Broccoli Cheese Soup

Now here's a classic soup that everyone loves!

Serving Size: 10 (I cut this recipe in half, since there's only two of us.)

What you'll need:
-1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
-1 onion, chopped
-1/3 cup flour
-4 cups milk
-2 cups half and half
-4 heads broccoli, chopped with small stems
-dash of nutmeg
-some salt
-some pepper
-3 cups cheddar cheese
-2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

First, melt the butter, then add the onions and sauté on medium heat. Cook them for about 4 minutes then add the flour.

After that, slowly add the half and half and the milk and bring the heat down to a simmer (low).

Next, add the broccoli, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Let this simmer for about 20 or 25 minutes, or until the broccoli is cooked thoroughly.

 Then add the cheese, stirring one handful at a time. If you like your broccoli to be chunky in your soup, add the chicken or vegetable broth here and heat and serve.

I blended my soup after the broccoli was cooked to give it a good consistency. After blending, I added the broth.

Once your soup is the right heat and blended thoroughly, you may serve, garnishes or not.

It's a nice hardy soup to serve anytime of the year!

Happy Eating! :)

Honey Cupcakes with Buttercream Icing

I've decided to take a stab at baking! Granted, I've made many cakes and cupcakes before, but they we all either yellow cake or chocolate. These aren't bad flavors, but I wanted to make (and taste) something different. So here's some honey cupcakes!


What you'll need:

The Batter

-1 stick butter, room temperature
-3/4 cup sugar-
2 eggs
-1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 cup buttermilk
-1/4 cup honey
-1 tsp vanilla

* I halved this recipe because I only have mini cupcake pans (I love small things).
** This recipe yields 12 cupcakes or 30-32 mini cupcakes.
*** If you don't have buttermilk, use 1 tbsp. of lemon juice to every one cup of milk to make one cup of buttermilk.

Directions:

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Then cream the butter and sugar together with a mixer on high for about 3 minutes or until creamy and smooth. Then add the rest of the wet ingredients, except the buttermilk, and mix well. Add half the dry ingredients and add half of the buttermilk at a time and mix well each time.

For mini cupcakes, I used a 1 tbsp. to fill my cupcake liners with batter 2/3 to 3/4 of the way to the top. For standard sized cupcakes, use a measuring cup or an ice cream scoop to have even sized cupcakes.

Bake standard cupcakes for about 18 minutes or so. For mini cupcakes, bake for about 13 minutes.

*Remember, ovens vary!!!

Bake until your toothpick comes out clean! Then let cool to about room temperature before icing them.

I got my inspiration for this recipe from: http://www.thecakeblog.com/2011/06/honey-cupcake-recipe.html

The Icing

What you'll need:

-1/2 stick butter
-1/2 tsp. vanilla
-2 cups confectioners' sugar
-2 tbsp. milk

Directions:

Cream the butter and vanilla together. Then add a little bit of sugar at a time until all has been used. Add the milk and beat well until creamy and smooth.

Happy Eating! :)