Week 7: Canadian Cheese Soup

It's March and somehow I'm only in week 7 with this. Oh well! Some of these have had more than one recipe with it, so I'll consider it all good.

I'm not sure why we chose soup to do this week. Maybe it was the Canada vs. USA hockey game at the Olympics that made this one stand out. And sometimes, soup is just the right thing for dinner. Plus, this looked easy. I was ready for an easier recipe this time. I forgot to take pictures. But it is just soup...nothing fancy to see about it :)

Ingredients
4 tablespoons unslated butter
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely diced celery
1/2 cup finely diced carrot
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon paprika
3 cups whole milk
3 cups chicken broth
2 pounds aged sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place a large saucepan over medium heat and add the butter. When the butter is melted, add the onion, celery, and carrot and cook, sitrring for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft. Sprinkle the flour and paprika over the vegetables and stir for 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and broth and bring to a simmer. Simmer, whisking occasionally, for 10 minutes, until thickened. Decrease the heat to low and whisk in the cheese, salt, and pepper. Stir until the cheese is completely melted and incorporated. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Serve hot.

This was good and easy. The one mistake I made was going a little cheap on the cheese, I think. The end result was a little chunky. Had I been willing to spend the $30 for the really good sharp cheddar cheese, I think this would have been avoided. But we bought cheaper bricks and my daughter had a good time shredding while I did the rest of the work.