Carrot and Cashew Soup

I was intrigued by this soup recipe in which the cashews are blended into a carrot soup. It reminds me of things my vegan friends do. Cashews seem to do everything creamy in the vegan world. For example, my friend Michael blends it up to make cheese as the basis for cheesecake. Also, he blends up cashews with water and vanilla extract to make a cream for breakfast parfaits. Cashews can be made to make ranch dressing. So why not use cashews in soup? You don't have to be a vegan to enjoy new uses for an ingredient!

In light of all these wonderful ways to use cashews, I decided to try this recipe for carrot soup blended with cashews. I predicted it would be creamy if I blended it long enough, which is was. A bit. Truthfully I think I needed to blend it more (and possibly buy a more high-powered blender). But the cashews gave the soup an amazingly thick and enjoyable body. In my pictures you can see the particles of cashews - so it wasn't completely smooth. I decided it had a good mouthfeel this way. (Ellie Krieger's recipe does say to blend until smooth, though.)

I have learned so much about eating from those who eat differently to me. This dish is part of our Eating with Ellie blogging group. If you want to join us, next week we are making sugar snap pea, tomato, and watermelon salad with feta from Weeknight Wonders. You are welcome to join us; no long term commitment required. Visit the others in my blogging group to see if they liked the recipe.

Have you tried anything old in a new way lately?

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