celery broccoli soup

are you one of those people who shies away from celery because you hate getting those ‘stringy’ pieces stuck in your teeth? i am. :) but in the spirit of spring and all things fresh & green, i thought i’d celebrate the first day of spring with a batch of homemade celery broccoli soup. it’s spring — why not?!

this was my first attempt at making homemade soup with celery and broccoli, so it was a bit of a guessing game with ingredients and quantities… at the end of this sunday afternoon culinary experiment, i was pretty satisfied with the result, and i’m curious to see how the leftovers will fare as weekday lunches.

prep ingredients:
– 1 bunch celery stalks (remove stems & leaves, chop celery into bite-size pieces)
– stems from 1 bunch organic broccoli (chopped, excluding florets)
(tip: this is a great way to use up broccoli stems leftover from another recipe that only calls for broccoli florets.)

– 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (grated)
– 1/4 cup fresh italian parsley (diced)
– 1/4 red onion (rough chop)

blending & simmering:
– heat up 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (evoo) in large pot on high heat
– brown 1/8 red onion w/ evoo
– blend & puree: celery, broccoli, red onion, 1 cup skim milk & 1 cup low-fat plain yogurt in blender
(tip: you may need to do this in several batches, depending on your blender’s capacity.)

– add blended mixture to large pot on medium heat
– add parsley & parmesan
– add 2 tsp light margarine
– add 1/2 cup water
– add a dash of salt
– simmer for 15-20min & stir occasionally
– season w/ ground black peppercorns to taste

food styling:
– serve warm in small bowl or teacup
– garnish w/ sprig of fresh italian parsley