Cheesy Vegetable Soup

Hiya! How are you today?? I am c-c-c-c-cold! Our temperatures have been up and down so much in the past few weeks I swear one day it feels like February and the next day you'd think it's July! Derek's been venturing out in shorts quite a bit, but I haven't been that brave yet....and then yesterday we were told that we might get some flurries?!

What. the. Heck?! No Thank You Mother Nature! Bring on the HEAT!!!

My original plan was to post a pasta recipe today, but I've been freezin' my buns off and I thought this soup recipe was much more appropriate. It's packed full of lots of healthy veggies and feels decadent with a creamy and cheesy broth....meat eaters and vegetarians alike will love this! If you want to make this vegan, switch out the cheddar for some Daiya shreds and you're good to go!

Cheesy Vegetable Soup

Serves 4

5c finely chopped veggies (I used carrots, onion, potato, brocolli & cauliflower)

plus 1c baby spinach, sliced
2 tsp minced garlic

1 tbsp coconut oil (canola oil would work)

5 1/2 c vegetable broth

1/4 c all-purpose flour

1 c unsweetened original almond milk

1 1/2 c shredded cheese (the sharper the cheese, the better the flava')

1 tbsp spicy Mrs. Dash (optional)
fresh ground pepper
pinch sea salt

Melt the coconut oil in a large soup pot. Add your onion & garlic and saute for 5 minutes over medium high heat. Do not let the onion and garlic brown ~ you just want them to start to soften. Add your other veggies (except for the spinach) and saute for an additional 3 - 4 minutes.

Add your vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and allow it to simmer for approximately 7 - 8 minutes. Add your spicy Mrs. Dash and sea salt.

In a small bowl, combine the flour and almond milk and stir until the flour is completely dissolved. Add to your soup and continue cooking until the broth becomes thickened - another 7 to 10 minutes.

Remove your pot from the stovetop. Stir in your spinach and add your cheese. Stir until the cheese has melted.

Veggies...lots and lots of veggies.

Use Mrs. Dash to add a bit of pizazz to your soup.

Adding greens is always a good thing ;)

...and the star of the show....CHEDDAR :)

Serve topped with fresh ground pepper.

Yum! This certainly will warm you from head to toe. Serve with some toast or fresh multigrain bread.

Hubba hubba - this is a perfect meal for the last (I hope!) of our cold days.

How do you keep warm when you get some unexpected blasts of cold in the Spring?

What is your favourite type of soup to make from scratch?

Have a fabulous day,

Andrea

xoxo

(Absolutely No) Cream of Celery Soup

Happy Thursday! How has the first week of the New Year been treatin' ya so far? Life here in veggie land is pretty well back to normal. Most of our treats and sweets have either been sent out the door with our holiday guests or have been consumed by my husband....er, and maybe by me :-)

Now that we're trying to get back on track with our meals and snacks, I'm making a true effort to get back in the kitchen to whip up healthy and nutritious meals. I was really spoiled this holiday and barely had to cook a thing for myself and I've been super lazy when it comes to getting cah-razy in my kitchen.

Yesterday I opened up our vegetable crisper and was surprised to find us being taken over by an over-abundance of celery sticks!

A friend of ours had sent home a bunch of leftover veggie sticks after a Christmas party and for some reason all the celery was still waiting for us to show it some love. Derek and my Grandma L. have informed me that they just LOVE celery because of it's fresh and crunchy goodness. What?!

Is fresh a flavour?! The last time I truly enjoyed a piece of celery, I think I was about 12 years old and my celery stick was bathed in some delicious Cheese Whiz. When I was a kid, our household always had a jar of Cheese Whiz in stock. Nowadays, I don't really consider Cheese Whiz to be a food I want to consume, so the celery sticks remain untouched.

Now that we've had some colder weather, I decided that maybe I'd try my hand at celery soup. Even if it's not my all-time fave, I absolutely hate seeing good food go to waste. The end result was a creamy and tasty soup that is VERY low in fat and VERY high in healthy goodness. I used potatoes and almond milk and not a drop of cream! Suddenly, celery doesn't seem so bad!

