Cadry's Kitchen

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Vegan recipes from my kitchen

Melted Snowman Soup (Made with potatoes!)

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Melted snowman soup is made with potatoes, onions, garlic, and warming spices. Get the whole family involved to decorate their snowmen – with a carrot for a nose, black olive eyes, and sun-dried tomato mouths. Dinner just got a whole lot more fun. Vegan & gluten-free.

Sad bowls of vegan potato soup (melted snowman soup) with polkadot napkin, spoons, and rosemary.

I first got the idea for making a “melted” soup back when I was working on a series of Wizard of Oz recipes. I thought it would be fun to take my home-style vegan split pea soup, and top it with a witch’s hat made of nori.

Just one problem. I seriously hate nori.

I made a little nori hat, and put it on top of the warm soup. And then the nori immediately softened into it, leaving its ocean-y flavor behind. Blech.

(I gave up on the idea and made a green mango smoothie instead.)

But even though the Wicked Witch of the West melted soup was a bust, that didn’t mean the idea was altogether a bad one.

So I waited until the winter months when light, fluffy snow was eventually replaced with puddles.

I thought of those snowmen that children build on a winter’s day. Scarves, carrot noses, sticks for arms, and a hat on top…

And I thought about the snowmen that are eventually just a pile of forgotten clothes & salad once grass starts peeking through.

Melted snowman soup

Overhead melted snowman soup (vegan potato soup). Sad faces on bowls of potato soup, spoons, and napkin.

That brings us to melted snowman soup.

Have fun this wintery season – wherever you are – by making a snowman of your own.

But this one isn’t jolly, running all over town with a broomstick in his hand (like a certain Witch of the West I know). This one is the melted version.

(If you’re a man made of snow, you really should know better than smoking from a corn cob pipe…)

What a world, what a world.

Potato soup in pot on stove.

The base of this melted snowman soup is the same as my loaded vegan baked potato soup.

It’s filled with potatoes, onions, garlic, rosemary, thyme, and velvety cashew cream. Then it’s blended until smooth with an immersion blender.

The difference is in the toppings.

A loaded vegan baked potato soup is piled up with seitan bacon, cashew cream cheese, shredded non-dairy cheese, and green onions.

But melted snowman soup is topped with a corncob pipe, a button nose, and two eyes made out of coal.

Or wait. Maybe that’s a sun-dried tomato mouth, a carrot nose, and two eyes made out of olives.

And those buttons? They’re green peas!

This is a great recipe to get the kids involved in creating their own soup-y masterpieces. And if they don’t like their first snowman face, it’s easy enough to start over.

Just eat the toppings and begin again!

It would be fun to get the whole family together with bowls of soup, and then put out the topping options.

Eyes made of olives, sun-dried tomato mouths, and carrot noses for melted snowman soup.

Here are some melted snowman soup topping ideas to get you started:

  • Eyes or buttons made of sliced olives, peas, pistachios, sliced green onions, or capers
  • Nose made of carrot or non-dairy cheese
  • Mouth made of a sun-dried tomato or red bell pepper
  • Hat or scarf made of browned seitan bacon or thinly sliced non-dairy cheese
  • Mittens made of red bell pepper
  • Arms made of fresh rosemary or thyme
  • Broom made of grated non-dairy cheese & a pretzel for the handle

See how creative your family can get with their snowman soup designs.

Will their snowman be sad about melting? Surprised? Or happy that it’s finally warm outside, so that he can wave goodbye saying, “Don’t you cry. I’ll be back again someday.”

(Thumpity, thump, thump, thumpity, thump, thump…)

Overhead melted snowman soup (vegan potato soup) with polkadot napkin and spoons.

 

Sad bowls of vegan potato soup (melted snowman soup) with polkadot napkin, spoons, and rosemary.

Melted Snowman Soup

Potato soup just got a whole lot more fun. Filled with onions, garlic, rosemary, and thyme, it's already a flavor-packed bowl of coziness. But once you add a sad sun-dried tomato mouth, kalamata olive eyes, and a carrot nose, it leans into the cuteness. Get the whole family involved by decorating their own melted snowmen. And once everyone has finished their masterpieces, it's time to eat!
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Course: Soup
Cuisine: American, Vegan
Keyword: dinner, lunch, potato, vegetable, vegetarian
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 268kcal
Author: Cadry Nelson

Ingredients

For the soup

  • 4 1/2 cups water divided
  • 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons raw cashews*
  • 1 teaspoon organic canola oil or other neutral-flavored oil
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 vegetable bouillon cube
  • 2 pounds Russet potatoes cut in 1-inch pieces (About 4 medium-sized potatoes. Peeled or unpeeled - your choice)
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt divided**
  • Black pepper to taste

