Dinner in Marksville

I have been preoccupied with my family for the last few days and haven't gotten a post up on what we have been eating, which has mostly been pizza and left overs. Last night was the first night in a few nights that I have made dinner for the family. We had breaded pork chops, baked potatoes and carrots for dinner last night nothing too fancy. 

Even though I am still not feeling well I decided tonight I would look through some recipes and make something a little different for dinner. 

I decided on Cheddar Broccoli Soup, Garlic Bread for dinner with Baked Pears with Walnuts and Honey for dessert.  

I didn't change the recipe for the Baked Pears at all so you can see the recipe at the above link, but I did change the Cheddar Broccoli Soup recipe up a bit. 

As always anything changed is in red next to the original recipe. 

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 stalk celery, chopped (about 1/2 cup) omitted because we didn't have any.
• 1 large carrot, chopped (about 1/2 cup) I used a can of sliced carrots with liquid instead
• 1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves, crushed (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups water, divided
• 1 box (10 oz.) frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained I used a 16oz bag of Broccoli spears 
• 1 can (14.5 oz.) low sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
• 1 jar Ragu® Double Cheddar Sauce

1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat and cook celery, carrot, onion and thyme until vegetables are almost tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in 1 cup water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. I only cooked the onion and thyme with the olive oil, then added in the can of carrots with liquid, broccoli and let come to a boil.  
2. Process vegetable mixture and broccoli in food processor or blender until smooth; return to saucepan. I like my soup with some body so I just mashed the vegetable up with my potato masher. 
3. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup water, broth and Sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 10 minutes.

With the Baked Pears if you are using crisp pears I suggest baking them a bit more and serving with yogurt, or vanilla ice cream. This recipe would be best with super ripe pears.