CHEESY BROCCOLI SOUP

With a big bag of broccoli in the fridge and wanting a change from the carrot, sweet potato and cauliflower soup that I have been eating over the past week, I decided to make a broccoli soup with some added cheese once it finished cooking. The DH has gone dairy free and we have switched over to using goat and sheep cheese and nutritional yeast. There is still a little bit of shredded parmesan cheese in the fridge (less than 1/2 cup) which I want to use up. I will use both parmesan and nutritional yeast in this soup to give it a cheesy taste. You can use shredded cheddar instead of nutritional yeast. 

Since I had a frozen package of about one cup cooked and mashed sweet potato, parsnip and rutabaga, I added this to the soup instead of the carrot and potato. Some people like to sauté the onion, celery and garlic before adding the rest of the ingredients. I was lazy and skipped doing that and just dumped everything into the pot. I use an immersion blender to puree soups. If you don't use one, a potato masher or blender are other tools which will help puree the soup. The soup turned out fine. There is a difference with not using real cheddar cheese but it still tastes good. 

To serve this soup, I added a tablespoon of shredded parmesan cheese.

INGREDIENTS:

1 large onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large carrot, chopped
1 medium to large potato, chopped
4 to 5 cups cups of broccoli, cut into small pieces
6 cups of vegetable or chicken broth
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning or dill or thyme
salt and pepper to taste

1 cup of milk - dairy, almond, coconut or soy
1/2 cup nutritional yeast OR 2 cups of shredded cheddar


DIRECTIONS:

Into a large soup pot add of the ingredients except the milk and cheese. Cover the pot with a lid and heat on high until it boils. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook for at least 45 minutes until all of the vegetables are tender. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup. You can leave some small chunks of vegetables if you want. Add the milk and cheese, stir and season with more salt and pepper if required. Serves 6. 

If using a pressure cooker, cook for 15 minutes on medium pressure.