Broccoli Cheese Potato Soup

It's been raining here in Dallas for the past few days, so when I thought about what I wanted to make for dinner tonight, a soup came to mind. Thinking about the ingredients I had on hand, I figured a broccoli-cheese and potato soup would be hearty and fit the bill. I did a (very) brief search for a recipe with these ingredients and came up with nill. Most broccoli cheese soups apparently do not have potato in them. So I took a soup recipe from Panera Bread Company and made it my own.

Broccoli Cheese Potato Soup

1/2 onion
2 tablespoons of butter
1 stalk of celery
1/4 cup of flour
2 cups of fat free half and half
2 cups of chicken stock
2 carrots
1 medium to large potato
1 big bunch of broccoli
1 cup of cheddar (I had to use a Mexican blend because it was what I had on hand, but cheddar would have been better.)

Dice onion into small pieces and saute in the butter over medium heat. Add diced celery, salt and pepper. When onion is translucent, add flour and stir/whisk for 3 minutes or so to "cook" the flour. Don't walk away or it will burn! Add all of the half and half while stirring out any lumps. Add chicken stock. Add diced carrots, chopped broccoli and potato. Simmer for 20 minutes or until potato is cooked through. With an immersion blender (or by transfering half of the soup to a blender) puree the soup, leaving it a bit chunky. Add cheese stirring it to melt in. Serves 6-8 portions, I served with a grilled cheese sandwich. Crumbled up bacon would have been delicious too!
-Amanda