Greens

Olivia tried her first vegetable last night, sweet peas, and she loved them!! I was shocked to see how much she liked them on her first try! And she sat in her high chair for the first time last night and loved that too! Could someone please tell me when she got so big? It’s just not fair. She tried a few yogurt melts this morning along with a little blueberries and apples mixed in with her rice cereal and loved all of them! I have high hopes that she will be as good of an eater as her older brother and sister were/still are. There were quite a few specific things that I was going to write about this morning but just as soon as I opened the laptop my mind went blank as to what the other things were. That’s a little annoying. Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow. They were pretty important. At least they seemed like they were.

It was fun watching her play with/eat the yogurt bites! She would look at it, scratch at it then try to pick it up and put it in her mouth. She would just get a taste of it before it would fall off her fingers so it got kinda sticky eventually and would stick to her fingers and she couldn’t figure out how to get it off.

And I made this delicious broccoli cheddar soup last night (along with a juicy ribeye and yeast rolls) and wanted to share it. It was very easy and I learned a valuable lesson: the fill liquid to here line on a food processor, it's there for a reason!!! But seriously, everyone including the kids loved the soup!!

Ingredients

1 tablespoon melted butter

1/2 medium chopped onion

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup flour

2 1/2 cups half-and-half (I used regular milk)

4 cups chicken stock (I used bullion cubes)

1 lb. (16 oz.) fresh or frozen broccoli florets

1 cup grated carrot

Kosher salt and freshly grated pepper, to taste

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese

Directions

Melt butter in a large pot over medium-high heat, and sauté onion until soft, about 3 minutes. Add additional butter and flour, whisking for 3-5 minutes to create a roux. Whisk while adding the half-and-half and chicken stock. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Stir in the broccoli florets and grated carrot. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg. Simmer over low heat for 30-35 minutes.

Remove soup from heat and pulse with an immersion blender until smooth. Or, puree the soup in batches in a food processor until smooth, adding mixture back to the pot.

Return pot to low heat and stir in cheddar cheese. Simmer for 10 minutes, and serve.