Been a crazy week so forgive my lack of posts. I've been lazy and have felt it physically! I was at work and a seminar last week. The venue provided lunch, for which I requested a vegetarian meal, thinking asking for vegan would be too much. I got some really good vegetarian meal but I found that the chef felt like substituting cheese (and lots of it) for meat. The first day, I had a creamy tomato pasta with a few small chunks of asparagus and kalamata olives. It was really good but I craved more veggies. Thesecond day, I got ricotta cheese filled ravioli with a cream sauce. Again no veggies except for the salad that started both meals out. Next time, I will just ask for a plate with just the side veggies. The meat plates had yummy looking carrots and green beans.
So, because I was so busy, I've been making lots of concessions in the dairy department and I could see next week easily turning out the same with Thanksgiving but I really need to get back on track because I've been feelin' the effects and it's not good.
So, this morning I had steel cut oats with brown sugar and dried cranberries. I had coffee and we were out of nondairy creamer at home so I had it with **GASP** half and half! Did I mention being a little lenient with dairy? Yeah.
Got home from church and it was so cold that Hubbs asked for soup for lunch. I had absolutely nothing planned, but I needed to use my asparagus before it went bad. So I came up with the following recipe. I hope you enjoy it!!
Creamy Asparagus Soup
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 head celery, coarsely chopped
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and chopped into pieces
1 carton vegetable stock
2-3 tbsp Follow Your Heart buttery spread
4 tbsp Tofutti sour cream
6 small cloves garlic, pressed or minced
generous amounts of salt and pepper
Toasted pine nuts for garnish (toast on a baking sheet at 350 for a few minutes)
Serves 4
Saute celery and onion in a large pot in the butter spread over med-high heat until soft. Add garlic and asparagus. Saute until asparagus is tender but still bright green. Transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. Add some stock if needed. Meanwhile heat stock in pot and add sour cream. Whisk until well blended. Add back veggies and mix to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with pine nuts on top.
love it! if i can find any asparagus around here - asia isn't exactly the mecca of asparagus. i will try to find it though! could you technically substitute asparagus with anything else following the same recipe?
ReplyDeleteYeah probably broccoli would do well! I'm gonna try that next. But I think any veggie you want. Just follow the directions, cooking until tender. Good luck!
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