Oh don’t we all love Monday’s?  It is always the longest day of the week.  Our time clocks are still recovering from the weekend.  And when it’s cold outside, it doesn’t make it any better.  For Meatless Monday, I made a huge, and I mean a huge pot of Vegetable Chowder Soup.  It is packed with tons of veggies and comes out so creamy .

Grab a big spoon because you won’t want to miss one drop of this luscious soup.

INGREDIENTS:

Yields more than 12 cups.

I entered this into the Recipe builder on WW and based on 12 cups, 1 cup per serving came out to .75.  So I am going to say this is 1 PP per cup.

• 3 Tablespoons light butter (I used Melt brand (2PP per Tablespoon)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 4 medium carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 8 ounces mushrooms, chopped
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 bouillon cube — 2 cubes if use water instead of broth
• 3  zucchini,  chopped
• 1 15 oz. can corn with liquid
• 1 teaspoon crushed basil
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 Tablespoon. flour (I used Wondra)
• 2/3 cup 2% low-fat evaporated milk
• 1 cup lite shredded cheese (I used Trader Joe’s brand)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a large stock pot, heat oil or butter over medium-high heat

Saute garlic and onions until onions are soft

Add celery, carrots, mushrooms, broth, bouillon cubes, salt, and pepper

Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 minute

Stir in zucchini, corn, bay leaf, and other seasonings

Boil for 10 minutes

In a small bowl, mix the flour and evaporated milk until smooth

Remove Bay Leaf

Add the milk mixture to the veggie mixture until well combined.

Remove from heat and stir in cheese.  NOTE:  If you plan on freezing the soup, I recommend you just add 1 Tablespoon of shredded cheese to each cup of soup that you dish out.  If you want to give it a “kick”, add crushed red pepper flakes instead of the black pepper.

Change up the veggies according to your taste.  A good choice would be to add a puree of cauliflower as a thickening agent so that it could resemble a potato chowder.  If you decide to try it with the cauliflower, please let me know how it turns out.

Serve and enjoy!

You can freeze the rest in 1 cup containers.