Broccoli and Cheese Soup

It has been cool and rainy for the last week. I guess you could say fall is here. I have been craving Broccoli Cheese soup with all this gloomy weather. Nothing is better than a warm bowl of soup on a rainy day. I was excited when I found this recipe on the Cooking Light website. It was voted one of the reader's favorites and I would have to totally agree. It was delicious! It hit the spot and fixed my craving. I also made roasted cheesy tomatoes. The perfect compliment to the meal. :)




Broccoli and Cheese Soup
From: Cookinglight.com
Serves 6 (serving size: 1 1/3 cups)
4pts/serving

Ingredients
Cooking spray
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 (16-ounce) package broccoli florets
2 1/2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
8 ounces light processed cheese, cubed (such as Velveeta Light)

Heat a large nonstick saucepan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; saute 3 minutes or until tender. Add broth and broccoli. Bring broccoli mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 minutes.

Combine milk and flour, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Add milk mixture to broccoli mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Stir in pepper. Remove from heat; add cheese, stirring until cheese melts.

Place one-third of the soup in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth. Return pureed soup mixture to pan.

Nutritional Information
Calories: 203 (28% from fat)
Fat: 6.3g (sat 4g,mono 1.8g,poly 0.4g)
Fiber: 2.9g

* For the cheesy tomatoes, I took some plum tomatoes, cut in have and remove the seeds. Place on a baking sheet and sprinkle some breadcrumbs and about 1 tsp of shredded mozzarella cheese. Spray olive oil spray on them. Broil at 400 for about 2-3 minutes. That's it!