June, this is an excellent soup. We love it.

Broccoli-Cheese Soup

1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups half-and-half (or 1 cup milk and 1 cup half-and-half)
2 cups chicken stock or bouillon
1/2 pound fresh broccoli
1 cup carrots, julienned
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese

Saute onion in butter. Set aside.

Cook melted butter and flour using a whisk over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Stir constantly and slowly add the half-and-half,then the chicken stock whisking all the time. Simmer for a few minutes.

Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Cook over low heat until the veggies are tender for 20-25 minutes. Add salt and pepper.

The soup should be thickened by now. Pour in batches into blender and puree (or use an immersion blender).

Return to pot over low heat and add the grated cheese; stir until well blended. Stir in the nutmeg and serve.

My recipe is very similar. I cut down on the fat without sacrificing taste....at least I don't think I sacrifice taste..;-)

One medium onion chopped
2 stalks celery chopped
Sautee in 2 T butter until soft but not brown ( I use my Enameled cast iron qt Dutch oven so I only use one pot)...sometimes I cut up 2 strips of bacon fry it in the pot and use that fat instead of butter to sautee the celery and onion....and I like the bits of bacon in the finished soup.
Add 2 cups chopped broccoli (peel the stems before chopping)
and 2 cups chicken broth. Simmer until the broccoli is fork tender....about 15 minutes.
With a whisk mix 1/3 cup flour with 1 cup of chicken broth until smooth and slowly add to the pot of simmering soup, stirring constantly so it doesn't form lumps. Simmer about 5 minutes after the soup returns to a boil so that the soup thickens and the flour cooks.
Then add 3 oz cream cheese, cut into bits and cook and stir until it melts, add 1 cup whole milk and heat to simmer.
Add 1 tsp worchestershire sauce and half a pound of a good sharp chedder cheese, grated.
Heat and stir until cheese melts....do NOT boil after adding the cheese or the cheese will clump.
I don't puree this soup....and sometimes I will add a cup of potatoes along with the broccoli, making it more chowder like.
Linda C

What could I use instead of flour for the thickener? I'd like to avoid those high glycemic carbs.

Here's mine. You can't tell there's sweet potato in it, but it gives a nice colour. There is no thickener necessary. I usually used evaporated skim milk instead of cream to save on fat calories.

Broccoli-Cheddar Soup
Recipe courtesy Food Network Magazine
Ingredients
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups half-and-half
1 pound russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 bay leaf
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cups chopped broccoli florets
1/3 pound sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1 1/3 cups)
Croutons, for topping (optional)
Directions
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth, half-and-half, both potatoes, bay leaf, 2 cups water, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, put the broccoli in a microwave-safe bowl; add 3 tablespoons water and season with salt. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes; drain.
When the potatoes are tender, remove the bay leaf from the soup and transfer the soup to a blender. Puree until smooth, leaving the filler cap slightly open to let steam escape (or puree the soup in the pot with an immersion blender). Return the soup to the pot and thin with water, if necessary. Return to a simmer over medium-low heat; stir in the broccoli and season with salt and pepper.
Add the cheese and stir until melted. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with croutons, if desired.
I used 1 cup of half and half and one cup of skim and 1 cup of grated sharp cheddar and used more like 4 cups of broccoli. Didn�t bother with the croutons.
Made 6 generous servings although the following is based on 4 servings:
Per serving: Calories 589; Fat 34 g (Saturated 18 g); Cholesterol 97 mg; Sodium 931 mg; Carbohydrate 50 g; Fiber 8 g; Protein 22 g

Thanks for your responses...they sound wonderful and easy. Will try one of them tomorrow and let you know how they liked it.

june

You can thicken a sooup with corn starch...and use less than flour, but I think the saving in carbs is not worth mentioning....you can also thicken a "cream" soup with pureed cooked rice...or cooked potato...but the carb loading likely will be worse than 1/3 cup of flour in a quart and a half of soup. That amounts to less than 1 tablespoon flour per serving....about the amount in one cracker.
You also could use sifted whole wheat flour to thicken it with. Not quite the loading effect of white flour....but in reality the vegetables ameliorate the load of the flour.

Frankly in creamed soups, it's not the flour/carbs I worry about...it's the fat...particularly with a cheese soup, sauteeing vegetables in butter, adding cream and then cheese. Good stuff....but wowser!!

Well I made the recipe that jasdip posted and it turned out great. The only glitch was my food processor chose this day to call it quits so I ended up using my little processor and did it in batches.. Will definetly be making it again. And I also used milk instead of the 1/2 and 1/2 came out perfect.
Thanks again.

June

These sound pretty good. I'll have to bookmark this and give one of them a try. For years I've been making a Broccoli Cheddar soup that's basically a doctored can of soup.

1 can Campbells Chunky Chicken Broccoli Cheese and Potato soup
1 can 2% milk
2 cups broccoli florets (steamed)
1 cup finely shredded Cheddar

Cook broccoli florets in steamer pan.
Mix soup and milk in pan, heat to simmering.
Add broccoli, and stir in cheese a handful at a time.

But several of the above recipes sound like they'd be both better and better for you.

Simmer until broccoli has desired doneness. Serve.

tobyt, I like the idea of adding sweet potato, I'm going to try that.

Elery didn't use the food processor, he hit it with the immersion blender. My mother loved it but I thought we should have reserved some of the broccoli to stir in at the end so it would have chunks of vegetable.

Annie