Broccoli Cheese Soup and Blueberry Muffins

This is one of my favorite meals to make. Friends that come over for dinner will likely have this meal at least once.

The Broccoli Cheese Soup comes from my Sue Gregg: Soups and Muffins cookbook. I purchased the cookbook set about 8 years ago and they have been used consistently ever since. She has tons of nutritional information interspersed with the recipes. She uses honey and other natural sugar ingredients instead of refined white sugar and whole wheat and other grains instead of white flour. I highly recommend the cookbook set.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Amount: 6 servings
1. Peel out edges of stalks and chop:
1 cup small broccoli florets (set aside)
4 cups broccoli stalks with remaining florets

2. (Optional for added flavor) Saute the 4 cups broccoli and onion in butter for 5 minutes:
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 onion, chopped

3. In soup pot heat broth to boiling; add vegetables and oregano, reduce heat and simmer until broccoli is tender:
7 cups Chicken broth
chopped broccoli and onion
3/4 teaspoon oregano leaves

4. While soup simmers, prepare cheese sauce for soup in small saucepan. Blend flour into butter until smooth, cooking 1 minute; gradually blend in milk, stirring with wire whisk over medium heat until thickened; blend in cheese until melted:
3 tablespoons melted butter
6 tablespoons flour
1 cup lowfat milk
2 cups grated cheddar cheese

5. Puree soup in blender, pour back into soup pot and blend in the cheese sauce

6. Steam the 1 cup broccoli florets about 5 minutes; add to soup just before serving

7.Season, as desired, with salt.

*I wrote this recipe out as written in the cookbook. I usually just saute all the broccoli with butter and onion and don't leave any out to steam at the end. We still like chunky soup, so I don't puree the soup all the way in the blender...just little spurts with the blender.

**Also, I use Frontier Herbs Chicken Broth Powder. It's a staple ingredient in our home. No MSG and great taste. I use a bit more of the powder than the package calls for cuz I love a very flavorful soup.

The blueberry muffin recipe comes from my grandmother. Where they live in Wisconsin there is a well-known "orchard" where there are a few acres of blueberry bushes bursting with huge blueberries each summer. It draws people from miles around.

My grandparents have the art of blueberry picking down to a science. First you take an old belt and put it around the handle of an ice cream bucket. Then fasten the end of the belt closed so you have a ice cream bucket necklace of sorts. Put it around your neck and you are ready for two-handed blueberry picking. Not only can you pick with two hands, but if you are really good, the bucket can be underneath your hands to catch the inevitable blueberry that falls inbetween your fingers. Much more efficient and less wasteful. :)

Getting as many blueberries as possible is challenging when you are trying to maintain blueberry picking etiquette. You see, picking is only open on Saturdays. There are hundreds of people there. You have to get to the "orchard" by 6:00-6:30 AM and then wait for the owners to signal that the pickers can head down the rows. After the owners relay a few directions, they give the green light. There is a wave of people, almost running, to their favorite spot from last year.

Despite the initial aggression, people are generally very kind and cheerful...almost giddy to be able to get their year's worth of blueberries in their freezer. Favorite blueberry recipes and the raving nuturitional benefits of the fruit are discussed across rows with complete strangers. These are memory making days.

Frozen Blueberry Muffins

4 cups flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter softened
2 cups sugar *
4 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups frozen blueberries

Topping:
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Combine flour, baking powder and salt
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, milk and vanilla
Stir in dry ingredients until moistened.
Fold in frozen blueberries
Fill muffin tins 2/3 full **
Combine sugar and nutmeg and sprinkle over muffins
Bake 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes
Cool 10 minutes before removing to wire rack
Yield 2 dozen

*I usually cut the sugar by 1/3-1/2 the amount called for in this recipe

**I really don't like to clean muffin tins, so I usually put it in a greased 9 X 13 pan, put the oven at 325 degrees and let it bake for 1 hour and 10 min. or so. I just use a toothpick to know when the middle is done.

Enjoy!!