How to make Brocolli Cheese Soup!

Hey all my meal makers out there. So today we are making something that's going to stick to your bones. You know when it's cold outside, when it's raining, when it's windy and you just want something to warm you up. You want a nice bowl of soup. That's what we're making today. So we are making a broccoli cheddar soup. Something really really simple, really really delicious, but we're going to add a little extra in there. So we're going to chop up just half of a potato to thicken it up a little bit and we're going to use bacon. Potato, broccoli, cheese and bacon. Come on, it don't get no better than that. So let's get ready to make this soup and make this meal with Mika. Let's go. Here are the main ingredients for our broccoli cheese soup. Of course we have frozen broccoli florets. I actually like to use the frozen vegetables in my soups. They just keep their bright colors. We have a combination of cheeses. I have medium cheddar and I also have Velveeta cheese. I have my chopped bacon. I have one half of a rusted potato diced very very very fine. I have a half an onion and I have five cloves of garlic, salt and pepper and then we're also going to use some chicken stock. So this is a one pot soup. All right let's get started. All right we are going to start by putting a small amount of olive oil in the pan and we are going to saute our bacon, onion and potatoes all together. So I'm going to add the bacon, the onions and we're going to add the potatoes. We are going to saute this until the bacon is rendered, meaning that the fat has released from it and it's cooked and the onions are translucent. You guys know that that means that the onions are clear and the potatoes are soft. Now the potatoes might not be all the way done and that's fine because they're going to marinate in the soup but we do want them to be soft. I'm going to add a little bit more olive oil so they won't stick and we're just going to continue to stir and cook this down until everything is where we want it to be and this should take approximately 15 minutes. We are looking good, we looking good. So as you can see the bacon is mostly rendered, the potatoes are nice and they're soft and also the onions are translucent. So now it's time to add the garlic and we are going to saute the garlic in here for about two minutes so it can be nice and fragrant and it can mix well with the potatoes, the onions and the bacon. It smells amazing in here, I mean absolutely delicious and this is just the base of the soup. So just imagine how good this soup is about to be. So you want to get all, if there's any type of, you know, if the bacon is sticking to the bottom just take your your spoon and just get that because we want to get all that. You know what that means? That's flavor, not flavor, not flavor. We don't talk like that, not flavor. You don't want anything with flavor, you want flavor. All right, so the garlic has mingled with the goodness that was already in this pot. Now I am going to add approximately eight cups of chicken stock. Oh my goodness, it is raining outside. This is going to be a perfect meal for today. It's raining, it's chilly. Oh, this is going to be perfect. Now I'm going to add, so I added the stock. See, you're not going to believe how easy this is. Like this is almost done. It's almost done and then I'm going to add approximately one cup of milk to this. Now if you want to, want yours a little thicker, you can add heavy cream if you like, but we're going to add about one cup of milk. So I'm not going to make mine really, really thick with the cream, but feel free, make this your own. And then we're going to add our cheese and we're going to let the cheese just do its thing and melt within the soup. And we are really almost done. So we add the Velveeta, we add the cheddar. I don't know if you guys can hear, I have my window open, but the rain outside just sounds so, so, so, so relaxing. This soup is going to be perfect. All right, so I'm going to turn this on low. I'm going to cover, but I'm going to continue to stir until the cheese is all incorporated and you don't see the individual, the pieces. Let's check on our beautiful soup base, shall we? Oh, this is absolutely perfect. So as you can see, the potatoes are nice and soft. The bacon has, the flavor has permeated through the base. Now, as you can see, this isn't a really thick, creamy base. And that's because sometimes a lot of cream soups don't necessarily agree with my tummy. I'm just going to keep it real. So this is a way that I can still enjoy a little creaminess with the cheese and the broccoli. So now it's time to add the sharp, the star of the show, which is our broccoli. Now I love thick broccoli soup. Like I like soup with my broccoli. So I load this up. Okay. Cause it's going to cook down anyway. So this is a two pound bag. I'm probably put about a pound and a half. Yeah, I did because it's going to cook down anyway, but look at that. Oh, look at that. So now we're just going to let the broccoli get along with everybody that's in the pot. Now, because we added an additional ingredient, we're going to have to season this. So we're going to add some pepper and I keep my seasoning very, very, very simple with my broccoli cheese soup. Some pepper and just a little bit of salt, not too much because the stock has salt and the bacon. So you don't want this too salty. Look at this. Easy one pot soup. So I'm going to let the broccoli just cook in here for about five to 10 minutes and this soup will be done. Easy peasy. So your soup should look like this when it's finished. Nice, creamy, but not too creamy. And do you see why I love to use frozen vegetables? Because they've maintained their color. Now, when you use fresh broccoli in this, unless you blanch it, and I blanched something, I blanched green beans in a couple videos that I made. But listen, unless you blanch it, when you use fresh broccoli, it tends to turn brown. But look at that beautiful green broccoli. So this soup is done. Now it's time to taste it. So what we're going to do is we're going to ladle this in a nice bowl and taste it. Here's the finished product. Oh, doesn't that look good? So this is why I love this soup. Let's go ahead and taste this. So it's nice and steamy and hot. And go ahead below that because I ain't trying to get burned. Let's see here. It's hot. That's hot. That's the best way to eat soup. Look at that. Can you smell it? Can you taste it? One pot for this soup. So the thickness comes from the potatoes. So you don't have to use cornstarch or any flour. You have the nice smokiness from the bacon. The onions adds a little sweetness. The cheese makes it nice and velvety. And then the star of the show is the broccoli. So hey, go ahead, make y'all a bowl of this. Color it up with your boo and your blanket and a movie or color it up by yourself with your soup, a blanket and a movie and enjoy. Thank you for making this meal with me.