VEGAN CREAM OF CELERY SOUP

~ It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken

1 T. olive oil
6 ribs of celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 c. vegetable broth
1 c. water
1/3 c. flour
1 bay leaf
1/2 t. dried thyme
1/2 c. raw cashews
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add the celery, onion, and garlic; saute 5-10 minutes or until celery and onion start to soften and become translucent. Add broth and water, then slowly pour in flour as you whisk the soup. Add bay leave, thyme, and cashews. Bring to a simmer and cook 15 minutes or until cashews are very soft.

Remove bay leaf, then transfer soup to blender in small batches and process until cashews are completely blended. Return soup to pot to reheat or serve directly from blender. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Makes about six cups.

Notes: We like the flavor of this, but change a few steps in the process. The point of adding the cashews to the soup pot is to avoid making cashew cream separately, but our soup is a little gritty that way (note the visible cashew pieces in the picture). Next time I'll make cashew cream separately and then add it or let the soup simmer longer. The other change we made was to put the flour in a bowl and slowly add some of the broth to it until it was creamy, then dump the mixture into the soup pot. Adding flour to a bunch of liquid always results in lumps when I do it, so I added an extra step in order to avoid flour chunks.