Hello friends! Bad news guys…I have a sick boyfriend here at Rustin’s Cookin Warehouse.  To help lift his spirits and white blood cell count (I don’t think tomato soup can actually help wbc but I’ll pretend it does) I made him some vegan tomato soup and a not-so-vegan grilled cheese sandwich. This soup tastes like it was made from rainbows and genuine happiness–its so good (and SUPER easy!). Thank you PETA for creating this wonderful soup and bringing it to my attention.

In order to make this soup, check your cabinets and fruit baskets and go to your local market and grab:

• 1 small onion (dice it)
• 3-4 garlic cloves (dice it)
• 2 T vegan butter
• 28 oz can of peeled tomatoes (don’t drain them-keep that juice!)
• 1/2 c cashews
• 1/2 c vegetable broth
• 1/3 c nutritional yeast
• salt and pepper to taste

In your food processor you want to combine the cashews and broth until smooth, transfer to another container and set aside. Your next step is to cook the onions in a medium size sauce pan on medium heat (in the butter of course) for about 3 minutes. Then add your garlic, cook until the onions are translucent, stirring the whole time so your garlic doesn’t burn. Add your giant can-o-tomatoes (tomatoes, liquid and all) reduce heat to a simmer and let sit for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes is finished, remove the pan from the heat and sit aside to cool down for a little bit.

I used this down time to make grilled cheese sandwiches. Can I say that havarti cheese is glorious? I made two different sandwiches. One on whole wheat sourdough with marble colby, horseradish mustard, spinach and tomato. Another on artisan multi grain bread with spicy mustard, garden herb havarti, spinach and tomato.

Back to the soup! Grab your sauce pan with your tomatoes and onions and put the contents in the food processor and blend until smooth. Add your nutritional yeast (you can opt to use less than 1/3 cup depending on how much you like n.y.) and pulse a couple times. Now add your cashew/broth mixture and blend until creamy. Season with salt and pepper and pulse a few more times until complete.

I put my soup back on the stove to reheat after the pulsing and blending was finished. Garnish with fresh tomatoes, black pepper, and greek yogurt if you’re nasty.

*Note to reader: tabasco and sriracha go extremely well in this soup.