Creamy Vegan Celery and Broccoli Soup

One of the best things about the Farm Fresh To You boxes is that it really does give me inspiration with vegetables that I usually don't purchase, like celery and baby broccoli. Since I'm always thinking about soup, I figured I'd try and make a creamy vegan celery and broccoli soup. I found a recipe from the New York Times and decided to add my own vegan spin to it as well as adding a squeeze of lemon, coconut milk and some roasted broccoli on top. 

Ingredients:

• 4 stalks of celery
• 2 lbs broccoli
• 1 c baby spinach
• 1 medium onion
• 1 medium potato
• 3 garlic cloves
• 8 c vegetable stock
• 1-2 bay leaves
• springs of thyme
• springs of parsley
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 1/2 c coconut milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 bunch of baby broccoli
• 1 squeeze of lemon

1. Dice the celery and onion.

2. Dice fresh garlic and peel and chop potato.

3. Chop broccoli at the stalks, leaving mostly just the crowns.

4. Wrap up bay leaf, springs of parsley, and springs of thyme into a cute little bouquet. You'll want to remove before blending.

5. Remove stems from the baby broccoli and set aside.

6. In a 450° F oven and on a non-stick surface, salt and pepper the baby broccoli and roast for 20 minutes or until the crowns begin to char slightly.

7. In a large soup pot, add olive oil, onions, celery, and garlic. Stir for about 5 minutes until the vegetables begin to soften. Do not caramelize the onions.

8. Add vegetable stock, broccoli, potato, and bouquet of herbs to the pot and bring to a boil.

9.  Once at a boil. Turn down the heat to medium-low.

10. Place the lid on top and simmer for 30 minutes.

11. After 30 minutes of simmering turn off the heat. Remove the bouquet of herbs and add the spinach. Let the spinach wilt for about a minute and salt and pepper to taste.

12. In a blender, fill about half way with the soup and pour about 1/2 cup of the coconut milk at a time.

13. Continue to blend until smooth. The spinach really gives the soup this bright green color since the broccoli loses most of their color while cooking. I had to do about three blends, which is why I only used 1/2 of the coconut milk at a time.

14. Remove the baby broccoli from the oven. Should be nice and roasted!

15. Spoon soup into a bowl, squeeze a touch of lemon juice over the top and top the roasted baby broccoli.

This soup really brings out all of the natural flavors of the vegetables. It's crazy that all of this comes together with very minimal non-vegetable ingredients. It's not too salty and the creaminess is just a way that I enjoy eating soup. This batch makes about 10 cups of soup, but the good news is that each serving is only around 100 calories, so it's very ~guilt free~ which I don't even really care about because what is bad about a ton of veggies being blended!

Cheers,

Kate