This wonderful broccoli soup is both from Real Simple AND is really simple (couldn’t help myself)! Seriously though, I can not say enough good things about this soup.

Creamy Broccoli Soup, (with minimal adaptions) from Real Simple

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1⁄8-1/4 teaspoon red pepper
• 1 can low-sodium vegetable broth, plus 1 can water
• 1 bunch broccoli, chopped into florets
• 1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into 1⁄2-inch pieces
• salt and pepper
• sharp white Cheddar, grated or thinly sliced to top

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and red pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, 4 to 6 minutes.
2. Add the broth, water, broccoli, potato and salt & pepper to taste to the saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the vegetables are very tender, 18 to 20 minutes.
3. In a blender, or with an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth. Top with the Cheddar before serving.

Starting with simplicity and convenience: I love recipes where all the ingredients are whole things. As anyone with a small kitchen or minimal pantry storage will tell you, being able to get just what you need (without having to store remainder) is a big deal. Also making this recipe could seriously not be any easier – an added bonus for it’s quality flavor and healthfulness!

So about that “quality flavor” – the addition of the potato adds wonderful thickness as well as the taste of cream without having to add dairy! I did top with a bit of white cheddar cheese, which melts and swirls in for a wonderful little zip. Also I nearly doubled the quantity of red pepper, and used red pepper flakes (they got crushed when blended) which added a great amount of heat – a pleasant surprise for broccoli soup!

Finally a note about the immersion blender. I finally own one (thanks Mom!) and I do not know how I lived without it – seriously! It does the job just as well as my blender in half the time with half the effort and half the clean up. When I think about the number of times I went through the arduous process of pouring half the soup from the pot into the blender then to another container while I blended the second half and returned it all to the original pot it makes me sad. Best of all they are inexpensive and take up next to no storage space – if you regularly make blended soups you simply have to invest in one! If you need a product recommendation I have the Cuisinart SmartStick and so far it works great!