Panera Copycat Broccoli Cheese Soup

http://www.averiecooks.com/2015/01/best-broccoli-cheese-soup-better-panera-copycat.html

Soup #2 - Better than Panera Broccoli and Cheese soup

Photos and recipe from Averie's website above.

I have never been a big fan of Broccoli Cheese soup, but I tried a bite of a friends from a local restaurant a few weeks ago and couldn't stop thinking about it. So I thought that might be a good try for our second soup. On the day we made the soup, it was SUPPOSED to snow. It sounded like a catalog day! Snow on the ground, red cheeked children, gleefully enjoying a day off of school, coming in with snowy lashes and wet gloves to enjoy a hot, thick bowl of soup.

Instead, it didn't snow, and I had two grouchy children, grumbling around with homework and sadness, trudging through the leaves we haven't raked.

This soup was not super hard to make, especially with sister helping me. She sautéed the onion while I made the roux (my FIRST ROUX!), and then she stirred the soup while I chopped the veggies. She still isn't keen on chopping.

It is a very pretty soup. Lots of colors, and very photogenic. I used Kerrygold imported butter simply because it called for unsalted and the only unsalted butter the grocery store had in stock was in a big value pack. And we usually use salted butter. Also, Averie was insistent on good cheese so we used Tillamook Extra Sharp.

All said, the recipe was not hard at all, a bit more complicated than I am used to, but I think I was mostly nervous about the roux. There was a lot of "Does this look thick? No really, when I push it, it takes a minute to fill the gap, do you think that is thick enough?" Keep in mind I am asking a 16 year old who is just a beginner cook, whose only experience with a Roux is the little baby of Kanga in Winnie The Pooh.

In the end, the soup was fine. Someone that LOVES Broccoli and Cheese soup might be a better judge of this recipe. It WAS some of the best B & C soup I have had in my limited samplings, so there is that!

Scoring

Mom: "It's fine! I give it a 7."

Elizabeth: "I am a firm 5. I can't decide if I like it or not. I would love it if the broccoli were potatoes instead."

Colby: "I give it a 4 or less. It leaves a weird taste in my mouth. My mouth feels weird. Have I eaten enough to have some cereal?"

Marty: "I love it! I give it a 6.5!*"

*I questioned how "I love it!" equaled a 6.5. Marty said he thinks of it like the pain scale in the hospital. "Basically a '10' is literally unconscious with the soup flavors. I bet nothing gets a 10. Because I will be unconscious with flavor."