White "Eat Your Veggies" Au Gratin Soup

As some of you know, after more than a year of not having a kitchen, I recently got half my kitchen back.  Cooking all my meals with just a microwave, a toaster oven, and a crock pot isn't always easy.  But I'm learning.  And I hope to start working on "healthy" soon.

I apologize for not having a picture of my own.  This one is from:  eatathomecooks.com.  Why didn't I take my own picture?  Here's the sad truth.  I couldn't sleep (my roof leaks and the drips drive me mental) so I got up in the middle of the night and made this soup in my big Pyrex mixing cup.  Yes, it was the only thing clean of the right size.  And yes, I ate it out of the mixing cup too.  See?  Real life here folks, in all its embarrassing glory.

Soup Serves 4.  (I scarfed down 2 servings--but hey, I needed the comfort)

White "Eat Your Veggies" Au Gratin Soup

2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
lots of white pepper (I used 1 tsp, you probably want to use less)
1/2 can chicken broth, approx 7 ounces
12oz can condensed evaporated milk (not the sweetened kind)
18oz mix of broccoli, cauliflower, and onions
  --I had 1/2 a package of broccoli cauliflower mix and 1/2 a package frozen onions
1/4 package reduced fat cream cheese (Neufchatel)
1" thick slice of 2% Velveeta
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First, cook your veggies.  I steamed mine with some additional butter.  After they are cooked, make sure you drain and chop the veggies into small bits.  You can skip this step but your soup will be really chunky, perhaps unpleasantly so.  Set aside.

Use a 2 quart microwave safe container (glass pyrex is nice).  Melt your butter for about 30 seconds.  Working quickly, add the flour and mix into a smooth paste.  Add the pepper.  Make sure there are no lumps and don't let this cool down enough for the butter to solidify.  Add your broth.  Microwave a minute or so.  Stir.  Add your evaporated milk.  Heat covered for 3-4 minutes, however long it takes to get a good boil going, but don't let it boil over.  If your flour butter mix gets clumpy and floats around on top, don't worry.  A sustained boil will get rid of that.  Just keep it going, heating and stirring then heating again until the lumps are gone.  The liquid should be getting thick, especially as it cools. 

Add chopped veggies.  Cut up the cream cheese and Velveeta and add to your soup.  Stir well.  Put back in the microwave and heat in 1 and 1/2 minute increments until cheeses are well melted.  4 minutes worked for me.  Check your seasonings at this point and then serve.

Suggestions:  adding crumbled bacon kicks things up even more.  What to do with leftovers?  Try adding 1 cup cooked shredded chicken or cubed ham.  Split some biscuits fresh out of the oven and pour soup mix on top (like Chicken Ala King). Yumsa.