Broccoli Soup

This broccoli soup is a mix of cooked and raw ingredients. Firstly, I steamed the broccoli stems in a little bit of salt water for approximately six minutes, then I added the broccoli and cauliflower florets and some seasoning and steamed them until tender.
Then I added some garlic to the pot, which was still on the burner (not turned on) and covered with a lid. I let this mixture sit a while as I cleaned a handful of spinach and basil.
Finally, I poured the hot broccoli/cauliflower mixture into my vitamix blender (but any blender will do) including the water and turned it on the lowest setting. As it was blending I added a table spoon of slivered almonds, a table spoon of olive oil, fresh spinach, fresh basil and seasoned it with some black pepper and used almond milk to get the soup to the consistency I wanted (you can add more or less depending on how thick you like your soup).
OPTIONAL: I added two small curry leaves (bought at my local farmers market) into the pot after the broccoli was done steaming, this gave the soup some spiciness. Also, you can top it off with some cheese if you like (second picture), in the picture below I garnished my soup with some almonds and basil.

OR