Cream of Broccoli Soup

My son LOVES broccoli!  Soup?  Not so much.  Unfortunately for him, winter has finally hit Long Island with a vengeance!  What I crave in cold weather like this is soup.  Canned soup is traditionally high in sodium, but homemade soup is seriously so easy to make.  Even if you are not big on cooking, you can make soup!  I figured I would try making this soup, and because the little guy's favorite veggie is in it, he would try it!  I used homemade chicken stock (another great way to control the sodium in your homemade foods), and added some carrot and potato (in lieu of a roux to thicken it up) to add a little extra vegetables!  I just had some for lunch, and it was pretty good for a first attempt!  Tonight, I'll find out if it is child friendly in my house!  (**UPDATE:  He did not like it the first go; he tasted it, said it was good but wouldn't have any more.  So like the saying goes, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!"**)

Ingredients:

• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 6 cups broccoli, chopped
• 2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 4 cups of chicken stock (I used homemade, but you can use whatever you have on hand)
• 2 cups of milk, preferably skim or low-fat
• dash of nutmeg, roughly 1/4 teaspoon
• kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

• If you can, the night before chop up all of your vegetables to you're ready to go!  Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter on the bottom of a large stockpot.  Add the carrots, onion and garlic and sweat until the onion is transparent and the carrots start to soften up a little.  Be careful not to burn your butter or your garlic and onions.

• Add the stock, broccoli and potatoes and bring to a boil.  Cover and bring down to simmer until the potatoes are tender and the broccoli is bright green and tender; about 15 minutes.  

• Take the soup in batches, and transfer to a blender.  Make sure you only fill blender to about halfway and cover the top with a towel!  The worst thing is to be burnt by exploding soup!  Puree thoroughly and transfer to another pot.  Continue until all of the soup has been pureed.
• Add milk and stir to combine thoroughly.  You can add more or less milk, depending on how thick you want your soup to be.  Season with the nutmeg and salt and pepper.  Heat through and serve.