I’m back! (with broccoli and cheese soup).

Hello my long lost friends. I am sorry to have disappeared without as much as a word. I believe when we last left each other I was about to embark on a tropical vacation to St. John. Well – we did that. And it was lovely and amazing and relaxing and ahhhhh…. this little video of Theo just about sums it up.

Thank you dear husband for this gem. And no… we did not get him stoned. He was just high on life.

Minus a few not so happy car rides (he’s a city baby), Theo proved to be an excellent traveler! It bodes well for me and my travel-lusting tendencies. So life isn’t over once you become a parent? Score.

Oh – and here’s a little goodie taken by my friend Amie. It’s Theo & Rain… two little beach babes in paradise – could they be any cuter?

So where have I been you may ask? Well – sometimes when I take time off of blogging I find it hard to return. I get out of the groove and then I have too much to update you on so I get paralyzed. Theo’s inconsistent mini naps haven’t been helping. I’ll come to a conclusion about what I want to write. Then I’ll start to dive in and … “waaah, waaah”.

Shit. He’s up. I’ll blog later.

And so it goes. When I return, I no longer feel like dishing about what I felt like dishing about three days prior and I’m back to square one. Before I know it, two months have gone by and nothing. And I feel yuck. Because honestly, I miss talking to you. I miss sharing. Blogging does good things for my spirit. It makes me feel productive and connected. And I get such warm and positive feedback from you. You all invest in me. You spend time reading what flows out of my head! And that’s so cool! That makes me feel like I’m doing something right… something I shouldn’t stop doing.

Note to self: Not blogging leads to feelings of ickiness and dissatisfaction. KEEP BLOGGING! It is now an important part of your life! Make time for it!

Realization: I need to get myself a freaking babysitter already! (I’m working on it.)

Meanwhile, all of Theo’s mini friends are turning one. He is the youngest tot out of my Brooklyn mommy group so we’ve been hitting up birthday parties left and right. Now we are just seventeen days away from Theo himself turning one. I can hardly believe it. I’m getting a little emosh just thinking about it. I won’t go into it now… as I feel I need to really reflect and write a separate post about my first year of motherhood. I’m not quite ready to tackle that at the moment. But I can say with confidence that this has been the most life-changing year that I can remember. It’s all been a big wow in so many ways.

Here’s a photo of w/some of the Brooklyn mommy crew – the kiddos are getting big!

Now – for those of you on Facebook who wanted my broccoli and cheese soup recipe – here goes it. I sort of improvised off a recipe for cauliflower and cheese soup that was lovingly given to me by my doula, Megan. Yes – the one who brought me cheese. Love her.

Nell’s Broccoli & Cheese Soup:

Ingredients:

1 small onion diced
2-3 Tbsp ghee (clarified butter used often in Indian cooking – can use olive oil or butter instead!)
3 cloves pressed garlic
2 heads of broccoli (cut off florets – I didn’t use stalks but some other recipes include them – I’ll try it next time)
3 medium sized carrots (what I had in my fridge… pretty arbitrary) – sliced in roughly 1/4 inch rounds
3 cups of low sodium chicken stock (really just adding liquid to cover the veggies… amount might vary)
1 cup water
1 cup of milk (I used low fat)
about 10-14 oz. of shredded cheddar cheese (I used Shelburne Farms 2 Year Cheddar from VT)
salt and pepper to taste

Start by sautéing the onion in the ghee on medium heat in a dutch oven or a soup pot – I used my Le Creuset (swoon – love that thing)
When the onion is translucent and soft, add the pressed garlic and stir it around for 30 sec to a minute until it starts to smell all garlicky and yum.
Add the sliced carrots and mix together w/garlic and onions
Add 1 cup of chicken stock (so garlic doesn’t burn), turn the heat up to high and bring to a boil
Then simmer the carrots on medium-low for 5 minutes or so – just to soften them up a bit before adding the broccoli
Add the broccoli florets and then enough liquid to cover all the veggies. I added 1 cup of water plus 2 more cups of chicken broth – again, sort of arbitrary… feel free to experiment.
Turn heat back up to high and bring to a boil – then cover the pot, and simmer on medium-low heat for 20-30 minutes until the veggies are soft.
At this point, I took the pot off the heat and let the soup cool while we bathed Theo and put him to bed. Then I went back in with an immersion blender and blended up the soup to a nice smooth consistency.
Add 1 cup of milk and turn the burner back on to medium/low heat stirring occasionally
As the soup gets hot again, start adding the cheese while stirring so it gets all melty (yum… melty cheese).
Final touch – add some salt and pepper until it tastes just right then SERVE!