Good morning! Did everyone enjoy the Super Bowl last night? Or were you like me, and just there for the food, beer and commercials?
I have to say the commercials didn’t really do it for me this year. I guess car commercials never really do… and there are sooo many of those. The Budweiser Clydesdales, on the other hand, just get me every time. Plus a cute puppy? Yes. That one definitely brought a tear to my eye, but I think last year’s is still my favorite. The one with the guy who raises one of the Clydesdales? Too too cute.
But yeah, I guess I am mostly there for the food and beer.
I made a good Super Bowl dip this year, though of course I didn’t get my act together to give you the recipe ahead of time. Oops? Planning ahead for food holidays is not really my strength, and for that I hope you’ll forgive me. Rest assured I’ll post that dip for you soon anyway. Maybe it can be a… Valentine’s Day dip? Now you know I haven’t planned for that one, either.
But what I do have planned is soup!
A vegan soup chock full of roasted red peppers, thyme, and cauliflower.
It is definitely the perfect time of year for soup. The time of year when you’re cold, but maybe you’re also lazy. You are in hibernation mode. OK, I’ll speak in the first person. I am in hibernation mode. As I type this, I am sitting in front of our space heater under a blanket, wearing a sweater, slippers and a scarf. Did I mention it’s cold in our apartment? This is the position I find myself in most nights, and the thought of spending too long out from underneath a blanket in order to cook our food seems like frigid, frigid torture. Get it in the pot and get me back into my cave! I mean chair. And then give me some soup.
Soup is a great one-pot meal. You can get all your veggies in there – no need for a side salad – and still make it hearty enough to fill you up.
But in case you didn’t notice, I added a little something extra on the side of this one.
CHEEEESE.
Making those cheesy toasts was an extra two minutes outside of my blanket well spent.
This is totally the grown-up version of tomato soup with grilled cheese. So much fancier because it’s roasted red peppers instead of tomatoes, and also because we can call these cheesy toasts “cheddar toast points,” AKA the fancy restaurant name for cheese melted on top of toast. Cut into triangles. I would say it tastes even better when you call it toast points, but I’m pretty sure toasted bread and melty cheese taste good in any combination.
I loved the roasted red pepper and cauliflower flavors together with the thyme. It tastes vaguely Italian, and you could even add in a few other Italian spices if you wish. I just wanted to keep things simple with this one, though. Simple and tasty!
This soup is good on its own, but let me tell you that if you’re not opposed to a little dairy, it really takes it up a notch. Dunking these cheesy toasts in your soup is an obvious win, but I also liked a scoop of Greek yogurt stirred into it. Just a little something extra to complement the roasted red pepper flavor. Goat cheese or feta would also be good! Now I am just thinking of all the types of cheese that would be good… and the answer is all of them.
Vegan soup + cheese for the win!
- 4 red bell peppers
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 leeks (white and green parts only), rinsed thoroughly and sliced
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 head cauliflower, chopped
- 10-12 sprigs thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- sliced whole wheat bread
- grated white cheddar cheese
- or, serve with Greek yogurt
- Preheat your broiler on high. Remove stems and seeds from bell peppers and cut in halves or quarters. Place skin facing up on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Broil and skins are completely black, rotating sheet as necessary. The timing will depend on your broiler, so check often. Remove charred peppers from broiler, drop into a Ziploc bag, and seal. Set aside to steam while you prepare the rest of the soup.
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add sliced leeks, celery, and carrot, and saute until beginning to soften, about 6 minutes. Add chopped cauliflower, thyme, bay leaf, and broth. Cover and simmer until cauliflower is tender, 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat. Remove and discard the thyme and bay leaf.
- Remove peppers from the plastic bag. Peel off the charred skins and discard. It's okay if some bits of the skin still stick to the pepper. Add the peppers to the soup. Puree with an immersion blender, or in batches in a regular blender, until smooth.
- Top slices of bread with mounds of grated cheddar and toast until cheese is melted and bubbly. Slice into triangles.
- Serve soup with cheddar toast points. (Or skip the toast and serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt.) Enjoy!
I am SOOO making this sometime this week! I bought a head of cauliflower on Thursday or Friday of last week in the hopes to make Buffalo Cauliflower bites for the superbowl, and then I had a bridal shower to attend, got home just in time for kick off and didn’t have time to make any of the things I wanted to! So the cauliflower is resting peacefully in my veggie crisper drawer of my fridge probably anxious to be to used. Enter this soup! I am totally making it this week. Yum! Thanks for sharing :)
I think you and I could throw a mean dinner party together. I love your recipes and this soup is screaming my name! Love the ingredients, love how flavorful this is! Hand me a spoon!
I will throw a dinner party with you any time, girl! But first I need some pointers from the Andrea Bemis school of creamy soup photography. Seriously, your soup photos are always gorgeous and mine need some love!
Hahaha the answer is ALWAYS all of the cheese. I’m not gonna lie. those ‘cheddar toast points’ grabbed my attention before the soup did!
The Budweiser Clydesdales ad with the puppy was one of my favs!
This is one heck of a soup!
I think a good soup is definitely fitting right now and this one looks delicious. I can imagine it was challenging to balance that bread like that too. Mine would have fell right in and I would be forced to eat it all!! Mwuahaha.
You sound like me with the adding cheese to vegan recipes. It just makes everything so much better!
YES. This is a perfect way to hide cauliflower :) But also, this looks like a super grown-up version of tomato soup and grilled cheese. Definitely making this over the weekend!
Alternate title: How to properly bastardize vegan soup! ;) Haha! I love it! Definitely something I’ve done before…vegan burgers are always better with a little cheese! Or well, ANYTHING is better with cheese!
I have to take a minute to compliment your cheddar toast point balancing skills here, lady! Mine sure would’ve fallen into the bowl and a soup goopy mess! Ha! I have been ALL about the soup lately…from my freezer that is. Luckily I “forgot” I froze a few different batches nearly a year ago because this lazy hibernating girl just can’t seem to find the energy to actually get up from HER blanket on the couch for anything more than microwaving a bowl of leftovers! ;)
Lazy hibernation = bear mode. Im in it too. Plus dunking cheese bread into anything is a big love around here. High fives all around!
Yum! I just made this delicious recipe with a little twist of my own. While roasting the peppers I also threw a beautiful beefsteak tomato in the oven along with them and added a bunch of fresh basil from the garden. Topped with olive oil and aged white cheddar cheese, Turned out delicious <3.
thank you for this recipe…