That Super Simple Mushroom Soup

A couple weeks ago, we met friends in Manhattan and walked the High Line where the old West Side elevated rail used to run. It was the last warm windy day before the very cold snap and we settled down for brunch at a vegan restaurant with a serious reputation (blossomnyc.com). None of us had eaten there before. Honestly, my favorite was my husband's mushroom soup. It haunted me. So when I stopped in at my local MetFood store to pick up something, and they had organic white mushrooms on sale 2for1, I bought two and went home to make mushroom soup.

I used organic everything I could get:

3/4 lb chopped white mushrooms (you could use Cremini)
3 chopped medium sized carrots
4 chopped smallish parsnips
2 chopped stalks celery
1 large chopped onion
3 large cloves of garlic chopped
1/2 tsp salt (I do use sea salt mostly)
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
3/4 cup fresh chopped parsley leaves
1 liter or 4-5 cups or a quart of water
1 cup unsweetened rice milk or almond milk

Cook the chopped onions, garlic, celery, carrots, parsnips in the bottom of a pot with about 3 cups of water. When they begin to soften, add chopped mushrooms, salt, pepper, parsley and the rest of the water (or more or less water).  When all cooked - about 35 minutes - add the cup of rice milk or almond milk and puree.  Delicious! We ate this several days as it made about 2 quarts, shared it with neighbors, and I bet it would freeze well too. This completely satisfied my craving for that mushroom soup, in fact, my husband said this soup is an all-time favorite and was "quite a bit better" than his bowl at the restaurant (that's really what he said).

Mushroom Soup Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (260g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 48 2% Total Fat 1g 1% Saturated Fat 0g 0% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 193mg 8% Total Carbohydrate 10g 3% Dietary Fiber 3g 10% Sugars 4g 0% Protein 2g 5% Vitamin A 15% • Vitamin C 23% Calcium 9% • Iron 6% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com based on my estimates.