Broccoli Cheddar Soup with Sausage

 Welcome to Simple Roots Wellness and heellllloooo broccoli cheddar soup….. with sausage.

We’re going to get to this amazingly creamy soup in a minute but before we go there I had a few people ask how our employees were doing. So I thought we would do a little unruly employee update.

If you are new then let me explain. We call our kids (and my sisters kids who I watch most days) our employees. Yes, we pretend our family is a corporation.

For no other reason than it brings some laughter into the chaos of our lives. You know those times when you either laugh or cry. Well putting it into these terms just makes us laugh, even when our employees get into a bit of trouble such as, covering the roof of your car in rocks, spilling a gallon of paint onto the brand new wood floor, peeing in the neighbors front lawn, painting their legs in fingernail polish, you know normal, daily business.

At this point, you are probably wondering who is even watching these kids?

I’m telling you five kids under the age of five is a lot harder than one would think. And so I tell you this to simply remind you that when you think your job is hard, trying having this rowdy crew as employees. Things never go well.

Just to fill you in, here is the breakdown of our business structure and why you’ll never complain of your work situation again (okay that is probably a joke but go along with me for a minute).

• The hubs, a.k.a. the Investor and CFO of the business
• Me, a.k.a. the PR department and CEO of the company
• Ava (our oldest), a.k.a. the supervisor coming up with all ideas (good and bad), the execution and delegation of all projects. The employees refer to her as, the boss.
• Addie (our middle daughter), a.k.a. employee who sometimes goes along with the supervisor and other times marches to the beat of her own drum.
• Vinny (my nephew who I watch most days), a.k.a. employee 2 who usually listens to the supervisor, especially when it goes agains the CEO’s demands.
• Auden (our youngest daughter), a.k.a. the intern who is a wanna be real employee but still lacks maturity and experience in life. She never completes the tasks and is always in trouble…..like always.
• Oliva (my niece), a.k.a. high school intern who is frequently found sleeping on the job and rarely gets things done.
• Boomer (our Golden Retriever puppy), a.k.a the janitor who is great at cleaning up messes but just as great at making them.

You can imagine this structure playing out in real life. Oh you can’t?

Let me give you an example at how I’m generally always amazed at life and the inefficiency of our corporation.

{SIGH}

It all begins at 9:30 pm the following night. The supervisor gets sick, like really, really sick and is out of commission waking up to take a sick day. I will fail to mention here what exactly happened to keep this post appetizing.

But the sick day in this corporate job means laying around the office watching lots of TV (which before the employees came to existence I used to be one of those people who said I would never let my kids watch TV ( insert emotional crying / feeling like a failure as a mom….and now I’m over it) while the other employees and interns try to complete the task at hand without their supervisor and boss telling them what to do.

Which by the way never goes well, like ever.

Luckily for them, one of the many perks of the job is free lunch, served to them at the table. Such a good life they live. While I had sat them all down, served them lunch and strategically placed them at the opposite corners of the table to make sure that no hitting or throwing of food could make the others mad. They were content, they were happy and they were eating.

But need I remind you, they are all two and under. And they have two written all over them.

Something always happens, always.

It.never.fails.

After I sat them all down to eat I quickly wanted to go check on the supervisor to help her get comfortable.

But as soon as I left the room I started to hear giggling coming from the dining room.

The evil laughter where I know the two employees and interns are about to gang up on me. I couldn’t run back because the oldest she needed help and quickly. So I left them unsure of what I would return to.

After helping the supervisor I quickly ran back to the kitchen where an eruption of laughter was happening. What I found was two employees, the intern and the janitor on the table. Like all standing on the table walking in circles as the janitor, well he was doing his job, kind of but in the totally wrong place. Yep, he was eating from their plates and they were happy as can be.

Maddening I tell you.

Where do you even begin when you have not just one against you but four. Four horribly unruly employees who most of the time don’t give a rats if they are in trouble. They are not rule followers, hence why they will never be the supervisors.

{SIGH}

This is our life. So to give you a glimmer of hope to anyone out there who is not enjoying their job just remember, you could have two-year olds and a few wanna be two-year olds as your employees. Things could always be worse. Only I can’t find a new job and/or fire them. I’m stuck with them only able to suspend them for a few minutes at a time (a.k.a. time-out).

So I dream, all day I dream about good food.

Heavenly, delicious food that is so good it will take me away from the chaos just for a second. Of course it needs to be healthy because this CEO needs some serious nutrition and energy to keep up with this crew and that is where the broccoli cheddar soup with sausage was born. A much healthified version of broccoli cheddar soup.

Make with fresh broccoli, cauliflower, goat’s cheese, a small amount of cheddar and some white beans and sausage for an extra boost of protein. It is hearty, warm and comforting. Perfect for game-day or cool night. Need I mention, the queen of leftovers, mention that it warms up really well?

Ya, I thought you’d figure that out by now. I mean what good is a meal if you can’t eat it more than once? Someday I’ll catch you all onto the leftover bandwagon and you won’t know what hit you.

For now, cook a big batch of this broccoli cheddar soup with sausage. You’ll love it no matter what temperature it is outside.

And just a side note: We are now accepting applications for additional supervisors to get these unruly employees back in line. Any takers?