Girl Who Plays With Food: Broccoli Soup!

Lunch

After class I sat out by the bike path and enjoyed this fruit and some people watching. It was high traffic time for bikers and prime time for people watching.

Then Savannah and I headed to the arbor to sit and have lunch together.

Snack

After my lesson and after coaching I went back to the same benches and had the Honey Graham Z Bar.

I also finished the rest of my veggies and hummus.

I ate my snacks while I was waiting to go to opera rehearsal when I found out right at the time of the rehearsal that I didn't need to be there! Bah! Actually it ended up being a good thing because it freed up time for me to go pick my car up from the dealership and make a costco run! I bought sooo much good stuff from costco. As a little snack on my way back I opened these dried mangos.

They are like candy!

Dinner

I just gotta say, I made an amazing dinner tonight! On the menu: Creamy Broccoli Soup, Spiced Corn on the Cob, Grilled Onions, Grilled Balsamic Mushrooms.

The soup was a recipe that my dad uses to make a non-vegan version at home which I altered. I ended up using:

Very large amount of broccoli, about 3/4 of a Costco size bag of florets
one box of Wolfgang Puck Vegetable broth
1/2 cup white onion chopped
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1/2 cup and 4 Tbsp. vegan sour cream
1/3 cup and 3 Tbsp. vegan cream cheese
2 tsp. salt
pepper to taste

I steamed the broccoli in batches like this one for about 6 minutes or until tender.

About half way through the broccoli I sauteed the onion and the garlic.

I picked up this pre-prepared garlic from Costco to make my life easier.

I am a pretty good multi-tasker so while I was doing all this broccoli business I was also chopping up a ridiculous amount of mushrooms!

When the broccoli was nearly done I heated the vegetable broth in a sauce pan.

I didn't photograph this part, I don't know why, but I combined broccoli and hot veggie broth in the blender in batches and pureed everything till smooth. I returned the mix to the large pot I had used to steam the broccoli. The other trick I should mention at this step is that I reserved a little of the broth and and separately blended the onions, garlic, and reserved broth.

This is the vegan sour cream and cream cheese I used. I am really satisfied with the flavor and texture of this brand and would definitely recommend it to other vegans. But non vegans be warned, by themselves, it's not gunna taste like the original!

Once all the broccoli and broth puree was pack in the pot I put it on low heat and added the sour cream and cream cheese little by little to make sure I got the flavor I was after. (That's why the measurements are a little weird).

While the soup simmered and I continued to give it a stir every now and then, I sliced up a red onion and grilled big wheels with just a little olive oil.

Once the onions were done, I attacked the huge bowl of slice mushrooms and cooked them all in batches like this one using a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Finally, I brought some water to a boil and added 2 Tbsp. of sugar. This is a trick of my Dads...I hope he's ok with me sharing it! Putting a little sugar in the water actually helps lock in the sweetness of the corn. It doesn't actually add sugar to the corn, it's an osmosis thing. I only cooked these for a bout 4 minutes and could've probably even gotten away with just 3. I love corn! It makes me think of summer.

Aren't these things funny? My mom gave them to me when I got my own apartment and I have actually never had the chance to use them until now!

Ok this was just too funny looking I had to take a picture. hahaha

I purposely made a lot of grilled onions and shrooms so I could have extras for the week. They are just good staples and will make awesome salads and sandwiches woohoo!

The soup came out sooo good! When I was taste testing while it cooked I was nervous that it was just too bland. The flavors must have blossomed once I cut the heat because it was so delicious and flavorful!