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I am trying out a roasted cauliflower zucchini soup recipe that calls for 2 cups of cheddar-not going to happen of course! But what should I substitute I'm thinking it acts as a binder-potato maybe?
TIA

If it is a creamed soup, and you are not MWL, I have a great idea!

You get 1/2 cup RAW cashews, soak them in the fridge overnight if you don't have a high powder blender. In the morning drain and blend with 1 cup water and 1 tsp nutritional yeast. I know most cashew cream recipes say one part cashew and one part water, but I can't eat that much fat! 1/4 cup to 1 cup water makes it too watery. The trick is to add it after you've pureed the soup, and don't heat it, it will curdle. Obviously this will be a special item if you are even on the regular plan. I make a "creamed" mushroom or a "creamed" cauliflour soup once every couple of months. It's even good added to polenta. Again, special item.

The other option if you are MWL is add a good quality nutritional yeast might do the trick.

The soup recipe sounds really good though!

Also, yes, definitely add some potato! I add them to any soup that I wanted "creamed", in fact, potato and nutritional yeast on its own should make it nice and "cheezy".

I make a dairy free cauliflour soup for my sister, I'll post the recipe here so you can get some inspiration to adapt it to your recipe. She is transitioning to a vegetarian diet.

“Creamed” Cauliflower-Potato Soup
If you follow MWL, this recipe will work just fine without the cashew “cream”. Do not be too fussy about the cuts of the vegetables since it gets pureed anyways.
2 onions, diced.
3 cloves garlic, minced.
1 cup water, or enough to cover the onions.
1 banana pepper, minced (optional).
2 ribs celery, sliced.
4 cups peeled and diced potatoes.
4 cups peeled and diced cauliflower.
1 tbsp dried thyme.
Cayenne pepper, to taste.
4 cups vegetable stock.
½ cup raw cashews blended with 1 cup water and 2 tsp nutritional yeast.
Salt, and pepper, to taste.
Place the onions, garlic, pepper, celery, and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and cover. Bring the heat to low to steam the vegetables. Steam for about 10 minutes. Add the potatoes, cauliflower, thyme, cayenne pepper, and stock. Bring to a boil and cook for about 20-30 minutes (until potatoes are cooked). When cool enough, puree in a blender, in batches if you need to. Return to the pot and add the cashew cream. Mix thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.


There's celery in it because she loves celery. I'm not sure, but I think she's hiding a culinary genius side!

Another way to thicken is remove 1/2 of soup, puree in blender, then return and mix. Should still have plenty of chunks in a nice thick puree.

Let us know how the soup turns out. Roasting the feature vegetables sounds good.

Fantastic idea loveskale! I use the cashew cream recipe in most Mexican dishes and add lemon juice along with some of the water and n/yeast. It has a cheesy taste imo. Never thought of using it for soups.
Can you believe we use to put 2 cups of cheese in our recipes? I am picturing myself grating the cheese for the dish and grating another helping for the chef (me) to munch on while I was cooking. Yikes!

And for that nice cheesy *taste*, invest in a bag of nutritional yeast (NOT brewer's yeast) and add about a half cup of that for a nice cheddary taste. There are loads of recipes out there for cheese sauce substitutes using nutritional yeast. Heck, even Jorge Garcia (Hurley from LOST) wrote a blog post recently about using the stuff!

Cashew sauce may indeed be heated without curdling. It thickens as it cooks, and takes the place of milk and eggs in many recipes. But to cut down on fat, use less nuts, which will reduce the thickness which can be replaced with cornstarch or as others have suggested blending a part of the soup. Just don't boil the cashew cream, but it may be heated very well. I use small amounts of cashews in my potato soup and also in my gravies, and never have had it curdle unless I boil it too hard. A short simmer is fine.

Why not make a while sauce and add 1 teaspoon dry mustard, pinch of tumeric and 1/2 teaspoon Mrs. Dash garlic and herb seasoning.

great ideas...

and wouldn't pureed white beans make a creamy texture, too?