Instructions: 1. In bottom of large soup pot, saute onions and celery in butter over medium heat until softened but do not brown. Add broccoli and enough chicken stock to not quite cover.

2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until broccoli is quite tender, but not cooked to mush, about 1 hour.

3. With hand blender, puree broccoli and broth. If desired, remove a few pieces before pureeing and add back in when finished.

4. Pour one can of evaporated milk into hand-blender container, add the flour, and blend.

5. Add flour/milk mixture to soup along with cheddar cheese. Bring soup just to a boil while stirring. Soup should now have a moderately thick consistency. Add remaining can of milk, mixing with more flour if necessary to bring soup to desired consistency.

6. When soup has thickened, remove from heat or put on VERY low heat so that milk doesnt break. If necessary, gently reheat small batches in saucepan or in microwave. Soup will keep for 3-4 days in refrigerator.

Notes:
This is a Costco Special soup...I make it on days that I go to Costco because I get the ingredients there and its fast. In my area they sell a 3-pound bag of washed broccoli florets, which is what I based the recipe on.

I generally use evaporated milk in cream soup recipes for a couple of reasons. First, Ive found that evaporated milk has less of a tendency to break or curdle in soups than fresh half-and-half or cream. Second, evaporated milk is much more convenient and easy to have on hand.

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