beautyfoodnerdrunningshoptravel

October 2, 2013

broccoli soup

allow me to tell you a little about my new best bud: the berry blue cuisinart smart stick. this baby is awesome!

a few weeks ago gilt.com had some kitchen items on sale and after my success with the smoothie blender, i thought i'd give this baby a whirl at 60% off. i kind of don't know how i got along with out her. the fall is gonna be all about soups! maybe not all, but i'm excited to make some veggies into mush.

adapted from the martha's vineyard diet book, this soup was touted on fitsugar as fat burning broccoli soup. it's less actual burning and more metabolism boosting / filling. it's also vegan, which isn't a big seller as i'm a carnivore but, not a bad thing either.



so little required




vegan creamy broccoli soup

1 quart low-sodium vegetable broth
4 large broccoli stalks, chopped
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 cup scallions, chopped
1 or 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup rice milk


first things first, chop the broccoli, all of it. seriously, stalk and all.

the whole thing


this takes a while. when you get thru the first 2 stalks, put the vegetable broth on the stove. 

pay no attention to the food spatters


the time it takes to chop the last 2 stalks should be about the same time it takes to bring the broth to a boil.

that's a serious amount of greens


add broccoli and reduce heat, cover and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes.



i should have used a larger pot, oh well.

now for the coconut oil, scallions and garlic. i didn't use scallions b/c a. i'm not a fan, and 2. i didn't need enough to warrant buying the bunch. i did use 3 cloves of garlic, you know me. now, about that coconut oil.

i find coconut oil to be a unique substance, like velveeta. it can easily change forms and you're not sure whether that means it's gone bad or not. when you first approach coconut oil in the store, it's all nice, liquid and moonshine oil looking. when you walk a mile home and take it out of the grocery bag it looks like this:

pina colada anyone?


what the what? see, coconut oil is liquid at about 75 degrees and solid below 75 degrees. so the average temp of trader joe's is somewhere around 75 degrees. temp on my walk home, about 68. i feel like mr. wizard, or sheldon.

anyways, heat the oil and garlic (scallions too) over medium heat until tender, stirring from time to time. when broth is ready, stir in garlic (scallions), remove from heat and let cool for 10 to 15 minutes. now the fun part. in batches, puree until smooth.

it's kind of like a lightsaber


i put about 2 ladle fulls in, smushed it down with the stick and blended. it's got a bit of a suction/pull (the force?) to it, and purees in a flash. you need to keep the stick fully submerged or it splatters a bit. keep blending the batches a few ladles at a time. you may need to add some of the pureed to the non to help the process along once you get towards the end and there's less broth left.

little bit at a time


once you've got it all pureed, give the whole bowl a good blend for good measure.

one more blend


return the puree to the pot. combine nutmeg, cayenne and rice milk in a small bowl. i didn't have any cayenne, wish i had, next time. gradually stir mix into puree.

flavors


return to medium heat and cook until heated thru, stirring from time to time. serve hot.

that's lunch!


as you can see, this reheated nicely. i spooned out 3 portions for lunch this week and put the rest in the freezer to save for later. since i didn't have any cayenne, i added pepper jack cheese toast for a little kick.

all in all it's a pretty good meal. easy enough to take to work and it's totally filling. 4.5 hours later and i haven't gone to the snack drawer once. side note: broccoli can cause your belly to bloat a bit, so no eating this on a day when you need to wear anything form fitting.


personal update: i have my first friend coming to visit in 2 weeks so i've finally gotten around to making the apt a little more lived in. i've reorganized the pantry a bit and added some hooks for my apron and hot holders. also, there's tequila, bring it!

10 min later, the organization was gone


now if i could just get my new prints framed and hung, next time!

1 comment:

  1. OOOO! I'm loving this contraption! Neato. I would have never thought I would like broccoli soup but, i'm interested :).

    ReplyDelete