This is Better Than Grandma’s Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup used to be the standard "cure" for illness and cold winter days.  If you were lucky, Mom or Grandma would spend hours cooking the chicken, getting all the flavor into the stock and adding homemade noodles.  The smell alone was enough to make you feel a little better.  If your family wasn't so gourmet, you most likely got Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup, the Cadillac of canned foods. (That there is trademarked and not to be used without the permission of Johnny J Enterprises, Inc...sorry, I had a Ricky Bobby moment).

Chicken Noodle Soup is great, still a favorite of mine (Grandma's and Campbell's).  Today, I have a new "Go to" soup when I am not feeling well or when it is a really cold day and I'm frozen down to my toes.  Panera's Broccoli Cheddar Soup.  It is so good, the perfect mix of cheese and broccoli served hot, but not too hot.  Some broccoli soups have too much broccoli, in my opinion, which overpowers one of the greatest things ever, cheese (there's cheese soup, cheese curds, cheese kabobs, cheese sandwich, cheese and potatoes, cheeseburger...dang, Forrest Gump moment).

At a time when you need things to get better, how does Panera step up?  They rip off a chunk of their delicious bread.  The outside crust is rough and thick, and the inside is light and flavorful.  Eat the bread plain or use it to soak up soup.  I like to dip mine in the soup first, then pick up my spoon.  My girlfriend prefers to eat her soup, then clean out the dish with her bread.  You really can't go wrong, either way.

Please know that I am not a spokesperson for Panera, I just enjoy something they've perfected.  Try their Broccoli Cheddar Soup the next time you aren't feeling well or on a day when you need to warm up.  Then, tell me now much better it is than Chicken Noodle Soup.

Just please do me one favor...don't tell Mom and Grandma I told you to do it.