Jill's Cheesy Garden Soup

I made a comment yesterday that I was making my friend Jill's Cheesy Garden soup for dinner and was immediately bombarded with requests for the recipe. Here it is, the best soup EVER! There are a few changes that I have made, but it's mostly the same as Jill's. Melissa has made this and added ham or bacon, too, which would be tasty. Very kid friendly, too, Sydney loves it.

Cheesy Garden Soup

1 cup sliced celery
1 cup chopped onion
2 T margarine/butter
2/3 cup flour
4 cups water
2 T chicken bouillon or 6 cubes
1/4 t pepper
2 cups frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot combination
1 cup frozen hash brown potatoes (unseasoned)---I always use 2 cups!
3 cups milk
2 cups shredded Colby jack cheese, 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Cook celery and onion in butter until tender, stir in flour until smooth.
2. Gradually add water, then bouillon, pepper, and vegetables. Bring to boil.
3. Reduce heat, cover and simmer about 8 minutes, then add hashbrowns. Continue to simmer for 7 minutes for a total of 15 minutes of simmering.
4. Add milk and cheese. Cook and stir until hot and cheese melts. Do not boil.

This recipe freezes well. One recipe can easily be divided, we usually keep one half to eat (and it makes at least 2 dinners) and freeze the remaining half. When serving the soup after being frozen, it does need some pepper as it loses a bit of the flavor while frozen.
I do have to say that I make this recipe a lot and we absolutely love it, but it has never tasted quite as good as the time Jill made it for book club. Allow me to tell the story...it's no secret that I don't like vegetables. One day Jill was hosting book club and made this for the dinner and I politely declined, after all, it was full of vegetables. Everyone was raving about it, though, so I finally took a very small mug of soup, not even springing for the bowl. It was AMAZING!! You don't even really taste the vegetables because of the milk and cheese. What I can't reproduce when I make this soup, however, is the atmosphere of fun and family that Jill had when she made it for me that first time. To this day, that was my favorite book club, nice and cozy with all of us girls eating yummy soup on a cold night at her pretty house. She is an amazing cook, everything I've ever tasted of her's is wonderful and this is my favorite. There is a rumor that Jill might be someday moving back to the Portland area from the Eugene area where she currently lives and I hope she does. Enjoy!