Beer Cheese Soup with Kielbasa Skewers

I hope you all have had a wonderful start to this Christmas season! Our house is decorated, the lights are up and tree is beautiful! I love the fresh pine smell throughout our house! I will post pictures soon!

A dear friend gave me this delicious recipe and I thought I would share it with you! 

Beer-Cheese Soup

Serves about 8

1 cup finely minced onion
1/2 cup finely minced celery
1/2 cup minced carrot
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
5 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 bottle German lager
3 cups low-sodium organic chicken broth
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. Tabasco (or more if you’re super crazy like me)
1 cup whole milk
1 lb grated sharp cheddar
4 oz. cream cheese, cubed
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Kosher or sea salt & pepper to taste
Cook the onion, celery, and carrot in butter in a large pot over low heat until the veggies are tender but not brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in the flour, paprika, and mustard. Increase the heat a bit and cook the flour taste out for about a minute or so. Add the beer and simmer it all until it thickens up. Add the broth, Worcestershire, and Tabasco, stirring constantly. Bring soup to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer another 5 minutes.
Add the milk, Cheddar and cream cheese, stirring constantly until the soup is smooth. It’s very important that you don’t let the soup boil after adding the milk and cheese or it may curdle. Stir in your parsley, taste it and then season it all up with salt and pepper.

Kielbasa Skewers

2 packages kielbasa sausage (turkey or beef...they are both great!)

1 loaf or baguette Italian bread (I chose roasted garlic)
wooden skewers

Slice sausages into 1/2inch pieces and cook as directed on package. Slice bread it up into cubes and toast in oven at 350 degrees F until lightly browned. Then, alternate sausage and bread on skewers. Serve with soup. They are wonderful for dipping into the soup!