Broccoli soup inspired by Colleen!

This soup was originally made without the onions, beans and sour cream by my friend Colleen. I love cream soups, and here is a lovely way to do one without dying from all the heavy fats. Minus the sour cream and queso fresco, this is vegan (and mozzarella vegan-rella would go really well with the soup too).

Get a large soup pot with a cover ready with a steamer in the bottom and about 1/2" of water in the bottom of the pot. Cut up 1.5 large or 2 medium heads of broccoli and steam until tender but crisp (or use a bag of frozen). Blend in blender (2-3 batches) with (plain) soy milk (enough to cover) and some sliced almonds then return to the soup pot. Thinly slice a small onion and peel 2-3 garlic cloves. Add 1 C cooked great northern beans to a pan and heat up. Add the onion, garlic and almonds and gently saute until the onion is transparent. Blend in batches with soy milk if necessary and add to the soup pot. Add a drizzle of olive oil and a lot of freshly ground black pepper and sea salt to taste. Simmer until thick and slightly reduced. Garnish with sour cream and queso fresco (or mozzarella).

soaking beans

Dried beans are my favorite as it's easier to cook them to your favorite consistency and flavor them accordingly. Great Northern beans are one of my favorites - give them a nice long soak, boil them up with a little broth, and they taste buttery and creamy.

Pour a pound of beans into a large bowl and give them the once over, discarding any non-bean particles and sketchy looking beans. Rinse once with cold water, then cover by 2-3 inches and let soak, about 8 hours. I try to get them soaking before work so they're ready when I get home.

After the soak, pour off the soaking water and re-cover with an inch or so of fresh water. Put into a large stock pot, turn heat to high and cover. Add stock or stock concentrate now. I like Minor's vegetable base, it goes really well with these beans. Set your timer for an hour, then take a bean out, cool it and eat it. If it's tough, keep going for another 30 minutes and try again, if you like your beans really soft, go for another hour (the skins might burst). You can also use a pressure cooker, just make sure not to overfill it and go for about 20-30 minutes at a time with presoaked beans.

I like to make quick vegetable soups out of the beans using frozen spinach and cauliflower and maybe a few tomatoes (sun dried are lovely). Since the beans are cooked, just get some water going, put the frozen vegetables in the pot and once they're thawed, throw some cooked beans in the pot and let it all mix together for 5-10 minutes at near boiling. You can also freeze the just cooked beans for future use. One pound of beans makes about 2 quarts cooked (I store them in clean yogurt containers).