Vegan Cream of Celery Soup

We planted celery in the garden this year and it is just starting to get big enough to harvest.  It is dark green and full of flavor.  The pale green celery in the grocery store almost tastes like water compared to this stuff.  It inspired me to make cream of celery soup in the middle of the summer:)  If you make this using grocery store celery in the winter time, try to buy the greenest celery you can find and use the inside stalks and leaves if possible.  This soup tastes fantastic and nobody would know that it was vegan if you didn't tell them.
On Cooking and Ingredients

Vegan Cream of Celery Soup
Makes about 5 cups
1 1/4 packed cups of really green celery, half leaves, half stalk, chopped
1 cup chopped onion
2 large cloves of garlic
1 quart vegetable broth
1 large potato, chopped into about 1.5 inch chunks, you can leave on the skins if they are soft
pepper to taste
salt (only use salt at the end if needed, if you use sodium free vegetable broth, you may need salt, but if you use vegetable broth that already contains salt, you probably won't need it)

1/2 c raw cashews, soaked for an hour
1/2 c water

(If you are allergic to cashews, you could use 3/4 cup of non-dairy, unsweetened creamer)

To a large pot, add the celery, onion, garlic, potato, broth, and pepper.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft.

While the vegetables are simmering, make the cream.  Drain the cashews.  In a high speed blender, blend the cashews and water.  This makes about 3/4 cup of cream.  You may substitute another non-dairy, unsweetened cream if you would like.

When the potatoes are soft, remove the pot from the heat. Use an immersion blender to blend the ingredients in the pot, or blend by batches in a high speed blender.  It will look like this:

Add the 3/4 cup of cashew cream or other cream of your choice and stir will.  Heat gently until warmed again, season with salt if needed, and serve.