Of course, without the cheese, or the cream, or the milk. :D My version is soul satisfying, body nourishing and comfort food from my childhood at its best! It is exactly what I want when there is a chill in the air. If you call almost 70 degrees in southern California "a chill". haha But I know many of you are in full blown snow heaven right now so see...I made this recipe just for you! Get cooking, get cozy, warm your belly and watch some new good movies! Stay tuned for my next recipe! It includes an awesome giveaway, and of course something pumpkin! Watch for that, and have a wonderful wonderful soup eating weekend!!! Until next time my friends..
Morgan's Amazing Broccoli Cheese Soup
Makes a ton! About 8 servings and is awesome for leftovers!!
What you need:
1 batch of creamy cashew cheese (recipe below)
3-4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
4 small or 2 large celery, diced
4 small or 2 large carrots, diced
pinch of salt and pepper
3 32-ounce boxes of organic vegetable broth
about 4 heaping cups of chopped broccoli florets (3 small heads of broccoli)
1 tsp salt and a crack of pepper
1/4 tsp. ground mustard
creamy cashew cheese:
1 cup raw cashews, soaked for about an hour
5 sundried tomatoes
1 cup nutritional yeast
1 cup nutritional yeast
juice of 1 small lemon
1 Tbsp. mustard
1/2 of a small jalapeno pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 cup fresh water
After you have soaked the cashews, place the nuts and all other ingredients into a Vitamix or a good blender and blend until completely smooth.
To make the soup:
Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute for about 3 minutes until softened slightly. Add the celery and carrots and a pinch of salt and pepper and saute a few more minutes. Then add the vegetable broth, broccoli, and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 45 minutes or until the broccoli becomes tender. While the soup is cooking make the creamy cashew cheese.
Gently blend the soup in batches in your blender or using an immersion blender, but do not over blend.. I scooped it in batches into my Vitamix blender and then just blended it for a few seconds on a very low setting. The soup should be mostly smooth but still with some very small chunks here and there and a little texture. Taste the soup at this point and then add any additional salt and pepper you need. You can serve this as is or top with store bought or freshly made croutons!
