Alright, so today I decided to tackle making some soup, but the catch was, it had to be totally dairy-free. Someone in the house can’t really do dairy, and honestly, sometimes those creamy soups just feel a bit too heavy anyway. So, I thought, why not give it a proper go myself?
First thing, I rummaged through the fridge. Found some carrots, celery, an onion – the usual suspects. Had some potatoes lying around too. Grabbed those. I figured a veggie base is always a good start, right? No meat this time, just wanted simple veggie soup.
Getting Started
Okay, so I got chopping. Washed everything first, obviously. Then just chopped the onion, carrots, and celery. Didn’t make it too neat, just rough chunks. Threw a bit of olive oil in a big pot, let it heat up a bit, not too crazy hot. Tossed in the onions first, let them sweat a bit, get that nice smell going. Then added the carrots and celery. Stirred it all around for maybe 5 minutes?
Next, I added the potatoes, also just cubed up. Gave it another stir. Then came the liquid part. I just used vegetable broth. Poured in enough to cover everything well. Could have used water and bouillon cubes too, same difference really. Brought that whole thing up to a boil, then turned the heat down low, put the lid on kinda crooked, and just let it simmer away. Let it bubble gently for a good while, maybe 20-25 minutes, until the potatoes were soft when I poked ’em with a fork.
Making it Dairy-Free
Now, here’s the dairy-free part. Normally, maybe you’d add cream or milk. I thought about using coconut milk, but wasn’t sure if I wanted that flavor today. Considered blending some cashews, but that seemed like extra work I wasn’t up for.
So, I decided to just blend part of the soup itself. Carefully scooped out maybe half the soup solids and some broth into my blender. Whizzed it up until it was smooth. Then I poured that blended stuff right back into the pot with the rest of the chunky soup. Stirred it all together. This made the broth thicker and kinda creamy, but without any dairy at all. Clever, huh? Sometimes the simple ways work best.
- Chopped veggies (onion, carrot, celery, potato)
- Sautéed them in oil
- Added vegetable broth
- Simmered until soft
- Blended about half the soup
- Mixed it back in
Finishing Touches
Last thing was tasting. Added some salt, quite a bit of black pepper. Stirred, tasted again. Maybe added a little dried herb mix I had, think it was thyme and parsley. Just kept tasting and adding bits until it tasted right to me. That’s really all there is to it.
And that was it! A nice, hearty, veggie soup. Totally dairy-free, made just by blending some of itself. Didn’t miss the cream one bit, actually. It was warming, filling, and felt pretty good to eat. Definitely doing this again. Super easy, and worked out great.
