Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Alcohol, It's What's for Brunch and Spring Asparagus Soup

Sunday brunch was Chocolate Beer Waffles from Vegan Brunch with blueberries and local-ish maple syrup (thanks, Jennifer!!).
Rob made a special drink for me on the cold rainy Sunday; Just Coffee, soymilk, hazelnut, and Kahlua. So the morning/early afternoon was a little more alcohol filled then most, but with no ill effects. We have decided to invest in a waffle iron. We've been using one that used to be my mom's, but we're making waffles often enough we'd like a nicer/bigger/easier to clean waffle iron. Any suggestions???
Brunch kept us satisfied until dinner, but we were starving after my radio show so dinner had to be quick and use ingredients we had on hand. I was inspired by Common Ground's FB post of a Creamy Asparagus Soup, but after checking it out and a couple others online, I came up with my own. The kids raved about this soup and literally were licking their bowls.
Spring Asparagus Soup

2 pounds asparagus (trim the ends if your asparagus is not fresh/local, but otherwise eat the whole stalk)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small onion chopped
1 orange or yellow (red would work too) bell pepper, seeded (don't skip this, it adds a complexity that straight asparagus doesn't have)
4 cups of vegetable broth (we like Better than Bouillon, but check the label because some aren't veg)
1/4 cup raw cashews
1 heaping Tablespoon nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
iodized salt to taste

Roast the asparagus in glass casserole dish sprinkled with olive oil at 450F for ten to twelve minutes. Turn the asparagus over and add the onion and garlic. Cook for another ten to twelve minutes (don't let the asparagus over-cook, ours was tender, but not too brown). Put half the asparagus, half the vegetable broth, and all the other ingredients in a Vita-mix and process until smooth then transfer to a large soup pot on medium heat (add a little olive oil on the bottom of the pot, if you like). Process the remaining asparagus and broth in the Vita-mix then add to pot and cook until thoroughly heated. If you don't have a Vita-mix, you can add all the ingredients (you may need to chop them up more or even roast the pepper with the asparagus/onions/garlic) to the soup pot at once and use an immersion blender until smooth. Serve hot with a sprinkle of za'atar and drizzle of hot sauce.

2 comments:

VeganLinda said...

Oops, I just added the salt to the recipe. I made this Sunday for Rob's bday going from my blog post and didn't add salt (I did the first time, just forgot to mention it). Definitely add a bit of salt. :-)

Jesse @ Happy Go Lucky Vegan said...

Did you say chocolate, beer and brunch in the same sentence? I'm in! And jumping up and down at the moment...