Food for the Soul - Creamy Mushroom Soup

I have a kind of love affair with soup - simply can't say no to this comforting food for the soul!
In fact, I could live on soup whether it's the middle of summer and of course even more so in the cold heart of winter. I know by now if I make soup in summer, hubby and the rest of the family will turn their noses up at soup so I end up freezing smaller portions for myself.

I was one of five children, so soup often came to the rescue when the pantry staples were running low and there was hardly anything in the fridge.
Mom's soup base always was dried beans, split peas, or legumes like dried lentils, so of course, that was always in the pantry. The dried beans would get soaked in hot water before cooking for a couple of hours, and split peas or lentils would be cooked after rinsing in water, no soaking was needed for that.
Mom would cook it in vegetable stock which was the drained water from cooked veggies that would be kept frozen and used at some stage for soup.
Nothing went to waste as Mom always said the nourishment was in that water most people throw down the drain after straining cooked vegetables.

Carrots, Potatoes and Onions were a must, all grated coarsely and added towards the end of the cooking. Parsley, leeks, spring onions, sweetcorn or any green growing in the small veggie garden, would be added, as well as noodles or even rice.
I don't know how Mom did it, but her soup really was the best; she could literally make something out of nothing! Of course this was always served with scones or thick wedges of homemade bread as Mom refused to buy bread from the corner cafe or even the supermarket!
This was a typical Mom Lily Vegetable soup with toasted homemade bread

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Back to the present when I was invited by my very special foodie friend @carolynstahl, to join in the The Brand New PLANT BASED challenge: Soup for the soul.
Carolyn very well knows that when it comes to challenges, I am always up for it; not to win a prize, but simply to see if I can come up with something. I am not vegan, but neither am I a big meat lover, and I love veggies especially spicy veg or bean curries, moong dal, roasted veggies, and potato wedges baked with onions till it's caramelized are all my favourites.

However, soup is the subject of the day!

What was in the pantry and what could I find in the fridge and my little herb garden?

The fridge gifted me with mushrooms, so immediately the idea formed of a creamy Mushroom Soup, but did I have coconut milk?
What else was there to use for my soup?
Spring onions, onions and garlic, yay! Inside the pantry I discovered a can of Coconut cream and my herb garden had fresh Thyme, Rosemary and other herbs, but I decided on only using the Thyme. I would have liked to have some veggie stock, but there was none, so my favourite green spice, which is a blend of finely ground herbs and spices, would be the perfect match for this soup and a good replacement for the stock.

I used:

• Approx 4 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 Onion, diced
• 1 bunch Spring Onions, diced
• 3 cloves Garlic, crushed
• 1 punnet button Mushrooms
• Thyme
• Approx 1 tablespoon green spice added to 3 cups of hot water
• 1 can coconut cream or milk
• Approx 4 tablespoons flour

The mandatory photo - Barefoot, not pregnant, Apron on and in my favourite place, the Kitchen - here I'm crushing the garlic in a really nice garlic press

Second mandatory photo, it really is me cooking this soup :)
Onions, garlic and the white section of the spring onions are sauteed in olive oil till it just starts to caramelize.

Sliced Mushrooms and green tops of the spring onions added and sauteed.
Hubby is getting peckish with all the smells coming from the kitchen, but would not pose for a photo!

Flour was added to make a roux, and then coconut cream, thyme, green spices and 3 cups of water plus salt added and stirred till it starts to thicken, (I used a whisk to get all the lumpy bits from the roux to dissolve.) The soup was simmered for approx 15 minutes.

Creamy Mushroom Soup served with my mock Sourdough bread, was really delicious and so full of flavour; the whole kitchen smelt divine and when our two bnb guests walked past the kitchen, they commented on the tempting aroma, but I had none left to offer them; felt really bad as it's a father and son who are here working on a big project doing shopfitting, have mostly been living on takeout food. They pre-order dinner every so often and really enjoy the homecooked meals, but they did not order anything tonight, so missed out big time ;(

BON APPETIT FRIENDS!
Anyone for a second helping?

There are only 7 hours left before this challenge comes to a close, but I would like to invite @farm-mom and @plantstoplanks to make us a quick vegan soup!

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Original Content by @lizelle
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