Cauliflower & Potato Soup

If you'd asked me a few weeks ago what I thought of cauliflower, I probably would have told you I thought the stuff was vile and to be avoided. It's not really the flavour, I just figured it didn't really have anything going for it. But I just had not had it prepared in an appetising way before I discovered this quick and easy winter warming soup. Determined to get more veggies into my family, and being winter, I decided to try something different. I went and brought cauliflower. My husband stared at me as if to say "what are you going to do with that?!"
I'm currently 39 weeks pregnant and have not had the energy for anything too convoluted. Seriously, I can't really even get that close to the kitchen bench with baby bump in the way-I literally feel like a T-rex, with a huge body and puny arms that just don't reach far enough. So as you can imagine, I need something remarkably quick, something that limits my time reaching over the belly to the bench.. (Don't even ask how I manage to wash the dishes, I am sure my back will not thank me for it in the future.)
I need simple, tasty meals that are not going to take me all day to prepare, so I am sharing this beauty with you. It's simple! It's tasty! It's veggies! Even my kids eat it with gusto, served with a side of steaming garlic bread.
I love these type of meals you simply chop, throw into a pot and later on puree and serve. It doesn't get much easier. You could even do this meal in a slow cooker or crock pot if you preferred. That's always a great option for busy people who can't keep going back and checking on the stove every few minutes! And-it's freezable. Just leave out the cream until you've defrosted and reheated it, and you're good to go.

CAULIFLOWER & POTATO SOUP (Adapted from Taste.com)

1 onion, roughly chopped (I used a red onion, but a brown one is great fine)
2 tsp crushed garlic
1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets (about 1.3 kg)
500g potatoes, peeled and cubed
salt and pepper to season
1 litre chicken stock
1/2 cup cream

Toss the chopped onion and garlic into a large pot with a dash of oil or butter and cook until the onion begins to soften. Add the cauliflower florets and potato, and season with salt and pepper as desired. Add the chicken stock and place the lid on the pot. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Remove from heat for 5 minutes, then puree in a blender. Before serving, stir the cream through and garnish, if desired.

Serves 4
NOTES: This recipe is suitable for freezing. Freeze the soup without the addition of the cream, and add the cream after defrosting and reheating.

Ultimate Potato Soup

Recently I touched on a topic I am sure we have all experienced at some stage in life before-food ruts. You buy the same ingredients repeatedly and use the same recipes. You cycle through and through until you no longer enjoy eating and cooking what you're serving. Or worse still, you have no idea what you're having for dinner, and end up spending a fortune on take away or some last minute ingredients that are quick and easy solutions. So how do you get out of food ruts? Here are a few ideas on how to move away from living the same food day in day out. Any step is a step forward!

1. Buy something you've never tried-a vegetable you've never tasted, that quinoa that everyone has been raving about, or that weird gooey stuff you have been curious about in the foreign food isle at your supermarket. Ensure it gets used within your grocery period. It might just become a new favourite.

2. Menu plan, making sure that you schedule to try one new recipe. Menu planning not only ensures you're only buying what you need for the week/fortnight, but you have everything ready to go without any last minute grocery store dashes (and lets face it, you always end up buying more than you intended!) Menu planning has been the best way in cutting down costs for me personally. Our shopping bills have been heavily reduced. There is great peace of mind in knowing what you're cooking at the beginning of the day.

3. Use pinterest for inspiration-sometimes all it takes is a little tweaking of the same ingredients to make it a whole new meal. Do you always buy chicken breast? There are a million and one ideas on how to change up chicken breast on that damned addictive site.

4. Challenge yourself to use what is in the pantry before stepping out to grocery shop. Had a can of  cream of chicken soup in the pantry for a few months? Got chicken and pasta and broccoli? Type these ingredients into a recipe finder such as Recipe Matcher to generate dozens of new recipes using those ingredients.

5. Buy a food magazine every so often. Woolworths and Coles often has publications they give out for free. Have them in a central area like the coffee table and you will probably have other family members looking at them and making requests. These mags are also great reminders that you are in a food rut and should or can do something about it.

Good luck getting out of the rut and finding new favourites to cycle through! Here's one to kick start you off. It's the best potato soup I have ever tasted. It's the ultimate comfort meal- hot and hearty, thick, cheesey, bacony, potatoey goodness just packed with flavour. You will have people groaning with delight as they spoon this down-it's a real keeper! I have served this at the end of a party once, serving it in mugs as everyone huddled around the fire outside. My guests just couldn't get enough! I have also served it as a dip in a cob loaf, which worked well, as it gets quite thick as it cools. It's one of my most requested recipes. I know you will cherish it too.
Got any other tips? I'd love to hear them! 

