Chicken-free "chicken" and dumplings

Chicken and dumplings is one of the greatest comfort foods in my opinion. I have very fond memories of eating this as a child, but once I became vegetarian it became really difficult to find a suitable replacement. My version is completely vegetarian and doesn't use any fake chick'n replacements. I just used white beans to increase the protein and add a little thickness to it. When I made this my boyfriend said, "I know this is going to be good because it looks really wonky", which is totally true.

Ingredients:

1/2 an onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 large clove garlic
1 bay leaf
4-5 cracks black pepper
1 dash cayenne pepper
1 dash crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon crushed sage
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons parmesan
3 cups veggie stock
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon corn starch, mixed with a little cold water
salt, to taste
1 cup flour
1/2 rounded tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg, lightly beaten
parsely (optional)

Directions:

In a large soup pot, combine onion, carrot, celery, and olive oil and cook over medium-low heat until vegetables have softened a bit (about 4-5 minutes). Add half of the white beans, then crush the remaining half with a fork until a smooth paste forms. Add this to the pot along with the garlic, bay leaf, black pepper, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, sage, garlic powder, and parmesan cheese. Stir everything all together. Add veggie stock and bring to a simmer. Continue to simmer for 5-10 minutes. Whisk in cream cheese and stir until smooth, then add the corn starch/water mixture. Bring to a simmer for about 3-5 more minutes, then taste and adjust salt and other seasonings. While this is simmering, in a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, buttermilk, and egg and fold all ingredients together gently until just combined. Take spoonfuls of flour mixture (I got 9 out of mine) and drop into simmering soup making sure they don't crowd each other. Place lid on pot and simmer for about 13-14 minutes without lifting the lid. Check dumplings after this time, they should be puffy but firm. Turn off heat and let rest for about 5 minutes, then serve topped with parsley (optional).