Day 5, Week 1 Creamy No Cream Broccoli Soup

I wanted to hate this recipe... I really did.  I mean seriously, creamy broccoli soup?  How LAME!  Yeah... this is awesome.  Easy.  Healthy.  1/2 of my twins loved it (which isn't saying much for the non-lover since the night before he outright refused pizza.  Crazy eating habits of a two-year-old)  Don't make the mistake of thinking this is a hard recipe.  I made it today after a long road trip with the twins, and still got dinner on the table in 30 minutes after arriving home.  Woot woot.

• Step 1: finely chop up 3 carrots, 3 stalks celery (with leaves) and an onion.  Toss in a large pan on medium-high that was covered in oil.  Stir around for 5 minutes.  
• Step 2: Add 2 cans of chicken broth (28ish ounces total) and sprinkle with pepper (does anyone actually measure this stuff?  1/2 tsp-ish) Bring to a boil.  After adding the broth, it's a good time to take your spoon and scrape the junk that got stuck to the bottom of the pot.  Dat's good stuff!
• Step 3: Chop off the florets of 3 small heads of broccoli and toss them in the broth.  Add a 1/2 cup of instant brown rice, stir and then reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Stir frequently.
• Step 4: Take a hand blender (shout out to Saija for getting me hooked on this necessary kitchen appliance!  YOU ROCK!!!) and blend as much of the chunks that you can.
• Add 2 cups of milk and 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
• Serve with hot crusty bread.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

All done!!  What a great color!

Guilt free eating??? Yes please.