"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something." ~Neil Gaiman
I shared this quote in my newsletter this week, and I think it’s going to be my guide for 2017. Heck, I might even frame it for my office! I tend to shy away from things if I don’t think I can do them well, and this quote reminds me to take more risks in the year to come. My goal list tends to be pretty lofty at the start of each year, but I’m also not too hard on myself if I only complete a portion of them, which is usually the case. Seeing as it’s the new year, I thought it might be fun to update you on what we’ve been up to so far and what some of our goals are.
As you may have seen, we launched the Android version of the Oh She Glows Recipe App Monday after months of preparation. We can’t thank you enough for your support, excitement, and kind words!
On Monday we sent out the latest issue (#11) of In the Glow, sharing healthy recipe ideas for the new year, as well as exciting OSG news tidbits. Starting (and growing) a newsletter was one of our goals for 2016. We sent out our first one on February 9, 2016, followed by 9 more issues over the course of the year. We’re now over 40,000 subscribers and growing! THANK YOU. I’m hoping to send out a survey at some point this year so you can let me know what you want to see more (or less) of.
You may have seen that we’re looking to expand our team. Right now our small-but-fierce team consists of myself, Eric, Shari (Content Editor), and Nicole (Recipe Tester). This year we’d like to hire a Video Content Creator (details on the position here), and potentially, a Social Media Specialist and RD or Holistic Nutritionist intern. (As you may know, the latter two were hiring goals for 2016, but ones that didn’t end up happening due to how busy things were. Thank you to everyone who applied for those positions, and rest assured we haven’t forgotten!)
On the personal side of things, I’m hoping to make progress with my anxiety this year. It’s a never-ending struggle, and tends to be on my goal list each year, but I’m going to keep on with it. I’ve found that postpartum hormones have been making my anxiety a bit worse than usual, and I’m going to take some active steps in 2017 to, hopefully, improve how I feel.
Let’s see, what else? I’ve been hard at work developing recipes for the app. Last week I added 3 new recipes—Brownie Breakfast Bake, Easy Nut-Free Taco Salad, and Dill Pickle Smoothie—to the app. We launched the new Get Glowing Bundle last week, too, which contains 5 “reset button” recipes to kick off the new year. The app bundle is 99 cents, and for the month of January all of our revenue from this bundle will be donated to Blessings in a Backpack Canada. This charity ensures children in need receive backpacks filled with food every Friday throughout the school year, so they can return to class on Monday well fed and ready to learn. It’s awesome to be working with BIB again!
On the blog front, I’m starting to bookmark old recipes that are in desperate need of some updating—such as my Broccoli and Cheese Soup. The original recipe was posted back in 2011, and I took one look at the recipe and its photos and knew I had to breathe some life back into it with a fresh new approach. Last year I also started adding metric conversions to my recipes, and I’ll continue to share these calculations for each new recipe in the future. It’s tedious (mainly because I weigh each solid ingredient), but I love hearing from those of you in the UK and elsewhere who find it incredibly helpful! I want you to have similar results, ya know?! If there are any other old blog recipes that you’d like to see revamped in 2017, please drop me a comment below. I’d love to hear your ideas!
There are some other goals on our radar this year, but this feels long-winded enough for now.
Cheers to making mistakes, trying new things, and learning as we go in 2017!
Vegan Broccoli and Cheese Soup
Yield
8 cups (2 litres)
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Like a big, cozy sweater, this soothing soup will help you get through the long winter. It combines my love for broccoli and cheese sauce, while doing without the dairy-based cream or cheese. This is a bit of a fussy soup (think weekend, not weeknight) as it involves a few homemade components (cheese sauce, soup, and homemade croutons), so you’ll need an hour start to finish. If you can make the cheese sauce the day before, that’ll help streamline things!
This soup is adapted from my 2011 version. The cheese sauce is lightly adapted from my cheese sauce in Oh She Glows Every Day.
Ingredients
For the cheese sauce:
- 1 1/4 cups (190 g) diced peeled yellow or red potatoes*
- Heaping 1/3 cup (55 g) diced peeled carrots*
- 2 tablespoons (6 g) nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons (30 mL) refined coconut or grapeseed oil**
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (37.5 mL) water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 mL) fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 medium (4 g) garlic clove
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) white wine vinegar
For the soup:
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium (350 g) onion, diced (2 heaping cups)
- 3 medium (13 g) garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup (120 g) chopped celery
- 5 to 6 cups (350 g) chopped broccoli florets
- 1 1/2 cups (225 g) chopped Yukon Gold potatoes (about 2 medium)
- 3 cups (750 mL) low-sodium vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons (6 g) nutritional yeast
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 mL) fresh lemon juice, or to taste
- Fine sea salt, to taste (I use 1/2 teaspoon)
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 1/2 teaspoons to 3 teaspoons (7.5 to 15 mL) chickpea miso, to taste***
For topping:
- Pan-Fried Garlic Croutons (use gluten-free bread if necessary)****
- Smoked or sweet paprika
- Fresh minced parsley
Directions
- For the cheese sauce: Place the potatoes and carrots in a medium pot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes, until fork-tender. Drain.
