Broccoli Soup

It's Fall, which means it is time for soup to be back on the menu here in Pennsylvania.  I made a nice broccoli soup over the weekend--really one of the best I've ever made, so I figured I better write it down.  Don't worry about the quantities being exact for the ingredients--I really just threw things into the pot, and tasted as I cooked.  You should adjust your soups to fit your tastes, and experiment with different blends of herbs and spices.

Ingredient list:
garlic, onion, broth, biggest head of broccoli you can find (or 2 smaller ones), raw cashews, salt, pepper.
optional: olive oil, nutritional yeast
note: if possible, soak 1/2 cup of raw cashews in water for 3-4 hours prior to starting the recipe below.

     Chop up 1 small onion and 1 clove of garlic, and saute in a few glugs of olive oil (or broth) on medium heat.  You want to cook them till the onions are transparent, but try not to let them turn brown. (note: if you are adding any herbs, do it here)
While this is cooking, roughly cut up a very large head of broccoli.  It doesn't need to look pretty, just hack it up--the pieces do not need to be small.
     Throw the broccoli pieces into the pot, turn up the heat, and give it a sprinkle of salt.  Using a large spoon, try and move the pieces around a bit, coating the broccoli pieces in the oil/onion/garlic as much as you can.  Do this for about 1-2 minutes.
     Add 4-5 cups broth.  Of course I like homemade broth the best--you just can't duplicate that flavor from a can or box, but if you must use boxed, you must.  Another option would be to use soup base + water or cubes + water.
     Bring to the boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer.  I usually cook it about 15 minutes--just make sure the broccoli is almost-falling-apart cooked.  Turn off the heat and let it sit there.  Taste and adjust your seasonings (remember that a little teaspoon of red wine vinegar or lemon juice can brighten up a soup a lot).
     Let's pause here and contemplate our cashews.  Did you remember to soak them?  If you did, good for you--you can move to the next step.  If you forgot, you will need to do this first:
Add your cashews to the pot (removed from the heat), stir once, and let it sit there for about 15 minutes.
     Transfer the whole lot to the blender/vitamix.  Those of you who were cashew-responsible and soaked them, add them here (drain soaking water first).  Now, at this point I like to add 2 heaping tablespoons of nutritional yeast before blending.  If you do not like nutritional yeast, don't add it.  If you are a cheese eater, you may want to add a little shaved parm.  Or don't add anything, just blend.

Of course I am a firm believer that soup is better if it sits overnight in the fridge before reheating and serving, but it is edible now.  Enjoy!