Vegan "Cheese" and Broccoli Soup

Marin is the outlier of the house. By that I mean they're vegan, gluten-intolerant, and allergic to corn and soy, but the rest of us are omnivores. Marin and I are both really into communal meals, which is way more of a challenge on my part than theirs when we decide to cook.
I fucking love soup, so I decided to try to make a cream-of-broccoli soup everyone in the house can eat. This isn't as thick as a normal cream soup is, but it's still pretty great.


-1/4 c Soy-free EarthBalance
-1/2 c rice flour
-1 c vegetable stock
-2 medium broccoli crowns, stalk included, cut into reasonably bite-sized pieces
-1 medium onion, diced
-1 c sliced mushrooms
-4 c vegetable stock
-1 c nutritional yeast

Melt EarthBalance in a 3-qt saucepan over medium heat. Add rice flour. Stir with a whisk or spatula constantly until rice flour turns golden-brown, then add 1 c veggie stock. Stir until there are no chunks, and the EarthBalance/rice flour roux is mixed thoroughly into the stock.
Add broccoli, onion, and mushrooms. Cook until onion becomes clear and slightly tender. Add 4 c vegetable stock and 1 c nutritional yeast. Bring to a simmer, then remove from heat and serve. The nutritional yeast has a tendency to settle, so the soup may need to be stirred every once in a while.

Notes: White or crimini mushrooms are great, but I lucked out and chanterelles were on sale, so I got fancy mushrooms.
Also delicious with bacon bits, but Marin isn't into that, so I didn't include it in the original recipe.
Nutritional yeast is fucking expensive. I got mine ridiculously cheap by going in the bulk section and labeling it with the # for cornmeal. I feel totally justified doing this because the grocery store I bought it from refuses to carry Plan B and their pharmacist judges you if you ask for it. If I wasn't so poor and filled with feminist rage (RAGE!) I'd buy it from the local co-op.