- While the potatoes and carrots are simmering, add the nutritional yeast, oil, water, lemon juice, salt, garlic, and vinegar into a high-speed blender and set aside.
- Chop the onions, garlic, celery, broccoli, and potatoes for the soup and set aside.
- When the simmering potatoes and carrots are fork-tender, drain them and add to the blender. Blend the cheese sauce until smooth, then transfer to a bowl.
- For the soup: In a large pot, sauté the oil, onion, and garlic over medium heat, stirring frequently. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes.
- To the pot, add the celery, broccoli, and potatoes and sauté for a few minutes more. Now, add the broth, nutritional yeast, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Cover and simmer over medium heat for about 13 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are fork-tender. Turn off the heat and let the soup sit for a few minutes. Add the chickpea miso.
- Carefully transfer the soup into a blender (you might have to do this in two batches). Blend until smooth and place back into the pot.
- Set aside 1/4 cup (60 mL) of cheese sauce for garnish. Add the rest of the cheese sauce into the soup and stir to combine. Adjust seasonings to taste if desired.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and swirl in a tablespoon of the reserved cheese sauce into each bowl. Top with Pan-Fried Garlic Croutons, paprika, and parsley, if desired.
Tip:
* To cut down on cooking time, be sure to dice the potatoes and carrots very small.
** Refined coconut oil doesn’t have a coconut flavour, which is why I love it in the cheese sauce. Grapeseed oil also has a neutral flavour, but if you don’t have either you can probably get away with a light-tasting olive oil.
*** I love chickpea miso, it’s light in flavour and often soy-free (be sure to check the label, though). If you can’t find chickpea miso, any light or white miso should do the trick! I like a full 3 teaspoons of chickpea miso in this soup, but depending on the flavour of your miso you might prefer a bit less.
**** Instead of bread-based croutons, you can top this soup with my Roasted Chickpea Croutons.
Just made this for dinner–SO GOOD. Nothing I would change. Thank you!
Truly an amazing recipe! It was a big hit this weekend. I think that this wonderful cheese sauce can probably be put to many uses, like a dip fort French fries, breakfasts with mock eggs Benedict, etc.
Anxiety sucks. If yo haven’t tried Bach’s rescue remedy pastilles, my doctor told me about them last year and they’re a natural option I found helpful.
Thanks as always for all the great recipes and inspiration you offer!
Thanks so much for the suggestion, Kate! I’ll have to look into those. :)
You’re welcome! In the US at least they’re available over the counter at health food stores and even some regular grocery stores.
Can’t wait to make this soup this weekend!
I made this for dinner aaaaand…..I don’t think I’m going to share any of it. My family can order pizza. I am currently scraping every molecule of the cheese out of the vitamix. What I didn’t put in the soup I am eating with tortilla chips. Delicious!
I just made this soup! It was great. I didn’t blend mine through, so the cayenne pepper was a little too much for my taste. Ended up adding a little more broth. I would absolutely make it again. Thanks for the recipe.
Attracted to your site by your logo.
Love the radish (watercolor), the font, and layout.
What is the font, btw?
Thank you, Ann! I’m sorry I can’t recall the name of the font.
I made this for dinner last night, and it was amazing! My cheese loving husband and daughter said it was better than “real” broccoli and cheese soup. A definite do-again.
Wow, what a glowing review! I’m thrilled this broccoli and “cheese” soup was a winner even with cheese lovers.
Beautiful imagery and beautiful SOUP! My brother is vegan and he would adore this recipe (and so would I obvi). Thanks for sharing :)
I hope you (and he) love it when you give it a try, Katie!
I am in love with those wooden bowls. Did you get them online? I’m looking at Amazon right now but there are so many pages of wooden bowls to look through…
Hi Poppy, Thank you! They are actually from a yard sale…quite the steal, I thought! :) I hope you find some soon.
I made this soup last night and it came out delish!!!! It made plenty! I froze some and and brought about three more days of leftover soup to reheat for lunch at work and it reheated beautifully! Thanks again for another 5 star recipe!! I have both of your cookbooks plus your app and everything I make from your recipes is just amazing! I appreciate you sharing your talents!! Thanks for keeping me healthy!
