I miss my mom. I miss her when I see her friends perfectly quote her on Facebook to me. I especially miss her when I watch my youngest paint her nails and ask me questions about makeup to which I have no answers except, “Your Oma would love these questions.”

I missed my mom so much this week that I made this broccoli and cheddar soup. I used to eat bowls of this soup every Wednesday as a kid when we would take my Oma to Abdow’s Big Boy for her fish and mashed potatoes and cream pie. Apparently I would get the soup and salad bar every time, enjoy several bowls of soup, and then just fill my plate with broccoli and ranch dressing.

Of course the easiest way to have broccoli cheddar soup is to open a can. This isn’t that simple, but there are lots of shortcuts I do. Instead of buying a head of broccoli, I chopped up a half a bag of the two pounds of broccoli florets I picked up at Costco this week. (I used the other pound to make my beloved roasted broccoli and kimchi Caesar salad last night.)

I also used a bag of shredded cheddar cheese instead of standing at the counter and grating a block of it. And while in the past I would use a box of organic vegetable stock I keep in the pantry, I simply used some Better Than Bouillon and five cups of water.

As for the dairy in this recipe, whatever you have on hand will work. I’ve done half-and-half like the recipe calls for, heavy cream, and this week, the 2% Lactaid I had in the fridge because I couldn’t be bothered to go back out to the market.

The recipe is from “Soup: A Kosher Collection” by Pam Reiss, a cookbook I know I snatched off a pile of books to review from when I worked at a Jewish paper 20 years ago. Every recipe I’ve tried has been great, and the author not only categorizes the recipes by dairy, meat, parve and Passover appropriate, but also says whether each recipe is good to freeze.

My youngest and I enjoyed this soup this week as I fondly remembered my mom. Now she’s the fourth generation to be part of the tradition.

Broccoli and Cheddar Soup

From “Soup: A Kosher Collection” by Pam Reiss

Ingredients

1 small yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped

2 tablespoon /25 milliliters olive oil

1 pound/500 grams broccoli florets (stems optional) cut into small pieces

1 teaspoon/5 milliliters salt

¼ teaspoon/1 milliliters black pepper

5 cups/1.25 liters stock

1 cup/250 milliliters half-and-half

5 tablespoon/75 milliliters all-purpose flour

½ pound/250 grams grated cheddar cheese

Directions

Over medium-low heat, sweat the onion in olive oil for five to eight minutes. Wilt the onion, but don’t brown it.

If you are using broccoli stems as well as florets, peel them with a vegetable peeler or paring knife to remove the tough, fibrous skin from the tender flesh, then chop them up.

Add the broccoli, salt, pepper and stock to the soup pot, cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat down so that the soup simmers on low and cook approximately 10 minutes. The broccoli should be tender but not overcooked.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the half-and-half (or heavy cream) and flour. Whisk this mixture into the soup and allow to simmer another two to three minutes, until the soup thickens.

Stir in the cheese until it is well incorporated and serve.

Florence resident Molly Parr has been writing her food blog, Cheap Beets, since 2010. Contact her at molly.parr@gmail.com.