Broccoli Cheese Soup

This broccoli cheese soup is just the thing to have on a cold, rainy, movie-watching day. It's a super easy recipe to follow and it makes enough soup that you can graze on it all day (of course we're not saying this from personal experience or anything...). The original recipe (which we got from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin) says you can use either arrowroot or cornstarch to thicken the soup. The first time we made this we used cornstarch and it didn't turn out well. The cornstarch thickened too much into a kind of gloppy, sloppy mess. We use arrowroot now and it works really well. No glop. No ick. Broccoli cheese soup has always been a fav of ours and we absolutely love this recipe! Nom, nom :)



Broccoli Cheese Soup
1 Tbs coconut or canola oil
1 onion, diced
4 cups roughly chopped broccoli florets
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
4 cups soy or rice milk (I used almond milk once and it was good but the soup was not as thick and creamy)
1/4 cup arrowroot dissolved in 1/4 cup cold water*
6 ounces vegan cheddar cheese, grated (or regular cheddar if you're not vegan)

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for a couple of minutes. Add the broccoli, salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add in the veggie stock and increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes till the broccoli is tender. Remove from the heat and add in 1 cup of the soy milk.

In batches, transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth and creamy (Use a hand held immersion blender instead if you have one). Transfer the soup back to the pot and turn the heat to medium-high. Add in the rest of the soy milk. Once the soup has returned to a simmer, add in the grated cheese and the arrowroot mixture. Stir until the cheese melts and serve!

Makes about 7 cups.



*Arrowroot is a starch extracted from the roots of the South American Arrowroot plant. Arrowroot is used as a natural thickener in many foods such as soups, sauces, and puddings. The arrowroot powder should be mixed with cold water before being added to a recipe, and it should be added towards the end, since overcooking can destroy the gelling properties of arrowroot making it kind of slimy instead. You can find arrowroot at most health and natural foods stores :)