(Absolutely No) Cream of Celery Soup
Serves 4 - 5

This soup is creamy and delicious and does not contain a drop of heavy cream. It was really tasty on it's own, so the only seasonings I used were a pinch of sea salt and pepper. It's delicious, fresh and makes a great warm lunch to pack for work. The best thing about this soup is that it is super EASY to whip up!

6 c vegetable stock
3 c chopped celery
2 onions, chopped
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
3 cloves garlic
2 c unsweetened original almond milk
sea salt & pepper

Combine vegetable stock, celery, onion, potatoes and garlic. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add almond milk. Return the soup to a boil and simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

In 3 batches, add the soup mixture to your blender and blend until smooth. I like a smooth and creamy soup, but if you like some chunky veggies, just pulse to your desired consistency.

Return the pureed soup to the pot and re-warm if necessary.

I added a pinch of sea salt and pepper. A bit of shredded cheddar cheese would also be a great topping.

Serve & enjoy!

Mmmmmmm..............

What's your favourite wintertime soup?

Andrea

Roasted Carrot & Ginger Soup

Happy St. Patty's Day!  Normally I love to be corny and festive, but this week has been so busy, I barely remembered what day it was today and sadly I don't think you'll find an ounce of green in this post!

My focus today was of the orange variety ~ carrot orange! I always ask for carrots in my organics order, but for some reason, I just can't seem to get them used up before they go bad. I don't mind carrots, but I don't love them. A few years ago when I was on Weight Watchers, I ate so many raw carrots that one day I thought I'd be sick if I ever ate another one!! Why I order them, I have no idea. I think it stems from my childhood ~ I grew up in a family that ate meat, potatoes and veggies most nights. Carrots and corn were two popular veggies and for some reason I feel that I always need to have them on hand.

I caught a glimpse of the carrots in my crisper this morning and decided that tonight would be the perfect evening for a roasted carrot soup. I've never made a carrot soup before and I  had no idea how it would turn out, but I started pulling things out of the fridge and decided to wing it and I'm happy to report that I did good :-)

Roasted Carrot & Ginger Soup
4 c carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 sweet onion, cut into chunks
2 cloves of garlic
1 - 1.5 tsp fresh ginger grated
1.5 - 2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted (your favourite oil will work)
1.5 c vegetable broth
1.5 c water
pepper to taste

Heat oven to 400.  Grease a large baking sheet or line it with parchment paper.

Add carrots, potato, onion and garlic into a large mixing bowl.

Add oil and 1 tsp of sea salt and mix well. Spread veggies out onto baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes making sure to flip about halfway through.

Before roasting.

After roasting (you know how I love my carmelized veggies - the best & only way to eat 'em!)

Once the veggies are done cooking add them to a blender, together with the vegetable broth, water and ginger. Blend the soup until it is smooth. You might have to do this in a couple of batches. As you may recall, I am still using my Magic Bullet for all blending jobs - it worked, but I wish it would have pureed the soup a little smoother. I think a blender will work best for this. 

Once all of the soup has been blended, pour it into a medium-sized sauce pan and heat it on medium heat until the soup is heated through. I need to warn you to be careful because mine boiled in great big huge bubbles that got some serious air. I ended up with some orange splatters on my shirt!

Add additional salt and pepper to taste. I added close to another teaspoon of salt, but as you know I am a lover of the salt shaker, so you might not need as much.

Serve and enjoy.

This might be my favourite way to eat carrots! I am surprised at just how much I enjoyed this soup. I am planning to take the leftovers with me for lunch tomorrow and I suspect it might be one of those soups that tastes even better the next day.

I hope you have a wonderful evening. If you are out at the local pub celebrating....I wish I were with you!! But alas, I'm not, so make sure you have a green beer for me!!

Cheers,

Andrea