Healthy Zucchini Summer Vegetable Bisque with shredded cheese

Since I haven't done enough complaining to people in person about how overloaded we are with zucchinis, I thought I'd share my woes with you. Before I made this soup today, I already ate eggplant and yellow summer squash. Even the dog, who is ecstatic to receive anything edible, has started getting suspicious of the large chunks of it that keep showing up in his dish. I'm starting to worry that 95% of my DNA is going to be zucchini - though Wikipedia tells me zucchini is the same species as pumpkin (what??), so I'm basically okay with that. But I digress to potential horror stories when I'm supposed to be writing about soup.

Oh, fascinating soup.

*cough*

This is a flexible recipe. Besides the zukes, I used stuff that was threatening to rot, but there are LOADS of other options here. More root veggies would work, different greens, you get the idea. It's good at using stuff up in a way that gives you a different flavor and texture than the one you've been eating eight hundred times per day all season. So take the ingredients list with a grain of salt (pun intended), and toss whatever you like in the pot.

Ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped
3 large or 4 small zucchinis, sliced, chopped, or cut up in some way 
A few large greens, cut into pieces. I used swiss chard and beet greens, stems, and all.
2 carrots, sliced
Several cloves of garlic, chopped
6 cups stock (roughly)
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups regular or dairy-free milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
large handful basil
few sprigs parsley
couple sprigs cilantro (or just more parsley)
1 TBS dried oregano
Shredded cheese of choice

Directions:
In a really large pot (seriously, this makes about 1.5 gallons), saute onions 2-3 minutes in some oil or cooking spray. Dump in all your other veggies. Saute a few more minutes to get the veggies to wilt and start releasing juices. Cover veggies with stock, throw in bay leaves, and bring to a boil. Cover and turn down heat. Simmer 15-20 minutes, or until everything is nice and squishy. Turn off heat, taste, and add salt and pepper as needed.

Slowly pour in milk and cream. Stir in yogurt and add basil. Now take your lovely, fabulous immersion blender and Amalgamate! Amalgamate! If bisque is too thin, add more yogurt or cook longer. If too thick, add more stock.

If you do not have an immersion blender, get off your computer, go to the store, and buy one right this second. Or order one online and select one day shipping. I'm not kidding. They are inexpensive and you will hate yourself for having to do this with a blender.

Perform taste test. If satisfactory, you're done! If it tastes like it's missing something, add the other herbs, adjust salt and pepper, and blend again. This will likely depend on the quality of your stock. Nice stock will already have the flavors of parsley, etc. The stuff I used tasted like salt and food dye. Delicious.

When seasoning is satisfactory, ladle into bowls and top with cheese. Really any cheese would be fine. I used Parmesan because that's what was in the fridge. Serve with toast if desired. Voila.