Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

Anyone who has recently hosted a holiday party probably has an abundance of leftovers in their refrigerator. The tastiest was to burn through those leftovers? Make soup! This recipe uses up leftover ham, leftovers from your vegetable tray, leftover cheese from your cheese tray, any leftover stock, and that cup of leftover heavy whipping cream!

Although this recipe doesn’t call for celery, you can add the celery from your veggie tray to this soup! Simply dice about 1/2 cup of celery into like-sized small pieces, then add in with the rest of the vegetables.

If you have leftover sliced cheese, dice it into small pieces in place of shredded cheese.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup diced ham
1 Tbs corn oil
3 Tbs butter (any oil or fat is ok – corn, canola, olive, bacon grease)
1 small onion, diced
2 medium carrots, peeled & diced
2 medium potatoes, peeled & diced
1 tsp sea salt (split in half)
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper (split in half)
About 20 oz vegetable stock, room temperature, or warmed (chicken or beef stock will also work fine)
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1 cup heavy cream, heated to “very warm”
2/3 cup shredded or chopped cheese (any combination of quick melting cheeses works fine – cheddar, Monterey jack, Swiss)
2 cups broccoli florets, cooked separately

In a soup pot over medium-high heat, brown the diced ham in 1 Tbs oil. Remove the ham and leave any drippings in the pot. Add in the 3 Tbs butter or oil and onion, cooking until the butter is frothy and the onions have begun to soften. Add in carrots, potatoes, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Stir occasionally until the carrots and potatoes begin to brown slightly, about 7 minutes.

In a separate smaller pot, boil salted water for the broccoli. When the water is fully boiling, add in broccoli and cook for 3 minutes. Immediately remove broccoli and rinse in cool water. Set aside.

Pour the warmed stock over the vegetables, using enough to completely cover all the vegetables. Add in thyme. Stir occasionally for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes begin to soften, but are not completely soft.

Add in warmed heavy cream, remaining salt and pepper, and lower heat to medium-low. Cook another 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, until potatoes are soft.

Turn heat to lowest possible setting. Remove thyme sprigs and stir in broccoli, parsley and cheese. When the cheese has melted, remove soup from heat.

Serve hot and enjoy!

-Amelia