THE ULTIMATE POTATO SOUP

500g diced bacon
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cups potato, peeled and diced
1 carrot, finely grated
2 cups chicken stock
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 tbsp plain flour
3 cups milk
1 cup grated cheese
1/4 cup green onions, finely chopped (optional)

Fry the diced bacon until golden and crispy. Drain any bacon at that may be in the saucepan. Add the onion, potato and carrot, along with the stock, parsley, salt and pepper. Place a lid on the saucepan and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the potato is quite tender (this time will depend on the size of your potato chunks.) Meanwhile, place the flour in a bowl, and adding a little of the milk at a time, whisk until a smooth paste forms. Add the remainder of the milk, and mix until well incorporated. Add this milk mixture to the pot of stock and potato. Let it reach the boil, then stir continuously for a further two minutes, until it thickens. Add the cheese and stir through. Serve sprinkled with chopped green onion if desired.

Serves 6-8

Tomato & Spinach Tortellini Soup

I was only 19 when I met my husband and started dating him, so I had only been on a handful of proper dates with other people up until then. So maybe I just don't know what's the norm, but I always thought I'd see swags of other young people out for dinner beside us, wining and dining. Do young people not do dinner dates in the 2000's? Where do they go, and what do they do? We always seemed like the youngest ones eating out in a restaurant, surrounded by couples aged 30+. Was dining out uncool? Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I think it's an amazing way and opportunity to get to know people better, and to me that's what dating is partially about. Those talks over dinner were priceless! I wouldn't have traded them for drinks with my boyfriend in a noisy bar. You know, the ones with such loud music that you have to yell, and then just end up giving up and dousing down another drink, with the hope to soothe your sore throat?
Okay, I realise I'm beginning to sound old now.
Moving on! What's your favourite cuisine? I have two in particular,  French and Italian, closely followed by Indian. Take me out for Italian, and I'll probably be hanging around you for life.
If you're looking for great spots to go out for dinner in Brisbane, try out the Ceylon Inn for Indian, Boucher for French and Mario Sarti for Italian. They're three of our favourite places to dine out. And they never disappoint.
Neither will this Italian recipe I'm about to share with you, inspired and adapted from a blog called Diethood. Now you know I don't believe in diets, and this soup is filled with delicious carbs (oh yeah!) It's also vegetarian, so it is perfect for those who are looking for meatless meals, which are great for Lent and Fridays. Or if you don't indulge in meat. If you'd like a meat addition, you can add any sort of tortellini, and many have a meat filling. I used spinach and ricotta filled agnelotti and it was just divine! The recipe feeds many mouths too, and is great with a dollop of sour cream and some nice, crispy garlic bread on the side.

TOMATO AND SPINACH TORTELLINI SOUP (Adapted from Diethood)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 tsp crushed garlic
2 cans diced tomato with added herbs (basil, garlic and oregano)
4 cups passata/tomato sauce (pasta sauce)
4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 package tortellini (frozen or fresh is fine)
1 cup fresh baby spinach, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Place the oil and butter in a saucepan, and heat until the butter has melted. Ad the chopped onion and cook for two minutes or until somewhat softened. Add the garlic for a further two minutes. Add the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce and bring to the boil on a medium-high heat.
Add the stock and return to the boil. Then add the tortellini and spinach. Cook until heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with optional dollop of sour cream and crusty garlic bread.

Serves 6-8

Silky Thai Sweet Potato Soup

For our Gourmet Garden Blog Off dinner party, we had a sublime Thai inspired sweet potato soup for the entre. I had invented this previously but with the simple addition of coriander powder, but when I was sent the delectable Thai Paste via Gourmet Garden, I knew I just had to try it in this silky soup.
This soup is all about textures and subtle flavours. It's an exquisite feast for the senses and is not to be eaten in haste, but relished and savored so as to experience all the flavours that come through along with the satiny smooth consistency. In addition to the soup, we enjoyed home made Garlic Bread Knots, hot from the oven and spread with butter, which tied in magnificently with the other flavours. Does food get any better? There's nothing quite like a delicious soup paired with hot, home made bread.

Course 2:

SILKY THAI SWEET POTATO SOUP (A Louise Creation)

2kg sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
600ml coconut cream
4 cubes of dry chicken stock (I use OXO brand)
2 tbsp. Gourmet Garden Thai paste
1 cup hot water
salt and pepper to taste (optional)
fresh or ground coriander to garnish (optional)

Peel the sweet potato and cut into large, rough chunks. Place in a large saucepan and fill the pot to the 3/4 mark with water. Place over high heat until the sweet potato is tender when pierced with a knife.
Drain away the liquid, and place the sweet potato in a large bowl.
In a small bowl, place the crushed dry chicken stock with the boiling water and stir until dissolved.
Stir the coconut cream until well combined and thick. Add to the sweet potato, along with the thai paste and chicken stock liquid. Blend with the electric beater until well combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired.
In batches, blitz in a food blender until a silky smooth consistency is reached. Return all soup to the pot and reheat. Serve with coriander as a garnish, if desired.

