Good Food Friday: Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup (and happy thoughts!)

It's Friday again, already! This summer is flying by. I feel like if I blink I will miss July altogether.

I didn't do a "Monday Happies" this week, so I thought I would share some of the things that make me smile today, for good measure before giving you the BEST recipe EVER for Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup.

I love my momma! 

First, last weekend VOMD and I went up North to visit family. We went to Temiskaming QC to see his parents and ended up loading up the car with free stuff they wanted to get rid of. As much as I am attempting to downsize and be less of a consumer, I can't say no to free things, especially if they are just going to end up in a landfill. We scored three comforters, three sets of sheets, a new (to us) desk and throw pillows! LOVE IT! But now, alas, we need a place to store all this stuff, and we don't have a linen closet so its basically going to sit in a  pile in our bedroom until we move  into a bigger place. Then we headed to Magnetawan to see my Mom for her birthday. We had a BBQ and a pool party, and I got to see two of my big sisters and some of my nieces and nephews. Being around them makes me desperate to move back up north again. I don't like being so far away from my family.

The most handsome man in the world, VOMD. Oh, and Coors is VEGAN, fyi.

 It was nice to actually just relax, lay in the sun, and hear the voices and laughter of my family around me. I often feel very disconnected from  them, being here in Hamilton, so this weekend was so badly needed.

My beautiful big sister and I! I miss her so much. We used to have girls' nights every Friday, so going months without seeing her is awful! 

I am so lucky to have such an amazing family. My mom bought veggie burgers for me and VOMD, and even made vegan pasta salad, and an awesome bean salad with carrots and broccoli, and one  of my sister's brought vegan taco salad (with veggie ground round!).



Now on to the vegan mushroom soup recipe I promised! Mushrooms are VOMD's favourite vegetable (I guess they aren't technically vegetables though...but saying they are his favourite Fungi just doesn't really hit home), and when he still ate animal products his  favourite soup was Cream fo Mushroom. I thought I would give it a try as a surprise because I found a bunch of mushrooms on sale because they were a tiny bit brown...but that just makes them more flavourful! It actually turned  out amazing!

Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
2 cups chopped cauliflower florets
2 cups chopped white mushrooms
1 can whole mushrooms, unsalted preferably
1 large  onion, peeled and cut in quarters
4 large cloves of garlic, peeled

2 cups unsweetened almond milk
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cube of vegetarian vegetable soup base (or a little spoon full if you only have powdered)
Splash of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Shredded vegan cheese (optional, I used Vegan Gourmet mozzarella)
Fresh parsley to garnish (optional)
Deep fried onions to garnish (you can make them yourself or buy them...this is optional)

Start by boiling your cauliflower until it is literally falling apart. If you drop it on the counter from a couple feet, it should be mushed on impact. Strain and set aside. Then throw onions, white mushrooms and garlic into a food processor and pulse until well chopped but not so well blended that it isn't chunky any more. You want some texture in your soup. Turn on you cast iron pan, add a tiny splash or oil, and fry up this mixture until the onions are golden and the mushrooms juicy and darkened - you can add a little salt and pepper for flavour here. You can put a lid over it once its slightly browned to get the juices flowing, and add the canned mushrooms to the mix. While this is sizzling away, put your cauliflower in the food processor and blend until totally creamy. Add almond milk, soup base cube,  and sift in flour, and keep blending until totally combined. Once this is done, combine cauliflower mixture with onion and mushroom mixture in a pot and put on medium low heat and stir until thickened. Add a little salt and pepper to taste. You can also add garlic powder or onion powder if you feel like it could use a boost, but don't overdo it because natural fresh flavours are always best! IF it isn't as thick as you'd like, add a tiny bit more flour to a cup, whisk it with a tiny bit of water until completely combined, an stir it into soup. If you prefer not to use flour, you can make this soup flour free by using more cauliflower and less almond milk.

Serve garnished with onions, cheese and parsley and eat way too much!