Vegetable Cheese Soup

It was definitely soup weather today. The high at my house was 18 degrees. My kids and I decided that vegetable cheese soup would taste good. I adapted a recipe that I had picked up years ago at a church party. The original recipe is called vegetable chowder. Below is the original recipe:

1 1/2 cup diced potatoes
1 cup chopped celery

I doubled the recipe.  It makes about 5 to 6 cup servings with orginal recipe.

1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cup water

Simmer until soft

White Sauce
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1 cup milk
1/2 cup chicken broth

Slowly bring to a boil, or it will scorch, until thick in a separate pan. Add 1 cup of grated cheese.
Constantly stir the vegetables as you add the sauce until fully incorporated.   We like a little bit thicker soup so I pour a little of the water off the vegetables before I add the sauce.

I basically use the same recipe. I use the rule of thumb of four cups of vegetables to 2 cups of water. I also use sea salt and leave out the pepper because of other family member’s allergies. The vegetables that I used tonight were: potatoes, celery, carrots, garlic, cauliflower, and broccoli. I have also used parsnip in the past. I usually use what I have on hand which sometimes is only a couple of items. Garlic seems to be a constant because we grow it and I have abundance on hand.

Fortunately, I do not have to change the white sauce. If you are allergic to any of the with sauce items I would substitute margarine for the butter, an alternative milk for the milk or just increase the chicken broth so that there is a total of 1 1/2 cups of liquid. You could also substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth. Homemade broth tastes the best. However, there are some organic or natural broths that taste great too.

For the thickener, flour, I have not tried it but you could probably use corn starch, tapioca flour, or arrowroot flour. I would experiment with the consistency first.

I double my recipe so that I could have some left over for tomorrow.

Good luck on your attempt!