Cheddar Cheese Soup

Cool weather has finally come to Texas.  We couldn’t help but enjoy it with some nice warm chunky cheese soup.  It was my daughter’s turn to cook again, and she chose this dish from her Southern Living Kids Cookbook.

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter
½ cup chopped onions
1 cup shredded carrots
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup red or green bell pepper
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1/3 cup flour
1 (14 ½ ounce) can chicken broth
2 cups milk
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
4 slices bacon cooked and crumbled

First she fried the bacon.  It was Faith’s first time to fry bacon.  I’m thinking this should be her job from now on!

Next we assembled all of the other ingredients chopping all of the vegetables and setting them aside and shredding the cheese.  Then it was time to cook the soup.  She melted the butter in the pot and then cooked the vegetables.  When they were tender, we mixed in the flour for about one minute, and then added the chicken broth and milk.

Next she mixed in the salt and pepper and added handfuls of cheese stirring constantly until each handful of cheese was completely melted.  We used Tilamook sharp cheddar and it melted easily.  Yea!  It was done!  We ladled the soup into bowls and sprinkled bacon on top.

This is one of Faith’s favorite soups!

It was great to get back into the kitchen together!  We plan to make this a regular occasion again now that mom is feeling much better again.