Dairy-free Cream of Broccoli Soup

Or, was it?

I read about five recipes on-line for Cream of Broccoli Soup and came up with something that is very definitely green but tastes very good.

I took zero photos because the soup was GREEN. I don't think my kids would eat a green soup  if I paid them, but one on-line mom swore her kid loved cream of broccoli soup. Even Gluten-free Girl swears her daughter loves broccoli puree. I don't think you should believe everything you read on-line.

I started off with sautéing some dried minced onions in butter with a dash or two of garlic powder. Then I added 3 cups of homemade turkey stock along with the broccoli, chopped up small.

After seven minutes, I threw in the last cup of broth, realizing I had a lot of broccoli in the pot.
I added some sea salt  (~Tbsp?) and pepper and pinch of Turmeric at this point.

The broccoli took just over ten minutes to get somewhat soft. Tasting it here, I added a dash of hot sauce because we all know hot sauce fixes everything.
I pureed the soup in three batches in my blender and put it back in the cookpot.
Then I added 2 cups of Hazelnut milk (Dairy-free). I had about 2 Tbsp's of whipping cream left in the fridge and threw that in.

The soup was still not quite what I was after. A little too much texture. Not enough creaminess.

I added another cup of Hazelnut milk to get the right consistency and put two batches back through the blender ( not all of the soup - I wanted to keep some of the texture).
That little whipping air into the milk gave it a more velvety texture.

This was a fast-to-make soup, but, unfortunately, is for an intermediate cook who kinda has an idea in her peabrain about what this soup should be like; taste-wise and texture-wise and how to get there.

Here's my recipe - with room for thought:

Dairy-Free Cream of Broccoli Soup

1/4 cup finely chopped onions or 2 Tbsp. Dried Minced Onions
Butter ~ 2 Tbsp ( you could use olive oil here)
Garlic Powder or 1 clove fresh garlic
2 big florets of Broccoli, chopped up
4 cups stock (mine was from the Thanksgiving Turkey)

3 cups of dairy-free milk (Hazelnut)
Dash of real cream?

Definite Dash of Hot Sauce

Sauté the onion and garlic in butter. A minute or two.
Add stock and broccoli. Cook until almost tender ~ 10 minutes.
Puree in batches in blender. Return to cookpot.
Add dairy-free milk
Puree two batches in blender (not all of soup).

Reheat.

This was enough for two tonight with just enough for tomorrow.