"Cream" of Mushroom Soup

A while back, I stumbled on this recipe: Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup

I think it was less than a week before I made it for the first time. And it's been made and enjoyed again since!

Dice up an onion, preferably white. If your nails are recently painted, breathe a sigh of relief that your hands don't look any weirder than necessary in photos today.

Put those onions in a large sauce pan with some olive oil over some heat.

Aren't onions amazing? Saute these a bit with some garlic.

Get out your other ingredients. My amazing photographer/assistant did this for me.

Wash and chop mushrooms. These are bulk non-organic creminis from Whole Foods. I don't know much about mushrooms, but I would not use white button mushrooms in this recipe. I'm afraid they'd be mushy and gross, even though I usually love those.

Mushroom gills freak me out, but otherwise I love chopping these things.

Throw the mushrooms in the pot with the onions. Ask your husband to add the soy sauce for you. Little did I know, this was the secret to good soup! The second time I made this, I didn't use as much soy sauce and it was bland at first. More soy sauce and Worcestershire made all the difference!

Don't you just want to eat these right now? I do.

Add veggie broth or an equivalent amount of water and veggie stock base. I always keep veggie base in my fridge for such times as these.

While that's all cooking, you don't need to stand over it. Puree half a cup of raw cashews (also bulk from Whole Foods, but you can probably find them elsewhere) with half a cup of water.

I used my Ninja! A blender or food processor should work just fine.

I also still had my hand stamp from open skate that morning. Oops.

Salt the soup a little. If you're afraid it's getting too salty, taste it. But this takes more salt than you'd think.

Stir it until the mushrooms are sufficiently soft to your liking.

My stove is gas. Look, fire!

You could probably just eat this as mushroom soup, but I was excited about the idea of a vegan cream soup.

So get your cashew "cream."

I'm not as big of a fan of cashews as my husband is, but this looks and smells really good.

Mix it all together and serve in cute bowls.

Eat it on the couch and pet your very-not-vegan dog at the same time.

Warning: You may end up with dog hair in your soup.

I'm not one for actual doggie kisses, so I'm probably sticking my tongue out at Frostbite here. Because I get tasty soup and he gets stinky dog food. He's probably okay with this, though.

Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup

(makes about four servings)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium white onion, diced

3 teaspoons minced garlic

1 pound cremini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

3 cups vegetable broth

salt to taste

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup water

1. In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute about 5 minutes. Add garlic, stir, and cook for 1 minute more.

2. Add the mushrooms, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce and cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add pepper and  vegetable stock and cook at a simmer until mushrooms are completely soft, about 10 to 15 minutes.

4. While the soup simmers, prepare the cashew cream. Combine raw cashews and water. Blend on high until smooth. Transfer cashew cream to a small bowl.

5.When mushrooms are cooked through, add about one third of the soup to the blender. Blend and return to pot. Add the cashew cream to the blended soup and stir to incorporate.