Super Tasty Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

One of my favorite soups is Cream of Broccoli or Broccoli Cheddar, but I've never made it. Both of those are really heavy soups with lots of cream and cheese and a high fat content. However, I stumbled across a Vegan Cream of Broccoli soup recipe this morning on The Washington Post. I get recipes from all sorts of places, but never have I tried one from my local paper. I'm sure glad I gave it a try!

After this weekend's Snowzilla, our fridge was pretty empty so I was scrounging for recipes where I did not need to buy a lot of ingredients, and this Vegan Cream of Broccoli fit the bill. The soup is actually a "soup concentrate" so you're supposed to add water to it and thin it out, but I ended up adding more liquid during the blending to make it a real soup and not a soup concentrate. For those who don't want to visit the Post, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 tbs of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 ribs of celery, chopped
• 2.5 cups of water
• 1/2 cup of rice (I used Jasmine)
• 1/2 cup raw, unsalted cashews
• 2 vegetable bouillon cubes
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 head of broccoli cut into small florets with the stems peeled and cut into small pieces. 

Instructions:
1. Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and celery and cook until tender, about 10-12 minutes.
2. Add the water, rice, cashews, bouillon, salt, broccoli stems and half the florets. Cover and reduce the heat to low. Cook 15 - 20 minutes or until rice is tender and there's not much water left in the pot.
3. Steam remaining florets in another pot.
4. Use a hand mixer or blender to blend the soup until smooth, silky and creamy. If it's too thick, add about 1/4 cup of water.
5. Fold in remaining broccoli florets.

I did, however, make minor modifications to the recipe:

• I added 3 large cloves of fresh garlic when I sautéed the veggies. 
• As I blended, I added about 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast to enhance the cheesy flavor. 
• I didn't use water. I have made a habit of saving the broth that I cook my beans in - not the water that I soak the beans, but the seasoned water that I cook my beans in - so I used that in lieu of plain water. Also I added about 1-1.5 cups of bean broth during the blending to thin it out and make it a regular soup and not a soup concentrate.

Tip about the broccoli crown. I started using a vegetable peeler to get the tough skin off, but I found that going to the cut end and peeling it with my fingers was more effective. I used the big florets in the soup and saved the smaller florets into the final product. 

This soup is so good that I don't even miss the cream or cheddar. I really hope you enjoy it as much as I do!