For the toppings

  • 4 black olives sliced (eyes and eyebrows)
  • 4 small pieces of a carrot sliced into triangular shape (nose)
  • 4 tiny slices of sun-dried tomato mouth
  • 12 to 16 green peas steamed (buttons)

Instructions

  • In a high speed blender, blend 1/2 cup water and raw cashews. (Don't have a high speed blender? See the notes below.) Set the liquid aside for later use.
  • Bring a soup pot to a medium heat with oil. Saute onions and garlic until they become translucent and fragrant.
  • Add remaining 4 cups of water to the pot, along with vegetable bouillon cube, potatoes, thyme, rosemary, one teaspoon of salt, and a few shakes or grinds of black pepper.
  • Bring the water to a simmer. Once it is simmering, lower the heat, and cook for about 10 minutes, until the potatoes can easily be pierced with a fork.
  • Once the potatoes are soft, use an immersion blender to blend the soup. It should be mostly smooth, but an occasional chunk of potato is just fine. (Don't have an immersion blender? Carefully move the soup to a regular blender, in batches if necessary, to blend until smooth. Then transfer it back to the soup pot.)
  • Add the cashew cream from the blender to the pot. Stir to combine.
  • If the soup is at your desired creaminess, it's ready to serve. If it's too thin, allow it to cook a little longer. If it's too thick, add a splash of water. Taste for salt and add remaining half teaspoon, if needed.
  • Ladle the soup into four bowls.
  • Decorate soup with olives, carrot, sun-dried tomato, and peas. (For more snowman soup topping ideas, check out the blog post.)

Notes

*If not using a high speed blender, you'll need to soak the raw cashews ahead of time for at least 4 hours and drain them before making the recipe. No time to wait? Grind the dry raw cashews in a clean coffee grinder until they become like flour. Then add them to the blender with water.
**The vegetable bouillon I use has no added salt. If your bouillon is on the saltier side, you may need to add less salt than listed here.

Nutrition

Calories: 268kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 5g | Sodium: 1133mg | Potassium: 1086mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 0.3% | Vitamin C: 21.6% | Calcium: 5.7% | Iron: 15.4%
Tried this recipe?Tag @cadryskitchen on Instagram and hashtag it #cadryskitchen!

 

This post (including the recipe) was updated November 2018.

Disclosure: Post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Comments

  1. Suburban Snow White says

    Love the wrapping paper! I’m actually wrapping gifts this year in the pages of an old road atlas and in the pages of an oversized seed catalog that is in black-and-white and all done up to look old fashioned. But I LOVE what you’ve done. That looks amazing.

    And the soup? Adorable.

    Reply

    • cadryskitchen says

      An old road atlas is a great idea! At Paper Source I’m always drawn to the gift wrap that looks like old school maps of Paris and the like. Why not go for the real deal? It’d be a fun idea for birthdays too, and gear the place on the map to the recipient (i.e. had a honeymoon in Las Vegas, got married in Orange County, etc.). I can tell from your blog that you’re really enjoying the holidays! I hope you have a happy one!

      Reply

    • cadryskitchen says

      Thanks, Lisa! I wish there was a way to trade a bowl of this soup for some of that amazing fruit you’re enjoying in Bali! 🙂 (Your post actually had me checking out the price of plane tickets on Kayak today!)

      Reply

  6. Rose says

    This is too cute!!! You are so creative…cilantro scarf! I kind of feel sorry for the melted version, but does it sound delicious! Thanks for the recipe; I’m definitely making this. The gift wrap idea is great too; those packages are charming.

    Merry Christmas Cadry!

    Reply

    • cadryskitchen says

      Thanks, Rose! Maybe your version of the soup can have a little sun-dried tomato smile, so that you don’t feel quite so sorry for the snowman! 🙂 Merry Christmas to you too! I hope it’s a happy one!

      Reply

  8. GiGi says

    I am very sad that snowmen melt. I want Mr. SM’s hat. It is very chic! Great wrappings and twinkling lights. E verything is So clever. Have a beautiful holiday! Mr. SM the soup version has perfectly groomed eyebrows too.

    Reply

    • cadryskitchen says

      I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Andrea! I had a lot of fun making it. Although, since we’re not getting much indoor light these days, I’m sure my neighbors wondered what that crazy lady was doing standing outside taking pictures of a little snowman made of potatoes. 🙂

      Reply

  11. Nichole Kraft says

    What a perfect recipe for today! This is the first day it’s been really chilly (unseasonably early here in Kansas), and when I stepped outside this morning I instantly wanted potato soup. Thankfully, I have everything I need to make this tonight. I’ll pair it up with some homemade biscuits and enjoy the first taste of fall. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

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