A Carnation Instant Weekend - Part One

When I first began to notice boys as a young teen, the fact that I was shy caused me to be very prone to crushes. One of these crushes involved a boy who was the son of one of my mother's friends. Our families would get together on a sporadic basis. They lived just far enough away so as to make it inconvenient for a more frequent rendezvous. This made him even more enticing to my adolescent happily-ever-after imagination. I loved his mom and he had four sisters that I would hang out with so it was only natural to accept an invitation to come home with them for a long holiday weekend one Thanksgiving when their family came to our house for a lovely turkey dinner. Over the next three days the girls and I took a lot of walks and sat at the kitchen table talking about everything imaginable. When the boys were around we played cards and watched movies. There were six kids in the family - the four girls, my heart throb, and his brother. Everything about that family was attractive to me and I loved every moment I spent with them.

Back then, being around any boy I even remotely liked would cause my mind to go blank and there would be nothing left for him to relate to except the empty shell of an awkward school girl. During this particular holiday weekend my painful shyness would periodically rear its ugly head causing me to retreat to the bedroom. During those episodes I would sit on my assigned bunk bed and study French vocab. I totally aced my French exam the following week as I was held up in that bedroom quite a bit over that three day time period.


As luck would have it, a dance was being held that particular Saturday night at my boyfriend's high school and it was being sponsored by a local Philadelphia radio station. With no choice but to invite me, that long admired object of my affection became my first official date. At the dance Hi Lit, a very popular DJ from W I B G, played our favorite songs from the radio. In excited anticipation I waited for, if truth be told, my "forced escort" to ask me to dance and during a very moving "Ooo Baby Baby" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, I experienced internal fireworks in a way I will never forget! Up until then my pillow had been my only dance partner and I had no idea that being held close by someone of the opposite sex could cause a girl to think she might faint, not to mention erase all capability of intelligent conversation! That evening could not have been dreamier had my imagination created every last detail. Despite the shear happiness (and other things) I was feeling that night there was one near disaster during the second dance with my knight in shining armor that had the potential to destroy all the giddy girl wonder of that entire evening. While shyly glancing downward in a desperate attempt to avoid any form of direct eye contact, I was horrified to see the crinkled pink tissues I had recycled as temporary breast implants scattered in a random pattern at my feet. Fortunately I was able to kick them aside without missing a beat before (I hope) my blue eyed date could be a witness to what must have felt like the sudden frontal deflation of a speechless, gawky, never before dated, dance floor novice. Despite the quick cover up of my flat chested caper, that evening I took one "life" step forward and at least ten backward on my journey down the rocky road of dating.

By the noon hour of the next day as we sat around the kitchen table waiting for lunch to be served I had regained my composure, and due to the need to preserve my dignity, I had temporally put the awkwardness and trauma of the preceding evening behind me. Because we did not have time for breakfast earlier that morning I was very hungry and was anticipating something hardy and savory for lunch. My heart sank when a glass of chalky, see through liquid was set before me. As I told you earlier, there was a total of six children in the family. It must have been very expensive to feed that many kids back then, as it would be at any time in history, so I suppose that was why powered milk was the drink of choice in this household. As I stared at the cloudy, ghostly image of a refrigerator reflected through my drinking glass, I realized my shyness had once again returned to haunt me and I just couldn't seem to communicate the fact that I would prefer to die of dehydration rather than to partake of that meals chief source of protein. It took quite a bit of finesse to make a trip to the sink to dispose of my white beverage without being seen, but I pulled it off and made a mental note to request a glass of water within the ten minutes preceding any meal consumed in that house for the remainder of my teenage visitations.

Just recently while remembering the charm of that early one sided relationship, I decided to find out if the revolution I had experienced toward powdered milk that day was an exaggeration. There was a chance I had developed an unfair repulsion to the stuff given the fact that I had never brought the rim of that glass to my lips. Well I'm here to tell you folks that my original feelings toward that glass of milk was no exaggeration! In lieu of the fact that the now opened box of instant milk I had purchased for this experiment was an expensive proposition, and in the spirit of reconciliation with the Carnation company, I decided to find another way to use the zero fat, protein rich miracle of six children households. To warm heart and soul, I found a soup recipe that is sure to be one of my favorites in the years to come. Every time I sip on its nutritious goodness I will remember my first encounter with powdered beverages and realize there is a silver lining in all that is awkward and chalky. I raise my glass (actually soup bowl) to the Diggins family (I can do this bravely as I have no idea where any of them are and am quite sure none of them will ever read this blog). I would not be the person I am today without those carnation instant weekends!


The point of this soup recipe is to give you something that is healthy, tasty, quick and easy to make. You can put this soup together in no time at all if you use frozen broccoli and jarred minced garlic, but feel free to use fresh ingredients as that is always my preferred option. The quick version has an excellent taste, however, and has almost no fat at all until the very last step. If low fat/calories is a goal use low fat cheese.....and trust me, you will never know this soup is made with anything other than "Elsie's" best.



Broccoli Cheese Soup


3 (14 1/2) ounce cans of low sodium chicken broth
2 small (16 ounce)packages of frozen cut broccoli/may
use fresh and pre-cook to just tender
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
1 tsp bottled minced garlic/may use fresh
1 1/2 cups dry milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup (4 ounces)shredded Cheddar cheese, plus for garnish

Heat broth in a large sauce pan to boiling. Add broccoli, onion, and garlic. Return to boil, then reduce and heat covered for 5-7 minutes until broccoli is tender. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Transfer half the broth to the blender, or food processor, and puree. Return the puree to the pot. Combine the dry milk, flour, and water in a medium bowl and blend thoroughly. Stir into the soup, season with salt and pepper, and heat through. Add one cup of cheese and stir well to melt. Serve with added cheese for garnish.