Quick and Easy Creamy Potato Soup (Vegan & Gluten Free)

The last few days I've been fighting an awful cold, and I've had an appetite for nothing but soup.  Before I got sick I made some awesome detoxifying miso soup (recipe to come) that I've been eating off of for three days, but today I came home and wanted something hearty, creamy, and filling.

Enter: Quick and Easy Creamy Potato Soup

My husband says this is a 9/10... and he considers himself a non-vegan potato soup connoisseur.

I'll take it :-)

You need:
-3 med/large red skinned potatoes, chopped
-1 daikon root, peeled and chopped
-5 oz fresh cauliflower
-1/2 small white onion finely diced (you don't want huge chunks of onion in your soup!)
-1 tbsp Earth Balance vegan buttery spread
-1/2-1 cup almond milk
-3-4 tbsp nutritional yeast
-2 cups vegan veggie stock
-1 tsp Bell's Onion and Herb Poultry Seasoning (or other salt-free poultry seasoning)
-1 tsp garlic powder
-Kosher Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper to taste

1.  In a large pot bring potatoes, daikon, and cauliflower to a boil in salted water.  Cook until everything is soft (about 20 minutes).
2.  Drain.  Separate out some potatoes (about 1 cup) into a bowl, set aside.  Add remaining vegetables to food processor with about 1/2-1 cup almond milk.  Blend until creamy.
3.  Return large pot to heat.  Melt vegan butter and sauté onions until brown.  Add potato mixture & cooked potatoes back to pot with veggie stock and remaining ingredients.  Heat through, stir, and enjoy!

Serve topped with green onions (pictured below), vegan bacon bits, or even some vegan cheddar cheese!

(Please excuse the crummy iPhone photos... I'm sick!  Gimme a break!)

Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Soup

Yesterday I was all like "I'm going to write a blog post about how discouraged I'm feeling this week."

Then I came home, got in the kitchen, and changed my mind.  (Who wants to read that crap anyway?)

Bad days/weeks/months/years are normal.  It's life.  It happens.  But it's okay.  Life goes on.  And times like these give us the best opportunity to focus, adjust, and DECIDE to be great.

So here I am.  And I made a freaking GREAT soup.

 (Excuse the quality of this iPhone photo... I was being lazy.)

This soup evolved from veggies I bought with the intention to cook all week long, but never did.

Here's what I used:

-1 tbsp olive oil
-3-4 cloves of garlic (doesn't need to be minced, but cut it up a little)
-1/2 large red onion chopped
-1 large russet potato, peeled and chopped
-About 1/2 head cauliflower (cut into pieces)
-2 large zucchini squash chunked

-2 veggie bouillon cubes (crumbled)

-1 1/2 tsp Bell's salt-free onion and herb seasoning 

-1/2 tsp coriander

-kosher sea salt (to taste)

-1 package soft tofu

Here's what I did:

1.  Large stock pot.  Oil, onion, garlic.  Boom.  Let that stuff get translucent. (8-10 mins on high-ish heat)

2.  Add the rest of the chopped veggies & potatoes, cook for a minute or two. (stir so the taters don't get stuck)

3.  Add all the seasonings and bouillon cubes.  Add water (don't totally submerge all the veggies, leave like 1/2-1 inch sticking out).  Bring to a boil.

4.  Reduce to simmer, cover, cook for like 30-40 minutes.  Make sure everything is mushy.

5.  Add the soft tofu.  Cook another 4-5 minutes (so the tofu is heated through).

6.  In a food processor, puree the cooked veggies & tofu in batches (unless you have a GIANT food processor that can do it all at once, but I don't think that exists).

7.  Return to pot, continue to simmer for an hour or so until you're ready to serve.  (FYI - I topped mine with a pinch of dry oregano.. yum!)

It's like creamy cheesy cauliflower soup, without any cream or cheese!  Definitely FTMS!

PS.  If you're feeling frisky you could top this with some vegan cheddar cheese or nutritional yeast.

Enjoy!!