I love Panera. I love absolutely everything about it. I love the coziness, the smells, and literally every single thing they make. Probably one of my favorites would have to be their broccoli and cheese soup. Something about it is so comforting and yet you are eating veggies…and some cheese, of course. I would try and make it at home, but something was just missing.

Last year, I found this recipe that is as close as I have ever been able to come to the real thing. I make it a lot for my lunch for the week. It’s so filling with not a lot of calories!

Broccoli and cheese soup

• One head of fresh broccoli, cut florets and the top half of the stalk into small pieces
• 3 carrots, about 1 cup shredded
• 1 small onion, chopped (I used red onion the last time)
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 cups of shredded mixed cheese, I used Kraft triple cheddar
• 1 cup of half and half (or 3/4 cup of whole milk and 1/4 cup of heavy cream)
• 3 tbsp of flour
• 3 tbsp of butter
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp of garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp of allspice
• 1/2 tsp of Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste
• diced tomatoes, green peppers, and onion as an additional topping (optional)

Add the chopped broccoli, carrots, onions, garlic, and the bay leaf into the broth and simmer on medium heat for 15- 20 minutes, covered. Once your veggies are tender, start to melt your butter in a larger pot, whisking constantly. Once your butter is melted, add in the 3 tbsp of flour slowly until incorporated. Next, pour the broth from the veggies into the butter and flour mixture, or roux, and continue mixing until it thickens. Add the veggies in. Stir in the half and half and simmer, uncovered. Take out the bay leaf and add in the remaining spices. In small batches, stir in 1 1/2 cups of the shredded cheese. You can use the remaining cheese and the tomato, pepper, and onion trio to go on top.

12 oz of soup and 5 Ritz crackers= 300 calories!

There are some days where you need a quick meal and then there are those Sunday meals, meals where all of the family gets together and you have this amazing meal that took a little bit longer but was so worth it. I will also note that the calories don’t count at these meals, which makes them the best kind!

Our latest Sunday meal was bacon wrapped pork tenderloin, Boursin mashed potatoes, and roasted veggies. It was everything that a Sunday meal should be! I, personally, think that mashed potatoes were created by angels and sent to us to enjoy, so any Sunday meal normally includes mashed potatoes, but Boursin mashed potatoes are taking it to a whole other level!  Enough talking, let’s talk about how to make this meal!

Bacon wrapped pork tenderloin, Boursin mashed potatoes, and roasted veggies

• Pork tenderloin
• 4-6 slices of bacon
• seasoning of choice ( I used McCormick Grillmates Roasted Garlic and herb)
• 1 -2 lbs of red potatoes, chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1 wheel of Boursin garlic and herb cheese
• 1 lb of asparagus, trimmed and cut into thirds
• 8 oz of baby portabella mushrooms, quartered
• 1/2 red onion, chopped into similar sized pieces to mushrooms
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• Milk for mashed potatoes (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Set (room temperature) pork tenderloin on a roasting pan or a baking sheet with a cooling rack to allow the heat to go all the way around. Season the tenderloin with your favorite seasoning. Next, wrap the tenderloin with bacon until all of it is covered. Roast the tenderloin until the internal temperature is between 145-160 degrees and the bacon is browned. (Approximately 20 minutes per pound) Let pork rest for 3-5 minutes before slicing.

Meanwhile, start the chopped red potatoes to boil and cook until fork tender. Drain and drop Boursin cheese into the potatoes along with salt and pepper to taste. Using a hand held mixer, whip the potatoes until creamy. If you like your potatoes a little creamier, you can add a couple of tbsp of milk and mix in.

When the tenderloin has about 5 minutes left, put all of the chopped veggies on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and garlic powder if desired and roast for 10 minutes.

Slice the tenderloin and place the slices on top of a huge dollop of mashed potatoes accompanied with a huge spoonful of roasted veggies that would make your Momma proud! Sunday meals are the best!

It’s getting to be that time of year in Florida where everyone is thinking about bathing suit season as the temperatures keep rising. Everyone starts thinking about thinning down and preparing for being outside more, doing cookouts and other outdoor activities. Most everyone also starts to think about keeping the inside of the house cooler and not heating the kitchen up as much, this is where salads for dinner come in and this one is the perfect one! Most all of this salad could be done on the grill, light yet filling, and figure friendly with lots of proteins and great fats!

BBQ chicken chopped salad

• 4-6 chicken breasts
• Your favorite BBQ sauce ( I used Weber sweet and thick original BBQ sauce-so good!)
• one can of black beans, drained
• 2 ears of corn on the cob
• bagged salad or a head of your choice of lettuce
• cherry tomatoes
• cucumbers, chopped
• bunch of cilantro, leaves pulled off and chopped
• shredded cheese
• favorite Ranch dressing ( I used Marie’s Asiago Peppercorn or I make my own Ranch .)

optional toppings:

• avocado
• diced boiled eggs
• green onions

Put the chicken on the grill. As the chicken is grilling, warm the black beans in a small pot on the stovetop or on the burner on the grill. For the corn, you can boil it on the stove top along side of the black beans, or you can grill it. To grill it, simply leave the husks on and place them on the grill for 15-20 minutes. If you want a little bit of grill marks, pull the husks back and set back on the grill, turning to get desired color.

While the chicken, beans, and corn are cooking, start to chop all of the veggies, lettuce of choice, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and cilantro.

Once the chicken is almost done, brush on a little bit of BBQ sauce on each side and then set the chicken aside for 5 minutes to rest before cutting.

Cut the corn off of the cob.

Add the corn and black beans to the salad. Top the whole salad with the chicken and drizzle the Ranch dressing on top!

Now THAT, Ladies and Gentleman, is a salad!

I live in Florida, as I have mentioned before, which means that it is hot most of the year. {Like 11 months out of the year…} That doesn’t really give us a lot of opportunities to do bonfires throughout the year, which means s’mores are not really something that we have very often.

S’mores are probably one of my mother in law’s favorite things so I feel like I am always on the look out for ways of still having them without the bonfire. S’mores dip was a pretty big slam dunk, but this combo of brownies and s’mores is a match made in Heaven!

S’mores brownies

• One box of brownie mix, prepared
• 2 cups of mini marshmallows
• 4 graham crackers, crushed
• 2 Hershey’s bars

Preheat oven. Prepare brownies as usual. Bake brownies for 15 minutes. Pull them out and top with crushed graham crackers, marshmallows, and chopped up Hershey’s. Bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. Turn broil on and lightly brown the marshmallows, watching closely so that they do not burn.

Be prepared for gooey amazingness!!!!