Very Green Broccoli Soup

This recipe is adapted from a Food Network recipe to make it vegan. It is a delicious dinner soup, and makes enough for lunch leftovers for many days afterward. My kids call it monster soup. It's much more exciting to eat monster soup than broccoli soup.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds broccoli
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 cup (1/4-inch) diced onion
  
• 1/2 cup (1/4-inch) diced celery
• salt and pepper
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves (I used dried)
  
• 5 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups packed spinach (or more!)
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest

Cut the florets from the stems. The stems need longer to cook than the florets, so cooking them separately helps the soup to keep it's gorgeous bright green color.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, and celery and cook slowly until tender. Watch the heat so the onions soften without browning.

Add the thyme, broccoli stems, vegetable broth, and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes. Add the florets and cook another 5 minutes or so, until broccoli is very tender.

Puree the soup in small batches, adding half the spinach and lemon zest to each batch. I do two batches with a Vita-Mix.

Pour back into the pot and warm gently. MMMMMmmmmm...