Dana Fixes the Soup

It's truly nasty here in Southern Indiana today, cold and rainy with sleet expected. I had a fresh batch of chicken broth in the house, so soup seemed the perfect thing to make for supper. I heated 2 quarts of chicken broth while I grated a half-pound block of sharp cheddar. Once the broth was hot, I whisked the cheese in a little at a time, and at the time it seemed to melt. I then added a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced, and a 1 pound bag of frozen broccoli "cuts" and let the whole thing simmer.

Bad idea. My cheese separated out into goobery little clumps. It was unattractive, made for a less-than-ideal texture, and meant that a lot of the cheese flavor was locked in those clumps, instead of in the soup. Argh.

So I got out my trusty blender. It was clear the clumps of cheese-guck would float if they could be stirred away from the chicken cubes and broccoli. So I stirred the soup and carefully skimmed the broth and floating cheese clumps off the top, into the blender. When I had a blender full of lumpy broth, I ran the blender till it was smooth, then poured it back into the pot. I repeated this maneuver a good half-dozen times, till I pureed most of the cheese-boogers back into a smooth state.

In the process I also added a little xanthan, a teaspoon of dry mustard (I would have added more, but I ran out) and a half a can of evaporated milk. Cream would have been better, and lower carb, too, but I wanted to save what little cream I have on hand for That Nice Boy I Married's coffee tomorrow morning. And see that part about the weather being godawful; I so seriously don't want to go out.

So anyway, now my soup is reasonably smooth and creamy, and the flavor is nicely balanced between cheese and chicken. Not my best performance, but it should make a good, warming supper on a nasty night.

(Some of you may be thinking that this is why it would be better to make my soup with Velveeta or other processed cheese. And it is quite true that Velveeta wouldn't have clumped up like my real cheddar did. But 8 ounces of real cheddar has 913 calories, 56 grams protein, and just 3 grams of carb. 8 ounces of Velveeta has 1134 calories, and a whopping 43 grams of carb. It does have more protein -- 71 grams -- but this soup doesn't really need more protein. It's not worth the extra carbs.)

As it is, assuming we get 5 servings out of this pot of soup, each will have 400 calories, 39 grams of protein, 10 grams of carb, 3 grams of fiber, 7 grams usable carb. Heavy cream in place of the evaporated milk would axe 3 grams of carb from each serving, but add 72 calories. I'd call it a wash, unless you're on induction or have a really low critical carb level.