Swimming in Cheddary Bliss

On Friday, I had to alert the staff I work with that due to a wind chill warning that could reach -40 degrees they should work from home, or at least take extra precautions if they chose to come into the office. This was the same weekend my newlywed husband was making final preparations to leave for a lifelong dream trip to Nepal instead of our Hawaiian honeymoon. I was in need of something warm and comforting.

Flipping through the pages of Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Isa Does It cookbook featuring easy to prepare home-cooked 100% plant-based recipes, I found myself getting inspired. Then, I flipped to Cheddary Broccoli Soup and I was sold. 

I didn't have an immersion blender and I'm not crazy about pureed soups, so I left the veggies in tact, but otherwise followed the recipe to the letter. The results was a delicious, satisfying soup I couldn't get enough of, and was literally scraping the last bits of the side of the bowl. So enamored was I with this soup that I mentioned it in a radio interview I did later that week.

The plant-based "cheddary" flavor is a mix of white miso, nutritional yeast and cashew cream. The miso has the slightly salty, mouthwatering effect while the nutritional yeast adds color and a funkiness you get from cheese. The cashew cream is velvety creamy with just the slightest touch of sweet that pulls the whole thing together. Seriously, you need to try this recipe.