Melt butter in a large, heavy duty saucepan.

Sauté onion and carrot on medium heat for 5-8 minutes. Sweating them down. Add minced garlic.

Add flour. Stir flour into veggies. Turn heat down if browning too fast. You want to be able to cook the flour for about 5minutes.

Add half and half.

Add chicken stock. *If you like your soup thin, add all 4 cups. If you like a thicker soup,just add 3 cups.

Add bay leaf.

This is where I add my salt and pepper. I start out with 1tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. You can adjust to your preference.

Bring soup up to a gentle boil, medium-high heat..let simmer for 10 minutes.

At this point, I use my immersion blender. I've got kids that would die if they knew onions were in this. This way, you dont sacrifice flavor over the tastes of picky eaters.

I threw about 1/2 tsp salt in and dumped my broccoli in. My broccoli was mostly florets,but I also left a head, with more stalks...for texture. Completely up to you..

I lightly simmered, for 20 minutes. Or until your broccoli is tender.

Remove bay leaf.

Once you have tender broccoli, remove a couple cups of broccoli to a bowl. I used the immersion blender again, in the soup.

Return the chunks of broccoli to the soup.

Add cream cheese and cheddar cheese.

Stir all that yummy cheese until it melts into the soup. 😆

Ladle up and enjoy!!
I served this in bread bowls. Delicious!