didn't add any additional salt, but it did need a bit, I just added to my own, that way we aren't over salting. But it was a bit bland without it.

That's it. Easy and really yummy. I changed the original recipe, because it had a lot more butter and heavy cream. Also they mix the flour and butter and add it too the soup. Every time I did it the original recipes way, I had lots and lots of lumps that I couldn't get out, this way we had no lumps.

Kristen