Creamy Cheesy Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup

Ahhhh, winter.  Soup weather!  As the temperatures drop, I tend to make a lot of soups and stews.  I am a soup junkie for sure.  In fact, so the junkie I am...I eat soup for breakfast, and dinner almost every day.  Is that an embarrassing confession?  I dunno.  It works for me.  This one is hearty, filling and warming.  I usually just eyeball the ingredients, but I will put down approximate amounts, which can be varied according to individual tastes.  This particular recipe makes a whole bunch of soup...you could easily halve the recipe for a more reasonable amount of soup...you know, for non-soup junkies, or smaller families. lol

broccoli and cauliflower soup

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Ingredients:

1 head broccoli, in florets

1 head cauliflower, in florets

4 potatoes, roughly chopped

3 zucchinis, chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

2-3 celery ribs, minced

1 large onion, minced

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

olive oil for sauteeing

water to cover vegetables (the amount will vary based on the size of your broccoli/cauliflower)

3 Knorr boullion cubes (beef flavor works well...I use Knorr, because they are double size)

**Or instead of water and boullion, you can use broth of choice

salt and pepper to taste

1 (14 ounce) can evaporated milk

Cheese (lots of cheese)....choose one that melts easily...I used about 10 triangles of Laughing Cow, plus a little Gouda

Preparation:

In a large stockpot, heat olive oil over medium heat.

First sautee garlic until golden, then add onions, celery and carrots and sautee for about 3 minutes.

Add remaining vegetables and add water (or broth) to cover, and drop in boullion cubes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer.

Simmer about 30 minutes or so, until vegetables are tender.

Add evaporated milk, and cheese, stirring constantly until cheese is melted.

Adjust seasonings.

At this point, you can either thicken the soup with a flour and water slurry, or, as I prefer, use your arm blender to puree a bit of the soup to thicken it.

Serve with croutons, or extra cheese, or bacon, or ham, or whatever sort of garnish appeals to you.