Food Friday: Vegan Broccoli Cheese Soup

It is so wonderful to have a tasty meal that Dear One likes.  This is one of them.  It is also another of the Lenny and Shalva Gale at LifeIsNOYOKE's recipes.  They are so good.

When I went to the Dorr Farm on Friday I picked up a head of broccoli.  It looked really good...so Broccoli Cheese Soup without the fat AND with lovely flavor came onto the menu.

Steam 1 head broccoli that you cut into florets.  Steam just until bright green then set aside to cool.

In your high speed blender add:

1 cup unsweetened plain almond milk
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 red bell pepper, washed, seeded, and coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
2 teaspoons granulated onion
Pinch of red pepper flakes

Blend on high speed for about 4 minutes.

Add:
1 cup vegetable broth (I used homemade so it had no salt in it)
1/2 block of tofu (I used Trader Joe's Super Firm tofu)

Blend these for 1-2 minutes.

Add the steamed broccoli and pulse 2-3 times so the broccoli is broken up but still has a little texture.

By now it is hot and ready to eat.  We ate it right then and both loved it.  Take my word for it, I was surprised on Dear One's account.  I asked him if this was something we could take to a party.  He said, "Of course!"  You could have knocked me over with a feather.

This recipe makes four good-sized servings.  We put the leftovers in the refrigerator in a glass jar.  I really like storing food in glass. I feel like the chemicals in plastics are doing in my brain and body, so...this is what I like to do, though it does not always happen.

You can see that the broccoli virtually disappeared into the soup, so anyone who does not think they like broccoli will be surprised to learn the great taste is actually broccoli. This reminds me of a story.

Many years ago a young man named David C. came to visit us on the farm in South Royalton for a while with our much older cousin. (Actually our cousin was our father's age since Daddy was a lot younger than his oldest sister who was the mom.)  Mother had made potato salad.  David told her it was the best thing he had ever eaten and wanted to know what the secret ingredient was.  It turned out to be onions.  He did not believe onions could be so good.  I think that was one of the first times I knew about ingredients in food making a difference in flavor.  I was pretty young.  I have loved onions every since.  Sometimes I tease Dear One by eating an sweet onion sandwich in the evening.  Now that I think about it, I would like to go downstairs and make such a sandwich now.  Sadly, we only have yellow onions and red onions. The last red onion I ate had QUITE a bite to it, so no sandwiches there.

It is late as I write so the only store option is a long way away.  It is also raining hard.  Driving in the rain in the daylight was a challenge today.  At nighttime it could be deadly.  I won't go out and get a bag of Vidalia's now.