Broccoli Cheddar Soup

We are cooped up in our house on a rainy day and decided that a warm soup would be great for lunch.  This recipe is a conglomeration of several we found on the web, with a standard Skilling addition - BACON!

Ingredients:

1 medium onion - chopped 

1/4 stick of butter

one clove fresh garlic - minced

2/3 heads of broccoli - chopped (fresh or frozen)

1 Tb black pepper

2 cups 2% milk

1quart chicken broth

1/2 cup flour 

1 slice bacon - diced 

8oz grated cheddar cheese

 Cook the butter and onion for about 3-5 minutes on medium heat until the onions soften up and then add the garlic, pepper, broccoli (we had some frozen and some fresh and used both), chicken broth, and bacon (cooked and diced).  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to cook the broccoli for about 20 minutes uncovered.  Mix the milk and flour with a whisk (this worked better with warm or room temp milk) separately.  Once the broccoli is cooked through and soft, add the milk and flour and then we used a hand blender to puree the soup to a uniform consistency.  Warm the soup up, and then slowly add and stir the cheddar so that it will not clump.  We did not need to add any salt, probably because of the bacon.  This turned out to be very tasty and was a perfect soup on a rainy and lazy Saturday.