In a medium pot, melt the butter and cook onions soft and translucent. Add in your bay leaf as well so that the flavors are extracted from the leaf.
Add your washed broccoli pieces to your onion and mix.
Pour the chicken broth water mix over the broccoli.
Season with nutmeg, black pepper, and garlic powder.
Cook the broccoli soft covered. This can take about 10-14 minutes.
When the broccoli is soft, take out the bay leaf from the pot and discard.
With an immersion blender, blend the soup. Keep some broccoli chunks for texture.
Keep your soup on medium heat and pour in the light cream or half and half.
Add the cheddar cheese and mix the dairies into the soup.
Take the broccoli soup from the heat and season with salt and add the dijon mustard if you want to add even more flavors!
Mix everything well and serve your soup hot.
Video
Notes
Stock can be liquid or in cubes. Just mix it with the water. Turn this soup vegetarian by using vegetable stock. Use homemade stock for the best flavor experience or just the commercially available version.
Use light cream for a thicker soup. Use half and half for a lighter thinner soup.
The Dijon mustard is totally optional. I just like it better that way.