Panera Copycat Broccoli Cheddar Soup

My daughter LOVES Panera.  She absolutely loves their broccoli cheddar soup. I had to make this soup. The only thing I would change next time is to omit the cayenne.  I liked it but it was a little too hot for her.

While your making this soup listen to this blues song by Martin Harley.  He was featured on the Blue Plate Special, WDVX, in Knoxville, TN.  I loved it.

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Panera Copycat Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Use a good cheddar for maximum flavor.

⅓ cup butter
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
⅓ cup flour
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup milk
3 ½ cups chicken broth
¼ cup white wine
8 cups chopped broccoli
4 medium carrots, grated
3 cups cheddar cheese (I used Cabot's Sharp)
¼ tsp. cayenne powder (it will be a little spicy- next time I would reduce it by half or omit)
¼ tsp. nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Saute the onions in the butter until lightly golden.  Add the flour and  cook until the flour is golden. This is what gives the soup more flavor so don't be hasty.  Add in garlic, salt and pepper as it browns. After it is golden, add the broth, white wine. broccoli, carrots, nutmeg and cayenne powder. Once it is tender add in milk and cream.  Make sure it is heated through then add in cheese, heat until melted. Serve.

5:2 Scape, Broccoli, Carrot Stir Fry

Obviously, you can toss any vegetables into this combo.  Stir fry is really my go to meal a lot of time. If you managed to reserve a good portion of your calories, you can even have it with some quinoa.  A little quinoa mind you because those carbohydrate calories add up REAL fast. But quinoa is worth it because it can fill your belly and has some much, nutritionally, going on.

All of the 5:2 recipes I am posting I try to get it at under 200 calories.  Obviously if you have a lotted yourself  more calories you can up the vegetables or up the fat or add in some quinoa.  Cooked quinoa is a 110 calories for a 1/2 cup. Or you can add in some peanuts- 160 for a quarter cup.

Scape, Broccoli, Carrot Stir Fry

1 teaspoon sesame oil (40)
1 cup broccoli (31)
1 cup carrots (45)
1 cup celery (16)
1/4 cup chopped scapes (50)
1 tablespoon oyster sauce (Lee Kum Kee- 9)
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic


Heat a wok or a large frying pan.  Once it is hot add in sesame oil and vegetables.  Keep flame at about medium high.  Keep stirring so that it does not scorch.  Some browning is good because it beings out the natural sweetness of the vegetables.  Once they are crisp tender add in garlic, soy sauce and oyster sauce.

Total calorie count: 191.

Green Broccoli Spread

You can't even imagine the power house a flavor that is this spread.  Oh my.  A little goes a long way. This is some kind of delicious.  If you have it at a party, my guess, is it will disappear really fast! You could really get creative with it.  It would be great on pizza, replacing the sauce and just a little cheese sprinkled over top.  It would be great used like a pesto on some pasta.  Get creative- this stuff is delicious no matter where it goes.

Green Broccoli Spread
Recipe adapted from Cooking Light, September 2014

6 ounces broccoli florets
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
6 basil leaves
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 anchovy fillet or a teaspoon of anchovy paste

Cook broccoli in boiling water until crisp-tender.  Rinse and cool in a colander so that it can drain.

In a food processor place garlic in first, process. Then add the remainder of the ingredients.  Process until everything is smooth.  Chill and serve.  Yield: 10 servings- 2 tablespoons. 

Calories 36 per serving. Protein 1 g, carbs 3 g, fiber 1 g, sodium 142 mg and calcium 21 mg

Rice Crusted Quiche

Are you as addicted as I am to Pinterest?  I just can't get enough of that site.  I really enjoy it in the morning when I am having a cope of coffee.  I guess it is like the equivalent to reading the morning paper.  Since I don't read the morning paper I guess it works for me.

The only thing I don't like about Pinterest is at times I can get sucked into the vortex as I like to call it.  Looking dreaming but not doing...  However there is a time and a place for that, right.  I mean you got to dream research and formulate a plan for the things you want to do.  If you don't they never get done, do they?  Well at least for me they don't.

So after drooling about gardens I did finally make some garden beds and have really been enjoying them.  This year I actually have some weeding done.  I have been very lax in past years.  It was just too hot.  This year we have a bit of a reprieve.  This past summer froze the Great Lakes  and I guess they were still pretty frozen mid April.  So a bit cooler weather this summer.  Since I don't like hot hot hot weather- like 90's this totally cool for me.  Maybe I will get some long needed yard work done instead of drooling over all the cool things on Pinterest.

Rice Crusted Quiche

crust

2 cups cooked rice
1 egg
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

filling:

5 eggs
2 cups broccoli, cooked and chopped
4 ounces shredded cheddar or Swiss cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
dash of Tabasco
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400F.  Grease a 9" inch pie plate.

Mix crust ingredients together and press into pie plate evenly over top and up the sides. Place in oven for 5 to 10 minutes.  It should be a little golden.

In same bowl that you mixed the rice in, combine eggs and milk, whisk for a minute.  Add in remainder of ingredients and stir with a spoon. Pour into rice crust and bake for about 40 to 50 minutes, until the egg is nearly set in the center. Let cool about 10 minutes before cutting. 

Wheat Berry Salad

Summer salad time!  Yeah.  Veggies. Cool and refreshing.

I saw this nice little recipe on The Kitchn and I have to say that this dressing is phenomenal.  I imagine many ways I can use it.  It is a flavor fortune. It has miso paste in it so the umami quotient just goes up.  Love it!


My recipe for the salad is loosely based on the recipe.  I used wheat berries instead of brown rice because I have a ton of them and I like them.  The salad dressing I quadrupled and glad I did because even on a plain bed of lettuce it is super outstanding.

And to my friend from retreat, I used the dried fruit that you didn't particularly care for in this recipe.  It was perfect.  The dried cherries that were kind of sour to you became slightly plump and sweetened a bit.  They were a nice foil to the salad.

Wheat Berry Salad
Loosely based on this recipe from the Kitchn.

1 cup of dried wheat berries
2 cups broccoli
1/3 cup mixed dried fruit
1/4 cup chopped chives

dressing:

4 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons honey
1 heaping tablespoon yellow miso paste
8 tablespoons safflower oil
8 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

Boil the wheat berries in water for about 45 minutes until fairly soft.  Set aside to cool.

In a blender add garlic, chop and then add the remainder of ingredients except the oil.  Blend well. In a thin stream add the oil to the dressing as the blender runs.  This is particularly easy to do if you have a little hole at the top of your blender.

Chop broccoli and chives and mix with wheat berries.  Toss with dressing and add in mixed fruit.  Chill.  Good the first day- even better the next.