Building a kitchen for 2.5 hours on the late night, like NBD this is what we do now.
SO WORTH IT.
Our Christmas was awesome. I hope everyone else has had a nice holiday season too. 2016 was weird huh. It seems inappropriate to gloss over the fact that this year has gone…off…or something. It’s easy to see the good when you have toddlers who are ignorant to it all; and joy and merriment is beaming from their every fiber. I waver between wanting to just choose to see that side of the world and then the other part of me tells me I can’t just bury my head in the sand. I’m optimistic by nature, so I know the good in the world will always be there. In the meantime, I have these cuties to keep me smiling.
V is actually learning to snuggle, which is HUUUUUUGE.
My little elf with his tree watering candy cane.
I will post about our Christmas sooner or later, but in the meantime, I made this amazing soup that I wanted to share.
Creamy Vegan Broccoli Soup [vegan, gluten free, soy free, dairy free, nut free option*]
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp garlic infused olive oil
- 12 oz broccoli, chopped
- 1 can white beans
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- [optional*] 1/2 cup soaked raw cashews + 1/2 cup water + 1/2 tsp salt blended to make “cream”
Directions:
Add oil (be generous) to a large stock pot and turn on med/high heat. Add broccoli and put a lid on letting it sizzle and pop in the oil. Wearing oven mitts and holding the lid securely on, shake the pot a bit so the broccoli gets totally coated in oil. Turn the heat down after there’s a decent browning on the broccoli and add broth and beans. Let it simmer for a while.
Once the broccoli is super soft, turn the heat off and remove the lid.
Using an immersion blender, puree until the soup is a desired consistency – it can be as creamy as you want. Add nutritional yeast and pulse the blender once more.
To make the cashew cream, add raw cashews to hot water (enough to cover by an inch) and let them soak for at least 30 minutes. Longer is great, but if you don’t start this until you are cooking the broccoli, it should be fine if you start the soaking before you make the soup. Once you area ready to serve the soup, drain the cashews, add cashews, fresh water and salt to a blender and puree until silky smooth. Add to soup bowls as you serve them. Omit cashew “cream” to make nut free.
I added rice to the kids’ the next day to make the leftovers go even further. They loved it. Kyle loved it. It was a (really easy) winner.
This was the pre-holiday scene…just WAIT until you see what I scored on the 25th 🙂
One of my friends asked me the other day how much chocolate I eat and I shrugged and tried to assess. Maybe the equivalent of 1 1/2 bars a night? Definitely no less than 1 bar. And I definitely don’t ever skip a night. A night without chocolate is a complete no go. But I like having different things so I split up my bars so I can sample a few different things each night. A smorgasbord if you will. That’s why See’s candy is my idea of heaven. I can have a bunch!
I also love the holidays for the same reason. There are cookies and candy EVERYWHERE.
NOMNOMNOM.
Contrary to what I inhale on my own time, I’m really strict with the kiddos and limit their sugar like crazy, which is pretty hypocritical, but they can do whatever when they are adults. For now, I will continue to drug myself with glucose and keep their palates pure. I mean, I’m not a total psycho, I baked gingerbread men/trees with them and have let them have a few over the past couple of weeks (sparingly when they have otherwise protein heavy meals without much other sugar – ha!). I know this seems insane, but food quality is important to me and I don’t like them eating processed stuff, ESPECIALLY sweetened stuff. Yogurt and cereal, nope and nope. The other day P asked what a bagel was. HA.
Client gifts that Kyle was nice enough to share with me 🙂
Now go make lots of broccoli soup. Balance!
