Melted snowman soup with potatoes
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!
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 268kcal
Ingredients
For the soup
- 4 ½ cups water divided
- ¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons raw cashews*
- 1 teaspoon avocado oil or other neutral-flavored oil
- 1 ½ 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)
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 ½ 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 ½ 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: 15IU | Vitamin C: 17.8mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 2.8mg
