Vegan Cheeseburger Soup with "The Works" (Dr. Neal Barnard Would Love This!)

I am a recovering cheeseburger addict. I know. It's horrible to have to lay all my confessional stuff into my food posts like this. But that's the plain truth. I was weaned on the burger from a young age. After all, back in the Dark Ages, whose mother didn't make a weekly trek to the burger palace for a "dinner" fix? We certainly paid homage. Plenty of times.

Fast forward to last night and I was stuck on what to make for dinner. (It happens all the time.) My companion during dinner fixing time is usually NPR, unless I hit sweet spot on the Pandora tunes, I am usually hard wired into the news by supper time. And it was during this All Things Considered listening hour that my interest was piqued when a story aired discussing a new billboard campaign being led by Dr. Neal Barnard of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine claiming that cheese is the ultimate fat foe. Amen, Dr. Barnard. Amen. He and his billboards are coming under scrutiny for being offensive and obnoxious. (*Click on the link above to be taken to the NPR story AND billboards. Judge for yourself. I thought they were spot-on. Click here to read Dr. Barnard's blog post regarding his cheese and obesity point of view.) I don't think this is the first time a vegan proponent or vegan message has been considered as such. It's like the Salem Witch Trials all over again. Godforbid should anyone try to heal with plants! Off with thee head!

I'm not claiming here that this in-your-face messaging is the way to people's hearts when it comes to trying to convince the public that their eating habits 'harm'. But how else, I ask? What will it take? Someone stationed at the intercom at the drive-thru with a blood pressure cuff and stethoscope to intervene when you order a 2000 calorie lunch? I am only one person. I can only speak from my personal experience and say that I have seen a vast improvement overall in my health and weight since becoming vegan.This soup pays homage to the mighty cheeseburger fixation without any of the guilt and bad-for-you stuff. 

You'll be making a basic soup for your base: onions, potatoes, carrots, celery, garlic, can of tomatoes and some veggie stock. Season it up as you would for any soup. The cheeseburger part comes in how you dress the soup once you serve it. I made a separate cheesy-sauce with the vegan's best friend, nutritional yeast. In another pan, browned up some soy crumbles. When I served it, I ladled in the soup, then added some of the sauce, then topped that with crumbles and my shaved lettuce and chopped up dill pickles. Viola: Vegan Cheeseburger Soup! We loved this soup and. . . zero leftovers. Zero guilt.

Vegan Cheeseburger Soup

1 onion chopped

2 stalks of celery chopped

2 medium carrots chopped

2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 can chopped tomatoes

4 garlic cloves minced

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 tablespoon paprika

1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

3 cups veggie stock

salt and pepper to taste

For topping the soup:

chopped baby dill pickles

chopped green onions

shredded lettuce

vegan cheese sauce (recipe below)

Heat 2 tablespoons of canola oil in a medium soup pot over medium heat. Add all the chopped veggies and cook until onions begin to soften. Add the seasonings and can of chopped tomatoes and veggie stock. Allow soup to simmer for about 30 minutes over medium heat. If you need to, you can add a bit more stock to the soup. I kept my consistency a bit chunkier and thicker--you might want a thinner soup. That's fine. While the soup simmers, prepare soy crumbles separately. You can use TVP or any other soy crumble product you'd like here. I just browned my crumbles in a small skillet. And then prepare the vegan cheese sauce.

Vegan Cheese Sauce

1/4 cup yellow onion, minced

3 tablespoons flour

1/3 cup unsweetened soy milk or almond milk

1 cup water (or a little more if the sauce needs thinning)

1/2 cup nutrtional yeast

1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric

1/2 teaspoon ground mustard

pinch of cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon Braggs Liquid Aminos or Tamari Sauce

salt and pepper to taste

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, add a tablespoon of canola oil and minced onion and saute for about five minutes--until the onions begin to soften. Next, sprinkle flour over the onion and whisk well to break up the flour while it cooks--this will take about a minute. Next, add the milk while whisking--breaking up any lumps (you'll have some lumps here--from the small diced onion--I prefer my cheese-y sauce with onion in it for the flavor). Next, add the seasonings, mustard and Braggs or Tamari. Finally, add the nutrtional yeast and water and whisk well to incorporate. Keep the sauce over low-medium heat, stir every now and then--the mixture should begin to thicken. When the sauce has thickened to the consistency you like, remove from heat. Season with  ground pepper and a bit of salt if it needs it. *If the sauce needs to be thinned, do so by adding a teaspoon of water at a time. Serve drizzled over soup. Yum!