Easy Cream of Broccoli Soup - Vegan

Jase and I were incredibly bored hanging out at my mum's one day and watched the documentary, Sick, Fat and Nearly Dead by Joe Cross.  Jase was then suddenly inspired to go on a juice fast that lasted a couple of days and he made me promise that I wouldn't cook for the duration of his fast.  Thank goodness it's over because I can eat hot meals instead of whipping a quick salad for lunch.  Well, I shouldn't complain because I went out to a fantabulous dinner at Lawry's with Angie and Kimmie last night.  Lawry's has the most scrumptious raspberry cake and I am kicking myself for not bringing the leftovers home because it was just that darn good!

In addition to the kale and spinach Jase was juicing, he also added broccoli and I was NOT going to let all the pulp go to waste.  I was very supportive of my husband each time he turned on the juicer.  I stood beside him each time he pushed the vegetables through the juicer and waited for him to fill up my tupperware with nutritious green pulp that inspired me to make cream of broccoli soup.  This time, I used pureed garbanzo beans instead of using brown rice flower or ground flax seeds to thicken my soup.   I also added a yellow bell pepper to give the soup some flavor and color.  This recipe is incredibly easy and can be made pretty quickly if you have a food processor to chop the vegetables.  Prep and cook time should take no longer than 30 minutes.

Easy Cream of Broccoli Soup

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon Earth Balance Butter
• 2 teaspoons of minced garlic
• 1 large chopped brown onion
• 1 chopped yellow bell pepper
• 1 1/2 cups canned garbanzo beans (drained and loosely packed)
• 1 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 3 cubes of vegan vegetable bouillon (I used Rapunzel with Sea Salt & Herbs)
• 4 cups rice milk
• 6 cups of chopped broccoli florets (about two medium heads of broccoli)

1. On a heated skillet, melt butter.  Add garlic, onion and yellow bell pepper.  Stir until onion is translucent and turn off the stove.
2. Pour garlic, onion and yellow bell pepper into a large blender.  Add garbanzo beans, nutritional yeast flakes, vegetable bouillon and rice milk.  Blend until all ingredients are smooth.
3. Pour the mixture into a large pot and bring it to a boil. 
4. Add chopped broccoli florets, stir and simmer for about 5 minutes.  Serve and enjoy!