Broccoli Soup

A great green starter, perfect for St. Patty's Day!

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon olive oil
3-4 finely chopped fresh garlic cloves
½ cup chopped white or yellow onion
4 cups chopped broccoli
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth (*use a gluten-free brand such as Progresso Natural if you are on a gluten-free diet)
1 Tablespoon parmesan cheese (*use a gluten-free brand such as Trader Joes if you are on a gluten-free diet)
½ cup cooked potato (optional)
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

Directions:

Cook the broccoli until almost done- this can be done by either boiling it in a pot of water, steaming in a pyrex dish in an half inch of water, or even quicker, put it in a Glad® Simply Cooking™ Microwave Steaming Bag and heat on high for about 3-4 minutes Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil to a large pot, with the onions and garlic and sauté them on medium-high heat until lightly browned/tender, about 3-4 minutes .Put in the broth, cooked broccoli (cooked potato too if desired) and bring to a boil, then reduce to low heat and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Turn off the heat and cool for 5-10 minutes, then carefully transfer the soup into a blender. If you have a smaller blender do this in batches, instead of blending the entire amount at one time. Add only one fourth to one half of the mixture at a time (you can put the other half in a large bowl.)
**A note about blending hot liquids: in order to be safe, it is recommended when you blend hot liquids that you never fill the jar more than half full, that you put the lid on and then cover it with a dry towel and hold it down by hand. Or instead, cover with the top, but leave out the center plastic covering, place a kitchen towel on top, which will allow air to escape more gently. Also, use as slow a speed as possible. NEVER blend hot liquids fully covered and at high-initial speed...you're just inviting burns as the hot liquid quickly blends, heats up the air above it, and causes an explosion through the blender top.

Blend in batches on low speed for about a minute, until a smooth consistency is reached. Put all of the finished blended mixture back in the saucepan add the parmesan cheese (plus salt, pepper garlic powder to taste) and warm on low heat for 5 -10 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the thick soup from spattering.

Variation: to reduce sodium content you can use low sodium chicken broth

Makes 4 cups, four servings

Serving size: 1 cup Calories 70 Protein 4 g Carb 9 g Fiber 3 g Sugars 3 g Fat 2.5 g saturated fat <1 g Sodium 750 mg