Meals Under $3: Broccoli Soup and Biscuits

Vegetable soup is a wonderfully frugal and delicious meal option.  *And* it's versatile-- there are a thousand different recipes, and you can modify any of them by throwing in whatever veggies you have that need using up.

I'm choosing to publish my modified version of the More With Less Cream of Cauliflower soup, because it's one of the easiest and quickest ones I've found.  Some other great options are Leila's version, and this delicious potato soup recipe (a big favorite of our family).

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

1 medium head of broccoli, chopped

4 T butter

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 minced garlic clove, or 1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup flour

reserved cooking water from broccoli plus enough chicken/veggie broth to make 3 cups 

2 cups whole milk

1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Steam the broccoli on the stove top in an inch or two of water until soft.  Reserve any cooking water and add enough chicken broth to make 3 cups.  Set aside.  In a large soup pot, saute the onion and garlic with butter until onion is translucent.  Add the salt and stir, then add the flour.  Quickly add the chicken broth/broccoli water mixture, milk, Worcestershire, and cooked broccoli.  Cook until mixture thickens slightly.  Add cheese and stir until melted.  Puree the soup* in a blender in batches, or with an immersion blender.

*You can obviously skip the pureeing step to save time; I always did until we had kids.  A pureed soup is much more appealing to picky youngsters (no chunks!) and can be slurped up easily by a baby with a straw bowl.  I'm thinking an immersion blender will be our next kitchen purchase to make this process easier.

For the biscuits, I use the Betty Crocker Baking Powder Biscuits recipe-- substituting whole grain flour, and increasing the milk to 1 cup to make "drop biscuits" (drop the batter by 1/4-cupfuls on the cookie sheet) so I don't have to roll them out (saves time).

Total cost of this meal:  $2.69... about 34 cents per serving.

Although soup seems like a winter food, I find I make more soups in the summer, because they don't heat the oven, and we usually have more fresh veggies on hand this time of year.  My kids, after playing outside most of the day, all cleaned their bowls when we made this soup the other night.  I love summer for kids burning calories outdoors and the hearty eating that results!