It's all in the bread...

So picking dinner for last night went a little something like this:

Me:  How bout we make broccoli cheese soup for Tuesday night?

Scott:  ummmmmm....

Me:  And I can get us some Trader Joe's pretzel bread to dip...

Scott:  Oh yeah...that sounds good!

So I introduce:  The bread that saved dinner:) ...

I added wayyyyyy more fresh broccoli then the recipe recommended...I wasn't messin around;)  I even tossed in all of those random broccoli leaves:) 

To thicken up the soup, I whisked together a half a cup of flour with 2 1/2 cups of 1% milk.  It made a perfect consistency without a DROP of cream or butter!

OK and now the decadent part:  The cheese portion of the program:)  I had bought this as a total impulse purchase during...ahem...Christmas time....so I figured this was one of the "lesser evil" ways of polishing it off;) 

It was a little more than half a block, I swear! :) 

A little hit from my hand blender (From Tricia...thanks, cuz!:) and we were in business.  Seriously, this thing blended the soup in about three seconds!

And wallah....a smooooth and creamy broccoli cheese soup without TOO much guilt;)

And of course, you just NEED bread for dipping...and that pretzel bread is just oh-so-perfect:)

And for the record, I actually made this soup during my little cooking spurt on Sunday...so all we had to do last night was heat it up for 10 minutes.  That little effort on the weekends always goes MILES for quick dinners throughout the week.  Plus, it gives all of the flavors of the soup time to come together...win/win!:)

And ummmm...since I had to pick up some fresh pretzel bread from Trader Joe's ANYWAY...I thought I'd try out one of their "Fearless Flyer" items:)  This strawberry cream cheese just sounded too good to pass up:)

I had my own little sweet & salty party with some pretzel slims and cinnamon sugar pita chips to dip:)  Delish!  The cream cheese was tart with a little kiss of sweet from the strawberries without any of that OVERLY fake tasting strawberry nonsense = love! :)

Sooooooo....since it's Wednesday (and I'm already on "Friday mode") I thought I'd tell you guys about where we're heading off to in a few weeks because I seriously can NOT. STOP. THINKING about it every second!

Ready??? .... 

I've got the City by the Bay on the brain!! :)  I am on SUPER. PLANNING. MODE x 100000 ;)  CAN NOT WAIT!!! :)  Any suggestions on things "not to miss?????"  I already can't wait for Alcatraz and the Redwood forest:)

Alright....as I go bouncing out of here, I hope you guys have a great Wednesday! :)

OH....one last thing:  the exercise for Tuesday:)

Tuesday Morning:  Body by Bethenny-40 minutes yoga

Tuesday Night: BBBethenny- 10 minutes arms (x2) + 5 minute "booty blast" (x2) = 30 minutes

I'm out;)