"Panera, eat your heart out creamy vegan tomato soup"

After a long day of walking around in the sweltering heat, I was really in the mood to come home and enjoy some nice hot soup, wait...what? Yea, you heard me, HOT soup. Thankfully, this recipe didn't require too much cranking of the AC. I stopped at the bookstore on the way home from a lovely art festival and happened upon a very non-vegan magazine that provided a basic recipe for soup. I love soups but I often find myself following any recipe I use to the tee without any room for creativity, but this formula is perfect for just that! All you do is sautee about 1.25 cups of aromatics (onions, garlic, celery, etc) in some oil, add some salt and spice, then add about 1.5 lbs of veggies and 5 cups liquid and simmer until cooked and flavors are melded. Puree the soup then add some final touches like cream, lemon juice, or herbs and you are done! The magazine suggested pairing tomatoes with fennel seed so I went with that combo as the basis for this recipe...I added some really neat touches though which I think turned out great! I popped into Kroger on the way home and picked up everything I needed for the recipe which came to a grand total of $11, not too bad considering I still have some ingredients leftover to use later. This soup would be fantastic for dipping in a panini, which I did a half-a$% version of with some leftover baguette and daiya cheese, yummmmy!

Here is the recipe:

"Creamy" vegan tomato soup and herb croutons

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for croutons

1 cup sliced leeks, washed well to remove grit

1 minced shallot

2-3 cloves minced garlic

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp crushed fennel seeds, I used a mortar and pestle, how fun!

1 orange, zest and juice

1 sprig rosemary, chopped

2 - 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes

~ 2 cups low sodium vegetable broth

1/4 cup so delicious coconut milk creamer

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp. chopped basil

Multigrain baguette

Directions:

Slice multigrain baguette in half then cut half lengthwise like you are making a panini. Rub each side with a cut garlic clove, then cut into slices and cut these in half to make croutons. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Toss with a drizzle of olive oil, pinch of salt, half sprig chopped rosemary, and about 1/4 of the orange's zest. Bake for about 10 minutes, tossing once, until toasted.

While croutons are baking, heat olive oil over medium-low heat, add leeks, shallot and garlic and saute on low heat for about 10 minutes. Add salt, fennel seeds, half of the rosemary sprig and the zest from 1/2 of the orange. Add crushed tomatoes and broth, then squeeze in the juice of half the orange (squeeze the rest into your mouth :)). Bring to a simmer and boil for about 15 minutes until flavors come together. Remove from heat, let cool for a few minutes then puree in batches in the blender (make sure to leave the lid vented to avoid a hot tomato volcano!), then pour the pureed soup into another pot. Once all of the soup is pureed, stir in the creamer, vinegar, and basil. Serve with croutons.