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Healthy Recipes for BBQ Season
As the days grow longer and the temperatures rise, it's time to fire up the grill and indulge in the delights of outdoor cooking. But who says BBQ season has to be all about indulgence? With a lit...
Boys and Girls Clubs of Manteca/Lathrop
Listed under: Education Families & Children Parks & Recreation
Recipe: Hearty winter warmer also is gluten-free
This hearty bowl of broccoli-cheese soup is creamy thanks to potato, not cream or flour. Debbie Arrington
Cream soups (particularly cheese soups) can seem like thinned sauce or gravy. That’s because they basically are just that. The ingredients used for thickening are the same: Cream, butter and flour.
Skip the roux and grab a potato. This recipe for broccoli-cheddar cheese soup uses one medium potato to give silkiness to the soup base and thicken it without adding flour. Another switch: 1% milk for cream.
Instead of putting all the broccoli in the pot at once, save out the tender florets and add them later. With less cooking, they hold their form.
The sharper the cheddar, the cheesier the soup (I used half medium, half sharp). The addition of Parmesan cheese accentuates the cheddar. Be careful not to boil the soup after the addition of cheese; it will separate and get grainy. Instead, gently reheat, if necessary.
Creamy broccoli-cheddar cheese soup
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
¼ cup butter or margarine (½ stick)
½ cup onion, chopped
3 cups vegetable broth
1 carrot, peeled and julienned (about ¾ cup)
1 medium potato, peeled and cubed (about 1 cup)
¼ teaspoon thyme
1 large broccoli crown (10 ounces; makes about 4 cups, chopped)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup milk, preferably 1%
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions:
In a large heavy pot or saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Sauté onions until very soft, about 10 minutes.
Add broth and bring to a boil. Add carrot, potato and thyme. Bring to boil, then reduce heat. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Chop broccoli crown, separating the stems from the florets. Add stems to broth, adjusting heat as necessary. Simmer for 10 more minutes, then add florets.
Continue simmering broth and vegetables until the broccoli stems are tender and the potato is dissolving into the broth (about 10 more minutes).
Adjust seasoning, adding salt and pepper if necessary.
Stir in milk. Bring back to simmer but don’t boil.
Remove soup from stove and stir in cheeses. Stir until the cheeses are melted and blended into the soup.
Return to heat briefly, if necessary, so soup is evenly warmed through, being careful not to boil.
Serve immediately.
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Garden Checklist for week of May 19
Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.
* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.
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