Melt two tablespoons of oil or butter, add add onion and celery. Cook for five minutes. Meanwhile peel and core and chop your apples, and peel broccoli stems/chop florets.
After the five minutes, add broccoli and apples into the onion and celery and add 1 cup of water and the quarter teaspoon of baking soda (tip from Cook's Illustrated, helps speed up the cooking.) Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook 20 minutes.
Meanwhile in another sauce pot, boil 4 cups of stock and then reduce heat to a low simmer. Once simmering add kale or other greens.
Once 20 minutes has passed on the broccoli add in the stock and greens. Bring to a boil reduce heat and simmer for 5 more minutes. Add salt and pepper.
Grate your cheese if using (if using soaked cashews for vegan prep) add before blending. Remove soup from heat and blend with an immersion blender or in batches in Vitamix on medium-low (if you set it too high, the soup becomes very frothy.) Squeeze in lemon juice and stir in cheese, taste to adjust seasoning. Serve warm.
