Broccoli Cheddar Soup

About a month before our daughter {who is three now} was born my husband and I went out for lunch to Panera. I was excited because I adore their Chicken & Wild Rice Soup. Sadly, that day it wasn't on the menu so I had to pick a different soup. I went with Broccoli Cheddar Soup and haven't looked back since.
Admittedly, I've made this soup more often now that I have an immersion blender but even without it wasn't impossible to puree the soup in my regular blender, it just resulted in more dishes. My kids come running when they hear me start to blend the soup because there's just something fascinating about watching it change so quickly before your eyes.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup
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Yields: ~8 main dish portions
Source: My Blessed Life

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup flour
4 cups milk
4 cups chicken broth
1 lb frozen broccoli, divided*
2 cups carrots, chopped
8 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
salt and pepper

Directions:
   1.  Melt butter in a large stock pot; add onions and saute until slightly softened. Add flour, stir and cook for 3-5 minutes.
   2.  While stirring, slowly add milk and chicken broth; simmer for 20 minutes.
   3.  Add broccoli {all but a handful} and carrots; simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
   4.  Add salt and pepper to taste; puree soup until smooth.
   5.  Add remaining broccoli and cheese; stir and heat until cheese is melted.

*If using large pieces of broccoli chop reserved handful into ~1/2 inch pieces.

Broccoli Ham Quiche

 

When I went to make dinner I knew I wanted to make some sort of egg dish in a pie shell but I wasn't quite sure what exactly it was going to turn into. I pulled out a couple of egg recipe I already had and in the end decided to adapt my Cheese Quiche recipe. That turned out to be an excellent choice as we loved this dish!
Since the ham and green pepper I used were both from the freezer there was very little prep work involved in making this dish. Also, this recipe can definitely be adapted even more to accommodate whatever is on hand.

Broccoli Ham Quiche
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Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped broccoli
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped, cooked ham
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp pepper
1 cup shredded cheese, divided
pie crust

Directions:
   1.  In a medium bowl mix eggs and milk. Add broccoli, green pepper, ham, onion, nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper and 3/4 cup cheese.
   2.  Pour into pie crust and top with remaining 1/4 cup cheese.
   3.  Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes. Let set 5 minutes before cutting.

 

This is linked to Joy in my Kitchen.

Cheesy Broccoli Pockets

When my husband heard what we were having for dinner and that there was no meat in it, he was a little skeptical. Thankfully he came around since our daughter and I really enjoyed this. She kept asking for more, which I was happy to comply with since she usually doesn't care for broccoli. That was definitely an unexpected benefit from this recipe-getting her to eat broccoli!
I used homemade pizza dough but using the tube stuff would be fine as well. Even with making the dough this recipe came together really easily. I can definitely see using this recipe for company because it looks more impressive than the work you need to put into it. :) Also, now that I'm thinking about it, maybe making small ones, more of a couple of bites size, would be a fun idea also. Hmmm...

Cheesy Broccoli Pockets
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Yields: 4 pockets

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped broccoli and cauliflower (from a bag of frozen CA blend vegetables)
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
3/4 cottage cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded cheese
salt
pepper
pizza dough (not pictured)

Directions:
   1.  Preheat oven to 450.
   2.  Put half of the bag of CA blend vegetables in a microwavable bowl; remove carrots. Microwave broccoli and cauliflower for 45 seconds. Place in food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Return to bowl.
   3.  Add green pepper, cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, shredded cheese, salt and pepper and stir together.
   4.  Roll pizza dough into a rectangle; divide into four portions. Spread 1/4 of the broccoli mixture on one half of each portion. Fold the other half over mixture; pinch edges to seal.
   5.  Transfer pockets to a baking sheet; bake 10-12 minutes or until brown.

Adapted from: Good Housekeeping

This is linked to URS.

Broccoli Ham Pasta

When I was looking at this recipe I thought, "Well, it's pretty simple, just pasta, meat and veggies but that's always good." This time was no different. We all loved this dish, especially my one year old who knew she wanted more!
I can't personally speak about the ease of making this as my husband made dinner this night. (Wonderful!) However, he did tell me it was simple to make and he didn't have any problems. He even made an addition to the recipe and shredded colby jack cheese over the whole dish when it was done. It was a wonderful finishing touch!

Broccoli Ham Pasta
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Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients:
1 pound short cut pasta
1 bag frozen broccoli
1 T butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup cooked ham, chopped
3/4 cup heavy cream or whole milk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup shredded colby jack
salt
pepper

Directions:
   1.  Cook pasta according to package directions. Add broccoli for last 3 minutes of cooking time. Drain and return to pot.
   2.  While pasta is cooking, melt butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Add onion and saute until softened, about 3 minutes.
   3.  Add ham and cook 2 minutes longer. Stir in cream; simmer until thickened, 3-5 minutes.
   4.  Pour cream mixture over pasta. Add Parmesan cheese and toss to combine. Salt and pepper to taste. Top with shredded colby jack.

Source: All You