This week brought some much-needed rain here on the East Coast of the U.S. The trees were happy and our bellies wanted us to hunker down and eat some warm soup!
This vegan and gluten-free Broccoli Soup brought us just the warmth and coziness we were looking for. For Magnolia, this doubled as a dip - as everything seems to these days. ;-)
The secret to the creaminess without the cheese in this soup is cashews! They get soaked for a few hours, drained, and the blended with the other ingredients to get the desired texture; plus extra protein, fiber, and healthy fat!
The cashews are getting a bath before go-time!
The kiddos enjoying some comfort food!
VEGAN "CHEESY" BROCCOLI SOUP
Ingredients:
- 2 cups cashews
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 2 cups broccoli
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 2 T coconut oil
- 1 T turmeric
- juice from 1 lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Soak cashews for 4 hours in enough water to cover.
- Drain and rinse cashews and set aside.
- Put coconut oil, garlic, and onions in large pot and sauté for about 5 minutes.
- Add vegetable broth, broccoli, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and turmeric.
- Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer.
- Cook an additional 5-8 minutes - until broccoli is soft.
- Use an immersion blender or transfer 1/2 the soup into a regular blender. Add cashews and blend until smooth. *Note: Carefully cover top of blender with a towel and hold top on to prevent the hot liquid from leaking out through the top.
- Transfer second half of soup to blender and blend until broccoli pieces are smaller, but do not blend until smooth if you'd like more texture in your soup (for a very smooth textured soup, blend both batches completely).
Vegan "Cheesy" Broccoli Soup