Soup du Jour

Chowders, gumbos, chilies, stews.  There's something about a hearty soup or stew that just says, "You can relax now."  They are satisfying, tasty, chock full of nutrition, and make a great starter or a great main course.  At the Vegan Inn, my menu would always have Irish Stew, Three Bean Chili, and various chowders and soups of the day.  My daughter woke up Friday morning with a sore throat (curse you cold and flu season!), and I had just bought some fresh broccoli, so I thought I would make something appealing to her.  She is still a cheesaholic, so I thought a nice cheesy broccoli soup was in order.  I often make this killer garlic and kale soup when we are sick (it's waaaayyyy better for you than chicken soup, and it has the added benefit of warding off vampires), but it's a thin soup, and my family prefers the thicker, creamier soups and chowders.  So I invented this one as I went along and it turned out darn well, so here is the recipe!

Nate's Broccoli Cheddar Soup

• 1 onion, finely diced
• 3 ribs of celery, finely diced
• 2 medium carrots, finely diced
• 3 medium potatoes, finely diced
• 1crown of broccoli, finely diced
• 2 4 oz cans green chilies
• 4 cups low sodium vegetable stock
• 4 cups coconut milk (not the canned kind, the milk substitute drink from So Delicious)
• 1 recipe cheesy sauce (from 01/04/2012 blog, Welcome to the Vegan Inn)
• 1/4 cup oat flour
• Ground black pepper to taste (salt is optional)

I have three favorite cooking vessels: my large casserole dish, my pressure cooker, and my cast iron Dutch oven.  Pull out the heavy dutch oven and saute the onions, celery and carrots in some of the vegetable stock.  Add the potatoes, broccoli and green chilies, 3 of the 4 cups of vegetable stock, all of the coconut milk and bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.  In the last cup of vegetable stock, which should be at room temperature, whisk in the 1/4 cup oat flour.  Add the cheesy sauce and the oat flour mixture to the soup and continue to stir over low heat uncovered until soup thickens.  Add pepper to taste, and salt if you really must (although the green chilies in this recipe give it lots of flavor and slight kick in order to reduce the need for additional sodium).



The Cheesy Sauce really gives it the look and flavor of cheddar!



My family deemed this worthy of any Denny's or Village Inn type restaurants, and this version is much healthier for you than the traditional salty, gummy, orangish stuff with a few flecks of broccoli greens.  It's another one pot meal (unless you have to make the cheesy sauce the same night), that won't disappoint, and the large pot I made will easily serve twelve people (which meant leftovers for us and it was a good thing because the next day I came down with a cold and did not feel like cooking anything new!).  Give me your feedback and recipe tweaks if you try some of these dishes out at home!