Do you ever get a craving that you just have to satisfy but NOTHING but exactly what you want will do the trick?

That's my life in a nutshell. Once I get a recipe or idea in my head, it has to happen and that usually means, I have to completely uproot it and recreate it! I had a craving for cream of broccoli soup but that spiraled into thoughts of broccoli and cheddar... then broccoli and potato and before I knew it, I was having a serious dilemma! I can't have half of the ingredients in the traditional versions of these soups so I remixed them together and made a DELICIOUS vegan, gluten free version that also lined up perfectly with the lovely @deliciousplant's #avocadocontest! Win, win :)

It all began with some yellowing broccoli in the fridge, screaming to get eaten! I thought to myself of all the things I could do with it and fell on cream of broccoli soup! You know how when something gets in your head, you have to have it? Is that just me?

I began thinking through how I could make this soup happen, still taste how I envisioned and fit into my dietary restrictions. I actually surprised myself and didn't document the whole way through in photos since I honestly wasn't expecting this to turn out so darn good (but since it did, here's the recipe!)

What you need: (Serves 3)

• 1 1/2 cup broccoli (cut into small pieces)
• 1/2 cup pre-boiled potatoes
• 3/4 cup organic soy milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 bunch celery (cut into pieces, you can leave the stems on!)
• 1 bunch green onion
• 1/2 avocado
• Nutritional yeast to taste (I used about 1/4 cup)
• Salt and pepper to taste

What to do:

• Start off with your veggie broth in a pot. Bring to a boil and add in broccoli, celery and green onion. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes while your flavors start to mesh together.
• Check the broccoli for firmness. If it's still slightly firm but getting soft, add in the cooked potatoes and soy milk. Cover and let simmer with the salt and pepper.
• After about 5 more minutes of this, your cream should be well heated and distributed. Remove from heat and put in a blender.
• Blend all the ingredients together until you have a smooth liquid.
• Add in avocado and nutritional yeast and blend again until completely smooth.
• Remove from blender, serve and set with avo slices, nutritional yeast flakes and pepper to garnish.
• Voila! Yum! A tasty green soup is good for the soul!

Ok, now to tell you the truth. The avocado was a complete after thought. I saw it on the counter and knew it was needing to get eaten and decided it would be the perfect finishing touch for my soup and boy oh boy was I ever right! Yum! Star ingredient right there!

I didn't want my soup to be too cheesy so I toned down how much nutritional yeast I originally thought I would be using to make it cheddar-y. I love how the cream from the soy milk and avo, the cheese from nutritional yeast and the homieness of the potatoes all came together! I had all three of the soups coming together in this recipe, cravings= satisfied! FYI: it's filling! I only needed one bowl for lunch and was happy as can be! I hope you enjoy it as well!