I love broccoli. It happens to be one of my favourite vegetables. It wasn't something we ever had when I was a child. I think I was fully grown and married before I ever saw it, but it was love at first bite for me. I pretty much love it in every way shape or form, except over cooked. (I don't think anyone likes it that way and I can't say that I blame them!) Unfortunately at this stage in life, Broccoli doesn't always love me. It tends to play havoc with my diverticulitis and so I am very careful nowadays about how I eat it and when I eat it. Raw or sometimes even cripsy broccoli is not on my menu any longer.
I really, really love Broccoli Cheese Soup . . . but it can be really high in fat and calories. With all of that cream and cheese . . . sigh . . . kind of takes away from all of the positives of eating broccoli.
I took our favourite broccoli cheese soup recipe, which has bazillion calories in it, and I made a few changes in it to come up with a soup recipe which I think is just as creamy and delicious as the original, with no cream in it whatsoever, only 1 TBS of butter (instead of the original 2 ounces plus 1 TBS) and using a fraction of the cheese.
I applied a tip I learned in my Cooking for Diabetes Class . . . I used a large potato instead of cream to both thicken the soup and to help give it that creamy texture. It works amazingly well.
I used a small amount of milk and only a fraction of the cheese, opting to use a low fat sharp cheddar (lots of flavour) and finely grated Parmesan. Parmesan cheese has so much flavour that a little bit goes a very long way.
I also made some really tasty whole wheat crackers to go along with it. I used some Warburtons whole wheat wrap breads, that I spritzed with some water and sprinkled with some herbs and seasonings, cut into squares using a pizza cutter (easy to do coz the wraps are square) and then baked them in the oven until they were crisp! I had my soup with some of these and Todd had his with a whole wheat roll. ( I have never quite gotten over my love of having crackers with soup.) All in all this was very delicious, and made nice light supper. Plus it gave me another way of getting broccoli with is so good for you into Todd, who declared it very tasty and went back for seconds.
*Skinny Broccoli Cheese Soup*
serves 6
1 large baking potato, peeled and cut into small bits
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
salt and black pepper to taste
Broccoli is one of those super foods that is very good for you. A member of the cruciferous vegetable family, it is loaded with vitamins and anti-oxidents and has been shown in recent studies to actually slow down the destruction of cartilage associated with Osteo-arthritis! I have osteo-arthritis, which is a very painful and somewhat debilitating disease and so I need to be eating my broccoli, and lots of it. This delicious soup can make that process very painless. ;-)
Bon Appetit!!
Why does osteo arthritis hit so many of us later?
ReplyDeleteGeesh..I wonder if living a longer life is all that it is cracked up to be;)
Only if you are healthy Monique! If you are not healthy its a real pain, every pun intended. My friend Audrey is really going through the Wars right now with her osteo arthritis. She's actually bed ridden at the moment. It's really bad. She is Todd's age, 77.
ReplyDeleteI make a speedy version of this using frozen broccoli, spring onions and Stilton. And veg stock. I don't eat potato or milk due to the carbs.
ReplyDeleteSounds good CG. My Diabetic nurse told me that I need to have a certain amount of carbs each day as that is where the body gets its energy from. They do need to be limited to a certain amount, but I think ingesting 1/6th of a large potato isn't going to do me much harm, but I can see where if a person was on a no carb diet they would want to leave those things out! xo
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