This Creamy Broccoli Cauliflower Soup is packed full of vegetables and cheese making it an amazingly delicious side dish.
This winter I’ve been experimenting with several different soups depending on what produce I find on sale.
Or I may just see a certain vegetable at the store that is reasonably priced. Or it could just be one that I haven’t cooked in a while.
I’m not sure if I have mentioned this yet, but over the past 6 months, I have fallen in love with shopping at ALDI. Yup, the feeling is that strong.
With a few changes in our lives over the past year, my husband and I finally had the time and opportunity to really analyze our budget closely.
And doing so obviously helped us figure out what we could work on cutting back on.
With that said, we saw how much we (mostly me, since I was doing 99% of the grocery shopping) were spending on groceries.
And this is one area of variable expenses that I felt we could really cut back on if we put our minds to it.
Budgeting isn’t about limiting yourself – it’s about making the things that excite you possible.
I say “we” since Dan was completely on board when I mentioned ALDI and trying out their brands, etc.
We also discussed working on cutting back on a few things we would typically enjoy as “extras.” Our extras particularly were focused on beverages like canned diet pop and Gatorade.
This post’s recipe started off because I was looking for ways to use up milk before it expired. And then it turned into helping me use up several of the veggies I had in my fridge. If you have butternut squash on hand, check out this Creamy Autumn Squash Soup recipe. It only takes about 15 minutes to prep!
If that wasn’t the case, I would have prepped more veggies ahead to save time.
Time Saver Tips for Making this Broccoli Cauliflower Soup
Speaking of saving time, check out these tips I use on a weekly basis to help reduce my time when I want to cook a recipe.
Obviously, purchasing pre-chopped veggies would be the biggest time-saver, however, it’s not cost-effective at all so I avoid it.
- I often purchase whole carrots.
- Then once I get home from the grocery store, I assign someone in my house to peel and chop them. My 7 year actually enjoys peeling them, so I’m hanging onto that as long as I can. Carrot sticks will last quite a while in a sealed container in the fridge.
- A day or two before making this soup I chop the celery and onions and again place them in the fridge.
- Whenever I have a few minutes to spare I will look in my fridge and see what veggies I can prep for the week. This often leads to me deciding what I want to make. I call this my version of reverse meal planning. It’s a common trend I have been doing more and more often and for the better part of this past year.
- For more details on “reverse meal planning” see my Dietitian’s Dish section below.
Dietitian’s Dish
As I mentioned above, I’m a big fan of reverse meal planning. I have been doing this on and off since I started cooking for our family. However, I’ve done it much more over this past year.
To me, reverse meal planning is reviewing the inventory of my pantry, fridge and freezer and deciding what meals to make based on what I have on-hand.
And then, I’ll purchase a few items needed to complete the meals on my weekly grocery shopping trip.
I never had a name for this sort of meal planning until I started blogging and reading several blogs.
It makes a ton of sense since you not only save a good amount of money using the food you already have, but you also waste so much less!
Hope you enjoy this creamy and nutritious broccoli cauliflower soup!
Creamy Broccoli Cauliflower Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 medium carrots, chopped
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 3 cups broccoli fresh or frozen, thawed
- 3 cups cauliflower fresh or frozen, thawed
- 3 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
- 4 cups skim milk
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (4 oz.) sharp cheddar cheese
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large stockpot or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Cook until vegetables are tender (about 5 minutes).
- Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and stir in milk.
- Stir in in broccoli and cauliflower.
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Slowly stir in the flour until it thickens.
- Add butter/flour mixture to stockpot, stir well.
- Add the cheddar cheese, cream cheese, parsley, black pepper and salt to the stockpot and stir until well combined.
- If desired, use an immersion blender to blend the soup.
This Creamy Broccoli Cauliflower Soup post first appeared on Chocolate Slopes.
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