Recipe: Broccoli Cheddar Soup - THM style

Hello!  I hope you had a lovely weekend and Monday!

	I've got a recipe that I THM-ed over this past weekend.  I used to make this soup about once a month or so. For the record, it's NOT my recipe - however it is adapted from Lu Lu The Baker's blog from her post called Cheesy Vegetable Chowder.
	When made per her instructions, it is completely deelish. Unfortunately, it's just does not fit the THM standards I am currently following. But have no fear.  I tweaked it a little so I could have one of my favorite soups.  For the recipe as written below, it would be an S recipe.
	Ingredients:
	2/3 C half and half or cream
	4 C chicken broth or stock
	1 C chopped celery
	2 C chopped broccoli
	1 C chopped carrots (use sparingly in an S meal)
	1/2 C chopped onion
	1 C chopped cauliflower (in place of white potato)
	1 TBSP minced garlic
	1/4 TSP Xantham gum (to thicken in place of flour)
	2 TBSP Butter
	2 C cheddar cheese (or more or less)
	Directions:
	1. Chop up all the onion, carrot and celery. At this time you may just want to chop the cauliflower and broccoli too in order to maximize your prep time chopping.
	2. In a large pot, melt the butter.
	3. Once butter is melted, add the chopped onion, carrot and celery. After about 5 minutes, add the garlic.
	4. Once simmering, add the cauliflower and chicken broth. Bring to boil.
	5. Add cream and turn down the stove to simmer.
	6. Add broccoli and continue to simmer.
	7. Add Xantham gum and stir well.
	8. Once all veggies are softened, add the cheddar cheese and stir until melted.

After chicken broth and cauliflower are added.

This time I used chopped frozen broccoli but have used fresh in the past.

The finished soup after cheddar cheese is added and melted.

Chow time!  Served with a sprinkle more of cheddar cheese and some homemade bread.

Mmmm - warm, cheesy and chock full of veggies.  I served this with a side of bread from the Trim Healthy Mama book - a recipe titled Golden Flat Bread found on page 270-271.  It's also an S recipe so I can easily pair this with the soup or maybe next time a small salad. 

I'm linked up for the first time over at Gwen's Nest for her weekly round up of THM Trim Healthy Tuesday's posts so head over to check it out!

~Carly