slammin the celery soup

haha, no food styling here.  i personally like the lego box touch.  

i had three bags of organic celery that i very much needed to use.  celery is one of the veggies we get often.  i love celery, but i forget it's in the fridge and then all of a sudden i have too much and it overtakes my veggie drawer.  solution: cream of celery soup.  here was my inspo recipe:

vegan cream of celery soup

mullie notes:

i used a can of trader joe's light coconut milk and rice milk instead of soy milk.

i used the gf flour blend (plus 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum mixed in) from the artisanal gf cookbook.

i didn't have fresh dill and i forgot to put in dried...next time!

i used organic russet potatoes (no red ones in the house).

i googled vegan because i knew it would not have dairy in it.  i scanned the ingredient list and saw "celery root".  what?  i had never used, sought out or even seen celery root before so i googled some images and realized: i might, just might have this in my fridge...  i think it's that mangily, rooty looking thing above that i got in my weekly box two weeks ago.  i thought it matched up pretty well with the pictures so i just went for it.  ohhhhhhh what the heck, right!?  let's live dangerously!

i was supremely pleased with myself when i also saw leeks on the list...i had two of those also!!!!  whoop whoop!  my dad came over mid-chop and said, "ooooooh i love cream of celery soup..."  with the longing of someone who hasn't smoked in a week.  i laughed and decided to make a double batch for the poor souls next door.  but whooooof, it took me awhile to chop a double biatch.  

i also did not read the directions well AGAIN and mixed up the onions with the rest of the veggies...i was supposed to sauté them separately.  seriously, will i ever be able to make a recipe without a mistake!?  soooooo, i grabbed another onion and figured my family would never know i poisoned them with a little extra...he he he... onions.  

  ...you know you're cooking more when you are running low on sea salt.

this is the most my stovetop has ever seen.

starting the rue.  stupid strikes again.  see those little brown flecks?  those were the mushrooms i dumped too soon and had to take out.  cook onions until transparent first, then add the the darn mushrooms.  this is getting comical.

here is the rue coming together with the gf flour blend whisked in...i kept asking myself...is this working?  i have made rue's probably three times before, however all with regular flour.  i added about a 1/4 tsp of xanthan powder to my little bowl of flour to help with the thickening.

here she is with a can of coconut milk...getting creamy!

then i poured some rice milk in there.  and i have a confession:  i didn't measure.  i looked at the amounts, and went commando style. 

stupid squared.  see those little white clumps?  they were not there until i decided to get cocky and add more flour AFTER THE FACT. i was so proud of myself with my beautiful clump-free-wonderfulness and thought,  "maybe if i add a little more flour it will thicken even more"...dumb dumb dumb.  don't do that, kay?  i spent way too much time whisking that out.

i did the rue in the red pot first and my parent's pot second.  then added in the veggies.  i didn't trust my dual pot whisking abilities.  i almost forgot to season them with garlic salt, greek oregano and pepper.  i am so glad i remembered.  i felt like a real chef, seasoning and tasting...seasoning and tasting.  

we used to have a soup restaurant two miles from here.  there is a CVS store now in its place.  the soup was famous and incredible.  chris said that this reminded him of journey's end soup.  oh man, i'm on to something here:)

even though i was a goober with the recipe, the soup didn't care and loved me anyways.  

off mom goes with her pot of yums!!!  

i save the butts of the udi's sandwich bread for soup nights.  i slather on some earth's balance, garlic salt and broil them in the oven for about 5 minutes.  they are so perfect for dipping and it really helped the kids get comfortable with the veggie laden soup.

that's mac's, "is this gonna be hot?!" face.  he rocked it, nothing was left in his bowl.  well, they all wanted the fruit and pieces of dark chocolate we dangled for dessert...

and mr leisure suit larry even liked it.  

have a great weekend lounging in your leisures & go cook something yummy for your tummies.

ps

as it gets darker outside, my phone's pictures get really great.  i love the color and quality...so crisp and beautiful.  i especially like the tinges of yellow everywhere.  i have talent.  and who needs a phone with flash anyways?