Curried White Bean Soup

All right, you guys, I just want everyone to know that I love being vegan more than (almost) anything, and I am extremely happy and honored to participate in this glorious month-long celebration of cruelty-free cooking, eating and blogging. I also want to come straight out and say that every single post I manage to contribute will be a virtual miracle, because October is off the hook in terms of sheer, mindblowing overscheduling here in Desdemona-Land (which is usually way more fun than Disneyland, partly by virtue of being hyphenated, partly because Disney is the Embodiment of Evil, and partly for reasons that should be obvious). So. I'ma do my best, but in the next few weeks I have a whole bunch of academic commitments, as well as some major family stuff to deal with, so please bear with me!

Okay, now that we've dispensed with the obligatory disclaimers and mea culpas, I give you: Last Night's Dinner! This was inspired by a yummy and comforting autumny soup my BFF Heather Feland fed me for lunch last week. NB that this is not her recipe, which I will make as soon as she actually gives it to me (hey, Heather!), but just me throwing stuff into a big ol' pot after churning out 4 hours worth of what I fear may be the purest drivel for my post-colonial lit class (hey, Steve!). All the same, I think it turned out pretty well, and it did the trick on a Sunday night. Happy Vegan MoFo, everybody!

Curried White Bean Soup

Ingredients
~ 1 tbsp. olive oil
~ 1 tbsp. Earth Balance (or more oil, I just like a combination here)
~ 2 cups chopped yellow onions (1 big one)
~ 3/4 cup diced celery (2 stalks)
~ 2 potatoes, diced
~ 2 heaping tbsp. minced garlic
~ 2 tsp. kosher salt
~ 1 tsp. each: paprika, thyme, sage, rosemary
~ 1 tbsp. each: curry powder, basil
~ 1/4 tsp. each: nutmeg, cayenne pepper
~ Fresh black pepper
~ 3 15 oz. cans navy or other white beans
~ 4 cups vegetable stock
~ 1 cup soy creamer, mimicreme or other vegan "cream"; you could also sub soy or other non-dairy milk

Directions
~ Melt the oil and EB in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and saute about 2 minutes.
~ Add the celery, garlic, potatoes and spices; stir to coat and cook another 5 minutes or so.
~ Add the beans and 1 cup of broth, stir to combine, and cook 10 minutes.
~ Add the remaining broth, raise the heat just long enough to bring to a boil, then reduce to low and simmer another 20 minutes.
~ Remove from heat, stir in the "cream," and puree with an immersion blender until smooth.
~ Serve hot; we had ours with pita chips because we had stale pita and no time to bake or go to the store!