Serves 8-10 as an entre.

Winter Warmers--Zucchini Soup

It sometimes amazes me what people will eat. Down the road there's a place called Chompers which specialises in fish and chips and burgers. Now remember when Krispy Kreme Donuts first came to Australia? People camped out overnight just to be the first to line up for those donuts. Over time, the stores have increased and I believe the faze is generally over. But at this particular store down the road, I viewed the most hideous looking burger. It was a Krispy Kreme Donut burger, featuring cheese, bacon and lettuce, the works.

Ewww! I wonder how popular they are? I am sure they appeal to some but the thought makes me want to roll over and die, very prematurely. Dear Lord, take those burgers away!

It sounds like a pregnant woman's midnight craving session gone wild. Even I'm not that crazy!

What has your strangest craving been? What's your most detested food? Well, I havnt had so many unusual cravings, but I sure have list of detested foods. From when I was a kid, of course. I have long developed my tastebuds to appreciate them.

I'm sure they're on most kid's lists, but these used to make me retch at the table.

Silverbeet

Brussel Sprouts

Zucchini

Now my husband has never tasted brussel sprouts, to my horror. His mother is kind! But I am sure he didn't like the sound of me telling him I was making Zucchini Soup. The truth is, until I tasted this amazing stuff I probably would have had a little shudder run through me thinking of my childhood qualms. But this soup has become such a hit at our house. I must say, my inspiration comes from my friend and my old housemate who once made it for dinner. I don't remember her exact recipe but its along the lines of what follows.

I will never think of zucchini the same way again.

I am even willing to try adding zucchini to sweets...just watch me!

ZUCCHINI SOUP (serves 2-3 depending on desired consistency)

1 can evaporated milk (Carnation brand)

500g zucchini

½ packet dried French onion soup mix

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut up the zucchinis into rounds. Boil until they are soft, then drain and cool. Place zucchini in a blender, add half the evaporated milk and process. Add more evaporated milk until you get the desired thickness of the soup. Add the dried soup mix and salt and pepper to taste. Blend until very smooth and well combined. Reheat on stove and serve. Delicious with a dob of sour cream in the middle! 

NOTES: this recipe does not freeze well. Best eaten on the day it is made. The smaller the zucchinis, the better the flavour.

Winter Warmers--Roast Pumpkin Soup

Maggie Beer says its all the little details that count when it comes to making a great soup. Apparently she recently gave away her secret Pumpkin Soup recipe, but I like recipes that are simple and made from everyday ingredients. I mean, how many people have verjuice and marscapone cheese just hanging around the kitchen? Sounds yummy though.
Well I have a pretty fabulous pumpkin soup recipe too, excuse me blowing my horn a bit. Okay, let me blow, after all, I am revealing another one of my "not-so-secret-now" recipes, and the occasion is my birthday. Well, we're a few days off, but I'm posting it in celebration. If you want to know how young I'm going to be, it's not so secret that I'm turning 21 again. 21 is such a good age to be.
This soup is made from just a few main ingredients and herbs, and is so satisfying on one of those chilly nights we've been having here in Australia recently. Its thick and creamy and so rich in all its pumpkin-y goodness. Why is it my "secret" recipe? Well, lets just say people came from all around just to eat this soup when I made it at Marmalade Deli where I used to work. Its liquid gold. Hoot Hoot!
Some people ask what pumpkin is best to use and I personally like the butternut best--it has a silkier texture and never fails to taste delicious. But the success of this recipe is all in the roasting of the pumpkin. It's a little more time consuming but well worth it. I have cut corners with this recipe before and it just doesn't have the same pizazz. The pumpkin needs to be roasted in strips for that extra flavour.

MY SECRET ROAST PUMPKIN SOUP

1 Butternut pumpkin, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup cream
2-3 cups milk
1-2 tsp. salt
pinch pepper
approx 2 tbs mixed dried herbs (I used a pinch each of cinnamon, oregano, parsley, dried onion flakes, basil. lemon pepper etc)

Cut the pumpkin into this strips. Place under a grill or in a sandwich press until the tops and bottoms are brown or even crispier. Place roasted pumpkin in a blender and add cream, salt and other spices. Begin to process, adding milk as you go until you reach the desired texture and thickness. Add more salt and herbs to taste if desired. Place in a large saucepan and reheat before serving. Serve with a dollop of sour cream if desired. Fresh chives go down a treat as well!

Serves 4-6

                                              My son really rocks the pumpkin mustache!