Cheddar Cheese Soup

I skipped soup last week and will also skip this week because there are just not that many people still working this last week of our plant's work year. I have enough vacation days left that I could take 3 days off this coming week but I'm thinking I'll likely stick around most of the week but may take a half day here and there to finish up some shopping. Tommy has an XBox game still coming, needs some new lacrosse gloves for the upcoming season and I'm still stumped for what to get Bertie. She broke her wedding ring a few weeks ago and it needed a few hundred bucks of repairs so she says that should be her present. I'm not going for that but am more than a little perplexed as to what to get her. I wished she loved to cook 'cuz there's all kinds of cool stuff to get.

So, the week before last I tried a new recipe. Cheddar Cheese Soup. This was a really great tasting soup. This was one that I could have just kept eating and then licked the bowl clean. I found this recipe on a website called copycat.com. This site specializes in providing recipes of dishes from well known restaurants. I've tried several of them and have had success with all of them. Check them out and let us know what you think. This recipe is formally titled "Gallagher's Cheddar Cheese Soup", I'm not familiar with who the Gallagher is or if it is a restaurant somewhere. I don't recall Googling it when I first found the recipe, if anyone knows anything please comment.

This recipe was very easy to make, so easy I felt guilty not doing more. The surprising thing in this recipe is that it uses cheese spread, the bottled stuff, rather than real cheddar cheese. I will try it with real cheddar the next time I make it but it tastes so good with the cheese spread I question the wisdom of changing but who knows it may be better with real cheddar. Hey maybe Velveeta!

The flavors that really stood out for me were the mustard and cayenne pepper. The mustard was very subtle but added a great zing and the cayenne really added a good bite and had a little delayed impact. In addition to using real cheddar next time another change I might try is adding some pickled jalapeños.

INGREDIENTS for 8 servings
2 cups of water
1/3 cup each of finely chopped carrots and celery
1 cup of finely chopped green onions
1/2 cup of butter
1/4 cup of flour
1 medium size white onion, chopped
4 cups of milk
4 cups of chicken broth
1 15 oz jar of pasteurized process cheese spread
Add salt and black pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon of yellow mustard

METHOD

1. In a soup pot over high heat combine the water, carrots, green onions and celery. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Set aside but do not drain.
2. In a large stockpot melt the butter over medium heat and add the onion. Saute for 1 minute then add the flour blending well.
3. In a large saucepan bring the milk and broth to a boil.
4. Whisk the milk-broth mixture into the flour-onion mixture in the large stockpot with a wire whisk.
5. Stir in the cheese, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, mustard and the cooked veggies including the water in which they were cooked.
6. Bring to a boil and serve immediately.

This soup was not as thick as I thought it would be so don't be surprised if it comes out that way for you too.