Recipe: broccoli, cannellini bean and cheddar soup

This is a really easy and incredibly nutritious soup. It takes about 15 minutes to make. It does require blending, you can use either a standard blender or one of the handy-dandy immersion blenders. If you try this, don't let the ugly green color scare you, it is quite tasty.

You will need:
6 cups of broccoli florets, fresh or frozen will work
2 c. chicken broth
1 c. water
1 can any type of white bean
1 c. sharp cheddar cheese
pepper and garlic powder to taste

In a 4 quart pot bring water and broth to a boil. Add broccoli and boil until tender, about 10 minutes. Add beans and heat through, about another 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat. Blend until smooth.

Upright blender: add half of the broccoli and bean mixture and half of the cheese to blender. Blend until smooth and pour into bowl. Add the other half of veggies and cheese and repeat.

Immersion blender: you can dump your cheese in and mix until smooth.

This recipe makes 4 servings around 225 calories each. I did use 2% milk fat cheese instead of full fat. It's a very filling soup thanks to the 9 grams of fiber in each serving.