Broccoli [and Cauliflower] Cheese Soup

My mom gave me leftovers of a broccoli-cauliflower-cheddar soup she made the other day. It was so good I decided to make it myself (within about a week of having her leftovers...). It is really one of the most delicious broccoli/cheese soups I've ever had and quite low fat. 

I based it off of this recipe but with quite a few modifications. 

My modifications included: 

-No cornstarch (it is thick enough as is-- just right, actually) 

-2% milk used in lieu of heavy cream

-I had an old bag of riced cauliflower in the deep freezer so used that for this one (it did have some Italian spices in it, but I can't imagine that changed the flavor of the soup too much). 

-No table salt added when the onions were sautéing (or otherwise) 

-This Greek all-purpose seasoning that an old friend turned me on to years ago instead of the "Spike" seasoning (no clue what that is...). 

-I only used 3.2 oz of extra sharp white cheddar (what I had left of a hunk of cheddar). Honestly I think that I could have skipped the cheese altogether (I tasted it and it was definitely delicious before I added the cheese). 

I *did* use my immersion blender to blend (was considering transferring to the Vitamin, but I'm glad that I stuck with the immersion blender as I actually like the texture in this one). I also attempted to use my InstantPot but I think something was off with the seal so it didn't ever seal properly. That was okay-- I just used sort of a hybrid of the InstantPot and stovetop versions (but didn't have to dirty another pot). 

In any case, this is fantastic. Really, really good. I would serve it to guests and will make it again for sure! Like most Broccoli Cream sort of soups it isn't the most gorgeous soup, but honestly it isn't too ugly either! 

Surprisingly Simple [easy] Lentil Soup

I made a delicious soup that I wasn't expecting to be all that good this past weekend. I found the recipe online on the Weight Watchers site. It was a crockpot soup (which I don't ordinarily love) and involved mostly just dumping cans and a 1/2 cup of dried red lentils into the crockpot, along with a bag of frozen mixed veggies, broth and spices. 

Here are the details: 

-2 1/2 cups of low sodium broth (I am still using exclusively Better Than Bullion Veg)

-2 (15oz) cans of chick peas, drained

-14.5oz can of diced tomatoes 

-1/2 cup dried red lentils

-12 oz  of frozen mixed veggies (I just used the most basic mix I could find- green beans, peas, carrots and maybe there was some corn in there too?)

-1 1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning 

-5 oz. fresh spinach

-Parm cheese for garnish/topping

Dump the canned chick peas (rinsed/drained), broth, tomatoes (I did not drain these), lentils and Old Bay into the crock pot. Mix together. Dump the bag of frozen veggies on top of the broth mixture and set crockpot to low for 7 hours. Add spinach at the very end or before serving and top with parm cheese (which I didn't even do). 

So simple, right? This was so good that I bought the ingredients (needed more chick peas!) to make again this week. That said, I may force myself to take a bye week and do something else this week before repeating this. 

Oh- I also added some chopped mushrooms to the broth mixture (because I had some that needed to be used up). I also added a bay leaf and some dried basil (but only because I was low on Old Bay so couldn't use the full amount called for in the recipe). I also think it would be good with some cabbage/slaw mix in the pot too- or really any veg you have lying around that you need to use!