Introducing: Sunday Foodie Bits

I set out a scheme, to create (an almost) weekly feature. And then remembered that I wanted to be cooking new things more often.
Guess who decided to combine the two.
This lady, right here.
So, my goal is to try new recipes, and share - be it success, failure, improvisation, or otherwise.

I started last Sunday, with a recipe which I would like to refer to as AMAZING, but is better known as "Slow Cooker Broccoli Cheese Soup". I found the recipe on Pinterest, through my mom, and the original can be found here.

Let me preface this by saying I do not enjoy broccoli. Nor do I enjoy soup.
But, the Mister loves both of these things, so I figured I could humour him. And, it had a TON of cheese in it, so I was hopeful that it would turn into something I could at least half enjoy.

But oh my goodness, this was above and beyond.
This recipe is being added to my arsenal, you bet.

There are quite a few things I did different, though, and those I feel I ought to share - I don't know how "screw-up-able" soup is, but it seems like it's pretty easy to maneuver, because mine turned out fantastic, and more than a few things were different.

For starters, I did not measure out five cups of broccoli. I almost filled a 5 cup bowl, sure, but with a lot of the little tree-top bits and much less stem-y parts.
And when you go to add the broccoli to the broth, it will look like you made the biggest mistake ever. Do not worry, as I did, because it all turns out alright.

Second, I did not use garlic cloves. I chopped up a ton of onion, sure, but not garlic. Instead, I used garlic powder. I have no idea how much I added, either. Enough that all of the onion/flour mix was covered in the normal amount that I use cooking everything else - and we are garlic-loving people, so it was probably a fair amount!

Third, I did the broth a little different. I did one can each (regular 14 oz cans) of regular and low-sodium, and then the remaining few ounces of low-sodium.

Fourth, I did not measure my cheese, nor did I use the kinds recommended. I used what was left of a brick of pepperjack (probably about five ounces), and then filled up the rest of this IKEA cheese grater full of monterey jack. I have no idea how much that thing holds, and neither does IKEA, apparently, as it's not on the grater itself, nor the product page.

Once everything is added into the crockpot and starts to cook, all the cheese oil starts rising. And it looked disgusting. And it still looks like there is way too much broccoli.
I promise, it turns out alright.
Then you come back half an hour after starting it to stir, and it looks just as bad.
Don't freak out.
Once your 2.5 hours are up (as I cooked mine on high), you're amazed to see that the broccoli is less visible. It somehow melted down into a not so ridiculous amount! And with some stirring, the cheese oil gets less gross-looking.
And then you take a taste, and you realize that saying you don't like soup for the past five or so years has been a horrible thing, because you've been missing out on things like this!

This is when it's all done.
I forgot to take any more pictures the rest of the time - but it kind of works out, as my kitchen was a mess of broccoli tops, flour, and spoons!
But, as you can tell from this image, there really isn't that much broccoli when it's all said and done.

And if you follow me on Instagram, this will look familiar.

Delicious is an understatement.

Leftovers were just as amazing - as was the realization that it could be enjoyed with both garlic toast AND Ritz crackers.

This was such an easy thing to cook (other than crying my eyes out from the onion, and chopping up a crazy amount of broccoli), and it turned out so great.
I've already got a few more soups added to the list, because of this one success.

~Havok

P.S. Tomorrow, I'm cooking up some lasagna (in the crockpot!) and will be back next Sunday with how that turned out. Hopefully it will be amazing!