Hello friends!

The weather has been beautiful in LA and it makes me feel bad for all my friends back home in Canada. It seems like winter is never going to end. While at the farmers’ market I picked up a lovely head of cauliflower. I forgot about cauliflower! I love cauliflower with any kind of cheese situation but I wanted to do something healthy. I also didn’t feel like plain old roasted cauliflower. (which is delicious, but basic.)

I remembered the cashews I had purchased to make a vegan alfredo sauce and thought I’d instead use them to make a super creamy and delicious cauliflower soup! Aren’t I clever? 😉 This soup would be SOUP-ER comforting on a cold winters night in Canada but is equally delicious in sunny Los Angeles. Is cozy but bright and fresh!

If I know anything about cauliflower, it can jive with a lot of funky herbs and spices. The first thing that came to mind was turmeric because of it’s vibrant colour and health benefits. It’s anti-inflammatory, good for digestion and according to the internet could be cancer fighting, good for your eyes, skin and everything under the sun. I like it because it tastes great in the this soup AND it takes on the white canvas of the cauliflower and paints a beautiful sunset on it. How poetic.

Let’s make this!

Julia’s Golden Cashew Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients

Half head of large cauliflower (or full small one), cut into florets
1/2 yellow onion, roughly chopped
1/2 cup cashews (soaked for at least an hour)
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 TBSP turmeric powder
1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
4 cups (or so) vegetable broth**
1-2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
parsley, red pepper flakes as garnish.

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat add some oil (coconut, grape seed etc.) and sauté the onion, garlic, turmeric and cashews, stirring frequently until soft and fragrant. About 8 minutes. Make sure it doesn’t burn!
2. Add the cauliflower, garlic powder and broth, bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, for about 30 min or until cauliflower is very tender.
3. Take off heat and let cool for a bit. In batches, blend up all that goodness using your magic bullet, vitamix, ninja or whatever blender you have! If it’s too thick, add some more water or broth and gently heat before serving. Don’t forget to add in the lemon juice too! It really brings the whole soup together. Garnish with parsley and red pepper flakes, serve with crusty bread or a side salad and enjoy!

How easy was that? If you want to make it even easier, there are some short cuts you can take! You don’t have to soak the cashews, but if you don’t have a high powered blender I would recommend it for ultimate creaminess. If you don’t have vegetable broth, you can use water! Or chicken broth if you like. Whatever floats your boat. This soup makes about 4 servings and can easily be doubled. It’s seriously SO creamy and soothing and yummy. It feels like you’re doing something good for your body because you are! I would never think this soup was vegan if I didn’t make it myself.

**vegetable broth tip!

I think I’ve written about this before, but make sure you save all your little veggie nubs. Start a freezer bag. You know when you cut the end off an onion? Toss is in the bag! The ends of asparagus? Put it in the bag! Parsley stems? Carrot peels? Lemon rind? THE BAG. When your bag is full, take the veg out of the freezer and put it in a large pot. Cover with water, add a bay leaf, some peppercorns and some herbs. Bring to a boil and then let simmer, uncovered for 2-3 hours. Strain the veggies, let cool, taste, add salt if you want and if you’re not going to make soup right away, transfer to some tupperware and freeze. Next time you need vegetable broth, all you have to do is pop it out of the freezer and thaw it! No wasted veg, no wasted money and you’re making something with zero garbage in it. Also, save your chicken bones and add those if you want chicken broth!

Now go make this soup and feel good and be happy!

Love, Julia