Broccoli is one word I can never spell correctly! I always want to do one ‘c’ and two ‘l’s. Just because I can’t spell it doesn’t mean I don’t like to eat it though! It’s one of my favorite vegetables. I remember craving it when I was pregnant. And even when I was at a stage where I couldn’t eat cooked vegetables (they all had to be raw – my poor husband!) I still liked cooked broccoli.
I found myself with a nearly bare fridge one night and dinner rapidly approaching. I had just cleaned out the vegetable drawer which was in a distinctly non-Martha state – lots of rotten things hiding at the bottom. There wasn’t much to choose from once the purge was over, so I turned to Martha for inspiration. I got out Martha Stewart’s Cooking School cookbook and looked up every remaining vegetable I had left in the index, hoping for a brilliant idea. I hit the jackpot with broccoli.
I remember when the book came out and Martha did a segment on her show about cream soups that actually had no cream in them. Seemed a bit odd to me, but I never got around to trying it. The time was right.
Martha says to cook onions in butter then add flour and cook briefly. Add chicken broth and cook to a boil. This did make a very nicely thickened soup base that was very creamy looking. Next you add your broccoli to the soup and cook it in the soup, then use a hand blender to puree it.
This is totally different from how I’ve made broccoli soup in the past. I usually steam the broccoli then chop it up in the Cuisinart and add it to the soup. I like Martha’s method better for sure.
I did add some cream at the end (Martha said it was optional). I also felt the soup was a little bland, so I added some thyme and some grated white cheddar which livened it up a lot.
This soup had a smooth, creamy texture and a very nice fresh flavor to it. It was very easy and fast to make – you can get this done in half an hour or less. I was amazed that both kids ate it – and then asked for more! I almost fell off my chair. Broccoli is the one vegetable they will both eat, but even though they are 17 and 11, they normally insist on only nibbling at the tops of the florets and not eating any stem. This is a sneaky way to get them to eat more of it. I’ll definitely make this soup again.
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Posted by Brette Sember 
One of the items I inherited from my grandmother is an old cedar chest. We found it in her basement, covered in cobwebs. It got my attention because it is on legs. As you can see, there is a piece broken off (but we have it, so it can be repaired).
Thank you to 
blogs I love:
Lucinda Scala Quinn, you are a genius. Lucinda is a host of Everyday Food and a bigwig at MSLO. Whenever I see something from her, I know it’s going to be good.
We recently redid our bathroom, which was a nightmare to live through, but I love the end result. I went with a blue and green color scheme – beachy colors.
I love roast chicken. The way it smells when it cooks, the way the skin gets crispy, the white meat, and then picking at the remains at the end of dinner. The thing about roast chicken is that you put it on the table and you feel as though you’ve made a real MEAL. Martha has a recipe for what she called Perfect Roast Chicken, in Martha Stewart’s Cooking School cookbook.
Next up is another picnic basket. This one is from my childhood. This is the basket my grandmother used to take on picnics with me. We often went to the park to have lunch. This is also what I think of as The Kitten Basket. My grandfather and his brother ran a greenhouse. Every spring the mama kitty that lived in the greenhouse had kittens. My grandmother would bring this basket with a towel in it and walk me over to the greenhouse. My grandfather would have already scoped out where the mama kitty was hiding her babies (often it was behind the boiler) and he would climb into wherever it was and get them out for me. We would put them in the basket and carry it back to my grandmother’s house where I would put the kittens out on a blanket in her sunroom and play with them. I can only imagine what the poor mama kitty thought about this!
The cookie dough was easy to make. After chilling, I rolled it out and tried to cut out the cookies. I cut out the template, but the middle part where it curves in felt like it was too thin, so I wanted to make them a bit bigger. As you can tell, I’m not very talented at cutting things out of dough without a template!
The sundaes were really pretty when assembled. I didn’t think I would like this, but I did. I thought the cookie spoons would break and get mushy. They actually did work and I liked the taste of the sundae with the cookie. This was yummy and really a very easy dessert to make. Nice one, Martha!
Martha and Me 
