Last February my husband and I decided that our eating habits needed to be improved to help us achieve a healthier lifestyle and feel better as we get older. During this ten-week period, we adopted a plant-based diet. Having never attempted anything like this before, it was a fairly large learning curve with some disappointing food purchases. At times it was challenging to keep our meals interesting and filling, while still making sure they met our dietary needs. I discovered things about my body that were both good and bad. My skin cleared up after about a week, I had more energy and never felt “food coma” after a meal and I didn’t have heartburn anymore. I also discovered that I absolutely cannot eat beans without suffering serious gas and abdominal pain and eating too much fiber makes me fart constantly. In the end, we learned a lot, not only about what food we wanted to keep in our diets but also, what foods we could purchase vs what foods were better prepared at home. Despite feeling very healthy while eating the vegan diet, we realized we would not be able to completely give up animal products long term. After 10 weeks, we slowly adopted the Mediterranean diet, but some of the recipes I developed while eating vegan have remained. The Cream of Mushroom Soup below is one of them. This recipe is easily adapted to a non-vegan version by substituting Worcestershire sauce for the coconut aminos, regular unsalted butter for the plant butter, and half and half for the Almond milk. I didn’t include a photo, as the soup isn’t much to look at, but it is tasty.
Vegan Gluten-Free Cream of Mushroom Soup
4-5 one cup servings
2 cups of fresh mushroom chopped or sliced
1 cup dried mushrooms -packed tightly
1 tsp thyme
1 medium yellow onion diced
1 Tablespoon of coconut aminos (optional)
2 medium potatoes peeled and sliced 1/2”
2 Tablespoons plant butter or olive oil
1 quart plain unsweetened almond, oat, soy, rice, or cashew milk
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons of fresh parsley, or chives chopped (optional)
In the pot you are using to make the soup, sauté onion, thyme, fresh mushrooms, a teaspoon of salt, and ½ teaspoon of black pepper in the butter or oil on medium-low heat until onions are translucent and soft, stirring occasionally, about 10 – 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, pulverize dried mushrooms to powder consistency in a food processor or blender. If a few rice size pieces remain, that’s ok.
When sautéed onion and mushroom are soft, add dried mushroom powder and cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes.
Add amino acid, potato, and milk and simmer, stirring occasionally until potatoes fall apart easily when forked and liquid has reduced by about ¼ of its original volume. Taste and adjust salt and pepper if needed. The soup will not be thick at this point. Use one of the two methods below to thicken the soup.
Off the heat, use an immersion blender to blend/smooth the soup until the soup is thickened.
OR
Carefully ladle 2 cups soup into a standard blender and blend until smooth. Transfer blended soup to another container and continue until all the soup has been blended.
Return blended soup to the soup pan and heat through.
Serve with a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive oil, Avocado oil, or flavored oil. Top with the fresh herbs and enjoy!