SOUP SEASON!!!

Dear Fall,

WELCOME BACK!!  I missed you!!!!

FINALLY, its my favorite season.  Sweatshirt weather, pumpkin eating, coffee drinking, soup making, cuddling under the covers, fall!  Pinterest has really added me in this blog process.  Without it I think that I might have given up in January when I started. But here I am still going strong in September.  It is almost one month until my one year wedding anniversary.  Can't believe that it has been a year, and a less stressful year, than the one leading up to our wedding!!!  Also it is almost Pappy's birthday!!  Some other things that I still can't believe, even though I live them day to day...I DON'T work at Walmart any more.  The crutch that I have used for 9 years is gone.  
Anyways, back to the cooking.  Like I always do when I gather pintrest recipes, I gather five, and then I go to the store and shop for the ingredients for the five.  Then slowly make the five.  Really it should be a process of three, cause that is my number, but IT has ended up with five.  
Last night I made, Brats and Beer Cheddar Cheese Soup.  OMG it is AMAZING.  For one, you make it in a pan on the stove, instead of cooking for hours.  The only bad part is prep.  There is a ton of prep work for this soup.  So it is not something simple...

You can find the recipe here: http://www.recipe.com/brats-and-beer-cheddar-chowder/

or here:

ingredients

• 2  tablespoons

  butter or margarine

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• 1  medium

  onion, finely chopped (1/2 cup)

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• 1  medium

  carrot, coarsely shredded (1/2 cup)

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• 3  large

  shallots, chopped
• 1  14-ounce can

  vegetable broth or 1-3/4 cups vegetable stock
• 1/3  cup

  all-purpose flour

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• 1  cup

  whole milk, half-and-half or light cream
• 1  teaspoon

  caraway seeds, crushed
• 1/4  teaspoon

  ground black pepper
• 10  ounces

  Wisconsin Aged Cheddar cheese or sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

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• 4 

  cooked smoked bratwurst, knockwurst or Polish sausage (about 12 ounces total), halved lengthwise and
• 1  12-ounce can

  beer or 12-ounce bottle ale

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directions

1.

In a large saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat. Add onion, carrot and shallots; reduce heat to medium low. Cook, stirring frequently, about 10 to 15 minutes or until the onion is very soft and golden.

2.

In a large screw-top jar, combine broth and flour. Cover and shake until combined and smooth. Stir into the onion mixture. Add the milk, caraway seeds and black pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes or until the mixture thickens. Gradually stir in the cheese; reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring frequently, until cheese melts, but do not boil. Stir in the bratwurst and beer. Cook, stirring frequently, until heated through. If you like, serve with rye bread. Makes 4 to 6 main-dish servings (7 cups).

This is what it looked like while I was doing it:

 

Making a Rue:

 

Praying that it tastes as good as it smells:

 

Adding way to much beer:

 

Suggestions:  While this soup was really really good there are some things that I would change.  1st, it needs more carrots, and I really didn't have time to make them as then as the recipe states but they still tasted good.  2nd, you really don't need the entire bottle of beer.  It doesn't cook down.  (Hubby suggested cooking the brats in the beer and then adding that to the soup cause the beer would cook down and you could still taste it.)  3rd, you really need an ale.  We used a lager, which is strong.  4th, add more cheese.  It wasn't cheesy enough so we added more.  5th, precook the brats.  It will make it so much more worth it.

ENJOY!!!