Rainy day soup making - The Antibland Chronicles

If I had my pick, a rainy weekend in fall would mean curling up with a book and hot cups of creamy coffee all day long, a walk in my rainboots while listening to a book on Audible , and then a satisfying transition to some bourbon by the fireplace.

Enter – children.

With all their cheer and sweet hugs and unabated excitement and energy that I wouldn’t trade for anything, I catch myself still – on these rainy fall weekends – wishing that life was conducive to more leisure, caffeine and alcohol. Oh you too? = )

Thankfully, the past weekend also brought a longing for bowls of hot soup which I am happy to say, is a much more responsible and practical choice for my current reality. Hearty vegetarian soups are my true favorite; of those I prefer the ones that are not overloaded with too many ingredients.

When I saw a post about Martha Stewart’s Potato, Broccoli and Cheddar soup on my Instagram feed, I really couldn’t resist adding it to my week’s circulation of recipes. What attracted me to this recipe is that it is veg heavy and not overloaded with cream and cheese. In fact, the serving size which is for four hungry adults, the soup only uses one cup of white cheddar cheese. Technically, having tasted the soup now, you could use half that and still enjoy the taste (or none in the soup making and only sprinkle it on top while eating).

MY TWEEKS: I used frozen organic broccoli florets which I thawed a couple of hours before cooking. I only had red potatoes on hand instead of Yukon Gold. Again, it didn’t make a big difference in taste, but I do imagine using the starchy Yukon Golds next time would mean an even thicker and creamier texture. For the Cheddar, I used a block of Adams Reserve New York Cheddar aged 12-months (from Wegman’s). The cheese was a random pick from the shelf but it was oh so good!! Definitely go the block-cheese route instead of using the already shredded bagged cheddar cheese.

Also, the toast on the side with the cheese and garlic is spot on! Sprinkling the toasted broccoli florets in the soup right before eating is also something I wouldn’t do without it.

The soup was so satisfying to me that once I tasted it, I wanted to do some fancy food styling and photography. Alas, the children smelled it and wanted nothing to do with waiting around. Here is the picture I did manage to take on my phone before we all dived in. It doesn’t do it justice.