Creamy Celery Broccoli Beer Cheese Soup – Gluten Free

Recipe inspiration:

I would like to give a big shout out to my Gluten Free Foodies in Minnesota for my inspiration. I lived through three of the harshest, snowiest winters in St. Paul, Minnesota many moons ago. Believe it or not, there were many things I loved about Minneapolis-St. Paul – food was one of them! One of the things that I fell head over heels for was beer cheese soup.
I just had to create this Gluten Free version of beer cheese soup after being so chilled and hungry for some real feel good comfort food today. I had such a craving for some steamy goodness. This soup is even better than I remember!

Recipe ingredients:

- 12 oz Organic Cream of Celery Condensed Soup - Pacific Natural Foods - NEW
1 medium head of broccoli
1 medium yellow onion
2 Tbs olive oil
sea salt
black pepper
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bottle Red Bridge Gluten Free Beer - optional
1 1/2 cups Tillamook Vintage White Medium Cheddar Cheese, shredded

Cooking instructions:

Heat the soup in the slow cooker on medium. Cover and let it slowly heat while you prepare the rest of the soup.Chop the broccoli into small pieces using a little bit of the stem. Chop the onion into small pieces.
Add olive oil to a pan and heat on medium. Add the broccoli and onion to the pan and gently toss to coat all of the pieces with the oil. Let simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add 2 generous pinches of sea salt and coarse black pepper. Chop and add the garlic, mix well. Turn off the heat and add the broccoli, onion and garlic to the soup in the slow cooker. Add the gluten free beer ... 3/4 of the bottle and save the rest for the cook! (Just to make sure that everything else goes well) Mix well, cover and heat on high for 30 minutes.Shred the Tillamook Vintage Medium White Cheddar Cheese to equal approximately 1 1/2 cups. After the soup has heated for 30 minutes, add 1 cup of the shredded white cheddar cheese to the soup. Mix well, cover and let heat or melt for at least 10 minutes. I love love love this velvety smooth bold cheese! It goes really well with apples, pears and nut crackers!
Serve hot in your favorite bowls with a little extra Vintage White Cheddar Cheese and some fresh black pepper! Total time to make this is approximately 1 hour. Serves 4 - 1 cup servings as an appetizer or 2 good size bowls for a meal with some crusty Gluten Free rolls!