Comfort Food: Cheesy Broccoli Soup & Poor Girl's Juice

I can't tell you how many books I read when I first started this vegan journey. After reading The Kind Diet, I became completely obsessed with everything vegan. Every trip made to Barnes & Noble after that led me to one place and one place only: The cooking aisle.

I love all my cookbooks, but the one cookbook that I have gotten the most out of is Chloe's Kitchen.

Courtesy of my iPad Mini

Oh my God, can this girl cook, y'all. (Yes, I'm Texan, have a laugh & keep reading!)

But seriously. In my experience, I would pick up a cookbook and try a few recipes and like a few of them, and really love one or two. 

I haven't encountered a single recipe from this book that I haven't been enthralled with. Every single one in this book is a hit. Even if you've never considered going vegan, or if the whole idea just seems stupid to you, I don't care -- GO BUY THIS BOOK. Or do like me, and get the iBooks version and carry it on your iPad. (or iPad mini ;)

You might recognize Chef Chloe Coscarelli from Food Network's Cupcake Wars. Her vegan cupcakes nabbed her first place -- the first time a vegan chef had ever received top honors on the show. And for good reason, too. Like I said, her recipes are to die for. 

Vegan or not, your kitchen is nothing without this cookbook. 

The Cheesy Broccoli Soup is so warm, creamy and satisfying -- you don't even realize there's no actual cheese in it. 

That's another thing I love about her cookbook: all the ingredients are so easy to find. There are some vegan cookbooks out there that, while I adore them, contain some ingredients that have you practicing your Hooked-On-Phonics. "U..m...e...bo...shi..??" (more on that later.)

The cheesy flavor in this soup comes from Nutritional Yeast, which you can find at your local health foods store or Whole Foods. Now I know what you're thinking....yeast? EW.

Don't mind my sponge
or poor cropping skills

Not "Ew," friends. Yum! They are small little yellow flakes that give dishes a smoky, nutty, cheese flavor. It's totally loaded with B12 -- a hard vitamin for vegans to find without supplements or animal protein. Definitely try it! Your Mac & Cheese will never be the same again. 

Chef Chloe's Cheesy Broccoli Soup in

Sourdough Bread Bowls

Serves 8

This soup has a smooth cheesy base with hearty chunks of tender broccoli. I always turn to this recipe when I'm in need of a cozy comfort-food fix. This dish is a perfect cure for rainy-day blues. Served in a crusty sourdough bread bowl? Yes, please!

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for brushing

1 onion, chopped

Sea salt

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups vegetable broth

2 cups soy, almond, or rice milk

1 bunch broccoli, florets cut, stems trimmed, peeled & chopped

3/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes

2 teaspoons lemon juice

freshly ground black pepper

8 regular sourdough loaves or 16 small sourdough breads

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large pot, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat, and sauté onions until soft. Season generously with salt, add garlic, and let cook a few more minutes.

I have a small pot so I used about 1/2 an onion

Add broth, nondairy milk, and broccoli. Bring to a simmer, cover, reduce heat to medium-low & let simmer for 20 minutes until broccoli is tender.

It already smells amazing at this point

Spoon out a small amount of broccoli florets and reserve. In batches, transfer the remaining contents of the pot to a blender and puree. Return pureed soup to the pot and add the reserved broccoli florets. Over low heat, stir in nutritional yeast until incorporated. Add lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Mix well.

Post-blender 

Slice the tops off each sourdough bread; and using a spoon and/or knife, hollow out the inside. Cut or tear the removed bread into bite-sized chunks and set aside. Brush oil on the inside of each bowl to seal the bread so that the soup will not leak out. Place bread bowls on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned on the inside. Remove from oven and place each bread bowl into a soup bowl. Ladle the soup into the bread bowl and serve with the bread chunks. 

Tips:

*I didn't have sourdough bread this time, so I just made the soup & poured it into a bowl. Easy.

*If you don't have vegetable broth, use 2 cups of water & a vegan bouillon cube.

*I had extra broccoli so I went ahead and pureed all the broccoli that was simmering with the soup all together & then I threw in extra broccoli florets when I put it back into the pot. I then added about 1/4 cup extra nutritional yeast to balance this out.

*Your nutritional yeast may be a little clumpy when you first put it in the pot. Just keep stirring and use a whisk or the bottom of your cooking spoon to get all the chunks and dissolve them into the soup.

*Don't be afraid to get into your spice cabinet!! I added a pinch of sea salt & about 1-2 pinches of Turmeric. It's a lovely spice & it helps detoxify your blood!

Ta-Da!

Poor Girls' Juice

Okay, so I call this my Poor Girl's Juice because I had just moved back to school & I hadn't done very much grocery shopping yet..& I really wanted juice!! You know? Like sometimes I don't want to drink water, Mom!

But really. I had bought tart cherry juice because its good for sleep (recipe for that soon too, promise), but it was tart cherry concentrate. And when I say tart, I mean you'll be squinting your eyes and juicing your cheeks tart.

So, in comes.......water. Who knew? My boyfriend will buy whole milk or big gallons of juice, and then when he's gotten about halfway he'll fill it up with water..which I have to admit I was weirded out by at first, but there's so much sugar in commercial drinks nowadays that it honestly tasted much better with the water. So I adopted the habit. Thanks baby!

Makes 1 Serving

1/2 cup Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate (organic if possible)

1/2 cup purified water

Light Agave Nectar, to taste

Pour the cherry juice and water into your favorite glass. I use about 1/2-1 tablespoon of the agave to sweeten it, but there's a chance you may like it as it is. Of course, if you're feeling extra sweet, add more agave until you're satisfied. Agave nectar is low on the glycemic index, which basically means it won't send your blood sugar off the charts in under a second (ahem...refined sugar..cough cough..).

It is still sugar though, so take it easy.

Do you have any shortcuts when you're on a budget? I'd love to hear them!