So glad the soup was a hit, Leslie! I haven’t tried freezing it yet myself, so I’d love to hear how it thaws and reheats for you.
The soup thawed and re-heated beautifully!!!! I had it for lunch today, so it is safe to say this is a freezer friendly soup!!
Hey Angela,
This seems delicious ! I’ve made your almond butter chocolate chunks cookies twice over the holidays and I currently have a batch of sweet potato lentil stew simmering ! As I’m getting more comfortable with vegan cooking and baking, I start to explore new blogs but I keep coming back to yours because I feel particularly attached to it since it got me started as a new vegan. As far as my resolutions go, I’ve started the online plant-based cooking course from Rouxbe and I’m hoping to be more consistent with my meditation practice with headspace’s help. As I read how you mention wanting to get your anxiety a bit more in check, I couldn’t help but think that the headspace app would be perfect for you ! You should really check it out, it does wonderful things for me ! Best of luck,
Elisabeth
Thank you so much for the warm words and advice, Elisabeth! I think I’ve heard of headspace before, I’ll definitely have to look into it.
Made this for dinner and it was excellent! That cheese sauce sounded a bit too healthy for me, but did not disappoint in its richness!! So creamy & lush! I plugged all the ingredients into MyFitnessPal and for 8 serves it is 152 cals, 5.5 fat, 22 carb, 5 protein! This includes cheese sauce, but not croutons. Will keep this recipe and may even make the cheese sauce for another use i.e. Vegan Nachos!!
Hey Molly, I’m so pleased you enjoyed the recipe! I love that bit of richness the cheese sauce adds, too. I’d love to hear what you think of it on the nachos!
I love to try different types of soups. This is really easy to make and healthy. I would definitely try this and would prefer to add at least once in a weak to my meal.
Hi Angela,
You might want to look into adding a niacin supplement to help you will your anxiety. If you do some research you will find that this can be VERY beneficial in helping stress and anxiety, it will calm you within about 20 minutes of taking it.
Hope this will help you.
Keep the recipes coming….. :)
Thanks for the suggestion, Tara!
Hi Angela,
I love your recipes and so does my family (although we are not vegetarians). I was wondering..our blender doesn’t work. Would a food processor work for the cheese sauce or should I use a hand held blender instead? I’ve been meaning to invest in a Vitamix but they’re sooo expensive and I’d hate to try the recipe and have it flop (it would be a terrible waste of ingredients). Thanks for your help!
Hey Rosemary, I haven’t tried this cheese sauce using a food processor or immersion blender yet, but I will try to remember to test these out in the future. My guess is that it might work, but could turn out a bit grainer in texture. If you give it a go, please report back! I hope you enjoy the soup, however you end up making it.
How long would you say this lasts in the fridge? Does it reheat well? Can the reserved cheese sauce for swirling just be added at the beginning of the week? Thanks!
Hi Emily, I’d say this soup lasts well in the fridge, sealed in an airtight container, for up to 4 to 5 days. And yes, it reheats wonderfully! As to the cheese sauce, it should last in the fridge for 4 to 5 days as well. I hope this helps!
Wow!! This looks absolutely amazing!
I also wanted to say that I love the quote you shared and how it relates to you. I, too, do not take chances, or risks, because I don’t think I will succeed. However, I have tried to make this new year different and, so far, I have gone back to being 100% vegan and started a blog of my own.
Thanks for the inspiration, motivation, and all the delicious recipes :)
Hi Tiffany, I just love that quote, and I’m so happy it speaks to you, too! I’m wishing you all the best in 2017. :)
This looks absolutely delicious, I’m going to make it tonight with the broccoli I have! I also love your goals for the new year, it reminds me of a quote I read recently that’s really resonating with me … “Fortune favors the bold”. Hope 2017 is good to you!
Oh, I love that quote! So inspiring. I hope you enjoy the soup tonight, Sylvie!
I love all of your recipes, but the ones I make ALL THE TIME (okay, probably too much! I can not help myself they are so good!) are the butternut squash/cashew blend mac & cheeze and the protein bars. I would love to see a refresh on these ones. I just can’t get enough (especially since Costco & BJ’s sells butternut squash in ready to make frozen cubes – so quick and easy!)!
Winner Winner! My husband made this last night for me. The perfect treat after a looong work day AND his first attempt at a vegan recipe! Needless to say we both LOVED the soup and started planning every possible way we could use the cheese sauce…a dead on replacement for nacho cheese. My husband is not vegan and always struggles with not knowing what to make for me, so thanks for the help and easy to follow instructions. He proudly shared photos of the dish with fam and friends before digging in! :)