Lunch for a Cold Day...Broccoli & Cheese Soup with Beer Bread

Our family has been in major "soup mode" given all the snow and cold temperatures outside. Caroline got her first taste of broccoli and cheese soup last week on a visit to Jason's Deli. So, I set out to make a similar soup today. It was delicious and my favorite part of the dish was the bread! Yum (and easy...I am NOT a bread maker).

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

1 tsp real butter
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups, fat-free, no sodium chicken broth
1 (16 oz) package of frozen broccoli florets (can thaw to save some time, but not necessary)
2 1/2 cups 2% milk
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. black pepper
8 oz 2% Velveeta Cheese

Chop the onion and garlic and cube the cheese. The soup doesn't take too long to make, so you might want to wait until the bread has been baking for about 30 minutes to get things started. When you're ready, heat a large soup pot over medium heat and add the butter. Then add the garlic and onion and saute it for about 3 minutes.

Next, add the broth and broccoli; bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce it to medium and let it cook for 10 minutes.

Combine milk and flour and stir with a whisk until it's well-blended and there is no flour on the bottom. Add that to the broccoli mixture and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in the pepper and remove from the heat, then add the cheese and stir until the cheese melts.

If you don't have an immersion blender, scoop about 1/3 of the soup into a blender or Magic Bullet and blend until smooth. Then, return the soup to the pot and stir.

For the Bread:

3 cups of flour (self rising or all purpose)
1 T sugar
1 tsp salt
1 T baking powder
1 1/2 cups beer (any kind)
Optional glaze 1 egg, 2 tsp. water--beaten together

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and make the bread by combining all the ingredients. If you decide to use the glaze, only use half. Put the bread into a loaf pan (can line with parchment paper if you prefer) and bake for 40 minutes. (It will be tight in the loaf pan, but mine didn't burn in a dark pan--I cooked mine for approximately 37 minutes). Let cool in pan for 10 mins and on a rack for 10 more out of the pan.