Hi, foodies in the Hive!

I hope you're having a nice day! Has it ever happened to you that a bowl of soup makes you happy and repairs what was going to be a tedious day? You leave the house to start the day feeling light and agile and, in my case, the heat doesn't even seem to affect me as much when I have vegetable soup in my system 😁 Not to mention the enjoyable aromas and colors that are pleasing to the eye while you're eating.

For me, this is a smart bowl of soup: good for both economy & health.

✅ I used all the vegetables that had been in my fridge for many days, so not only was there no food waste, but I was ready to go out and get a variety of fresh vegetables to replenish my supply, which always encourages me to cook my favorite dishes or something different to brighten up the table.

✅ The soup is free of gluten, lactose, and sugar, but it's creamy, milky, and has an oerall sweetness. It's thickened with potato and broccoli stalks and has turmeric which is added at the end to preserve its anti-inflammatory properties, plus it's complemented with homemade coconut milk, which is not only good for the heart and immune system, but also for digestion.

The vegetables that top the soup have been sautéed, so the vitamin C is still there for you. And finally, cashews and almonds provide satiety in addition to all their nutritional benefits.

This broccoli creamy soup topped with homemade coconut milk & vegetable stir fry is loaded with flavors and varied textures that will not let you get bored of it and that will keep you satisfied all day long. Add to all of this the comfort of eating a bowl of soup. Of course, the latter is true only for us soup lovers 💚

I used a whole broccoli that was beginning to turn yellow 🙈

INGREDIENTS

For the creamy soup (4 servings)

broccoli stems and leaves (the head of broccoli weighed 1.6 gr)
2 cups white onion
1.5 cups sweet chili
2 tablespoons freshly crushed garlic
1 cup leek (1 month old 😂)
3 small bay leaves
1/2 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper (to make turmeric work its magic)
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon salt
1 spoonful ground turmeric

For the stir fry (4-6 servings)

3 cups white onion, julienned
3 cups red bell pepper, thickly julienned
6 cups cabbage, julienned
3 cups carrot, julienned
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
the stems of the fresh parsley to be used for garnish
1 tablespoon salt
1 lt. water
enough olive oil to sautee
sesame seeds (for extra taste and aroma in the olive oil)
fresh parsley for garnish

A handfull of toasted cashew nuts and almonds
homemade coconut milk (to pour over the served soup)

THE PROCESS

Before washing, I always start by making sure there are no "inhabitants" in the broccoli.

Then I washed it well and divided into the parts I'll be using: stems for soup, florets for a stir fry, etc...

I let it soak in vinager water while I prepared the rest of the ingredients.

SOUP

I started with the soup, so I took the excess of seeds and veins out of the sweet chilies, chopped the onion, crushed the garlic cloves, and peeled and chopped the potato.

Then I washed and chopped the broccoli stems (and leaves) and leek. All these vegetabes went into the cooking pot along with the water...

I also added the spices:

This would cook for 25 minutes approx. over medium fire, with the lid on.

After 25 minutes...

I added the turmeric and removed the pot from the fire. I let it sit for 10 min approx...

...and processed it in the blender.

At this point, the stir fry was done because I prepared it when the vegetables for the soup were cooking.

STIR FRY

I'm always excited about vegetable stir fries. This time I could use some of my favorite ingredients, like cabbage 😋

First of all, I julienned the onion and added it in the hot olive oil along with the sesame seeds. The oil got a nice perfume in the wok that was to receive the rest of the vegetables soon.

Carrot, red bell pepper, and cabbage went into the cooking wok. I stirred well, which I had to do constantly to make the gevetables cook as uniformely as possible over medium to high fire. I made thicker juliennes with the red bell pepper; along with the broccoli florets, they would be the fleshy ingredients. I also added the stems of the fresh parsley and the garlic, finely chopped.

At this point the stir fry was almost done. I sliced off the tender parts of the broccoli stems but left the florets whole. Everything went into the wok.

After I added the broccoli and removed the wok from the fire. It'd continue to cook with the remaining heat.

I put the lid on for a minute minute to allow the broccoli to cook just a little.

Finally, I added fresh parsley. Left some for final garnish.

THE DISH

I started with two ladlefuls of hot creamy soup.

Then added some warm homemade coconut milk.

You can add the milk in the blender, but I sometimes prefer it this way because it makes a nice broth when mixed with the thick soup, but you still have all that creamy soup in your dish, and also the vegetables soak up the milk giving you a hearty little sauce.