I really enjoy Vegan Cream of Spinach Soup with Cashews. Admittedly, it is completely different from something I would usually eat, but the cashews made this soup thick and creamy and gave it a wonderful nutty flavor that I really enjoyed.

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Further, I liked garnishing this delicious soup with more cashews and toasted pumpkin seeds to give it crunch. If you’re looking for something a little different, this healthy, low-calorie, vegan, grain-free option may just do the trick.

The recipe has a host of vegetables including  zucchini, carrots, bell peppers, celery, onions, and roasted garlic, in addition to apples and cashews. It is pureed in a blender but there are bits and pieces of the cashews spread throughout the soup giving it a little additional crunch.

Spinach is a very healthy vegetable providing a lot of iron which is helpful for red blood cell production, but it is also rich in antioxidants and other nutrients that help ward off macular degeneration. Because this plant has plenty of vitamin A it helps protect the body from lung and oral cavity cancers.

Other properties enable it to ward off the signs of aging and diseases.  It is believed to protect the body against many cancers including prostate and colon. It also protects against cardiovascular disease and, because of its high dose of Vitamin K, spinach can be helpful with Alzheimer’ patients because it limits neuronal damage. Wow! Here’s how to get your daily dose of spinach!

When I initially posted this recipe in November 2012 I was doing a Daniel Fast with no grains, dairy or meat. While the original recipe was exotic and extremely different from my usual fare, I decided to do a total makeover of that recipe to make it more palatable to a lot wider audience.

To that end, when I remade this recipe (September 2016), I added apples, cinnamon and several other spices, and included a lot of extra veggies that were not included in the original recipe like leeks, carrots and bell peppers. I also toned down the onions and pepper. I still used cashews for thickening but left off the roasted pumpkin seeds.

I served this soup to a friend I meet for lunch with about twice a month. She loved it and I have to admit, the apples and cinnamon gave it an entirely new taste that was much better than the original. Regardless, for those of you tired of the same old soup recipes, you may want to give this one a try. I think you’ll enjoy this tasty version of Vegan Cream of Spinach Soup with Cashews. It’s healthy, low calorie, gluten free, vegan and clean eating.

Vegan Cream of Spinach Soup with Cashews is hearty and filling.  

I’ve garnished it with more cashews for a more dramatic and wonderful flavor. Roasted Pumpkin seeds are also a great garnish.

In this view I’ve left off all the nuts and seeds so you can get a better idea of what the soup itself looks like. All those little pieces mixed throughout the soup are bits of cashews which give this soup it’s nutty crunchy taste.

Here’s what I did.

I used these ingredients.

Cut the top off a bulb of garlic and place in oven or toaster oven at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Pour olive oil into a Dutch oven and heat to low-medium temperature. Add diced onion, green onions and leeks. Saute about 5-7 minutes.

Add celery, zucchini, carrots, red bell pepper, and apples.

Add a bag of spinach and seasonings. 

Add vegetable broth.

Remove garlic bulb from oven. Peel garlic skin from garlic and toss roasted garlic pieces in with spinach mixture. Check seasonings and add more salt and pepper to taste. Measure out cashews. I didn’t use raw cashews. I used roasted, salted cashews. Add lemon juice.

Using an immersion blender, puree soup until smooth. 

Garnish individual servings with cashews, cinnamon or roasted pumpkin seeds, if desired.

Here’s a ladle full of this tasty soup. 

When I took this for our lunch we actually sprinkled a little cinnamon over top of each bowlful. It was wonderful that way.

Here’s the recipe.

VEGAN CREAM OF SPINACH SOUP WITH CASHEWS

(My own concoction)

You can serve Vegan Cream of Spinach Soup with Cashews with crackers or croutons if you prefer. I really liked it with toasted pumpkin seeds and additional cashews.

This soup is full of flavor. It’s a great way to sneak in lots of veggies.

You may also enjoy these recipes!

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Gnocchi, Sausage and Spinach Soup

Chicken-Chickpea-Potato Soup