Curried Cauliflower Soup, a Full Kitchen for This Week's Souper Sundays Round-up & a Souper Sunday Logo!

I am always slightly suspicious of people who tell me they aren't really "soup people." How do you not love the satisfaction and comfort a bowl of soup brings?  Warm or cold, thick or thin, brothy or chunky, I agree with Campbell's--soup is good food!  And people who love soup are good people! For example, my new blogging friend Ivy from Kopiaste...to Greek Hospitality. When I joined the friendly and dedicated group of bloggers fighting hunger at BloggerAid last weekend, Ivy was the first to welcome me. She took the time to check out my blog and asked me about Souper Sundays, mentioning she would like to share a chili recipe that week and join in with other soups. She also asked if I had a logo she could put on her site to let people know about my event. I told her I didn't and that creating a logo was a little beyond my capabilities. Less than an hour later, she sent me a couple of logos that she created for Souper Sundays. What a wonderful gift and an example of how great the food blogging community is and why I enjoy being a part of it.

Without further ado, I give you Souper Sundays new logo, created by Ivy:

I love it and will wear it proudly on my blog!  Thanks so much to Ivy for the logo and for participating in Souper Sundays.

l started Souper Sundays about three months ago as a way to work through the many soup recipes I had tagged in cookbooks and magazines and thought it would be fun to have other soup fans out there join in and send me their soups (or stews, chilis, slow cooker dishes, or any soup-like creation) to post and share.  It's casual, people drop in and out, sometimes we get a handful of people in the Souper Sunday kitchen, other weeks it is just a couple of us sharing our soup creations. Lately, it has started getting more interest and several people have asked for more details and some structure. (Scary!)  So, following this post there will be a special Souper Sunday post, explaining the event, how to participate and other details.

For now, we have some delicious soups to get to as the Souper Sunday kitchen has a great group of bloggers and recipes today!

My pick this week is from the January 2009 issue of Vegetarian Times magazine.  I found it in an article on "Cream-Free Soups", about soups inspired by French-style "potages", blended soups that get their texture from pureed vegetables instead of cream.  Fits right into my eat healthy goals. This Curried Cauliflower Soup, is the perfect choice for the gray rainy afternoon and evening we had yesterday.

Curried Cauliflower Soup

Susan Hermann Loomis & Fiona Kennedy

Vegetarian Times Magazine

Serves 6 / Gluten-Free

Vegetarian Times says: "This soup's secret ingredient--an apple, lends a touch of tangy sweetness that complements the curry's spice. Letting the soup cool 20 minutes before blending helps deepen the flavors."

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped (1 cup)

1 medium tart apple, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped (1 cup)

1 Tbsp curry powder

1 clove garlic, sliced (1 tsp)

1 large head cauliflower, chopped into 1-inch pieces (6 cups)

4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

1 tsp honey or agave nectar

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add onion, and saute 5-7 minutes, or until soft and golden.  Stir in apple, curry powder, and garlic, and cook 2 minutes more, or until curry powder turns a deep yellow.  


Add cauliflower and vegetable broth, and bring to a simmer.  Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 20 minutes.  


Cool 20 minutes, then blend in food processor or blender until smooth.  Stir in honey and vinegar, and season with salt if desired.   

Per serving: 104 cal, 2g protein, 5g total fat, (0.5g sat fat), 14g carbs, 0g chol, 304mg sod, 4g fiber, 8g sugars.

Notes/Results:  I love my cauliflower roasted so I roasted the florets in the oven (at 400 degrees F. for about 20 minutes) before adding it to the soup. Otherwise, I made this soup as written, except for adding a bit of freshly ground black pepper of course. It is delicious! I used a medium spiced curry powder and the combination of the spice with the sweetness of the apple is incredible. It goes together easily--especially if you have an Immersion blender to puree it. I made it fairly smooth but left some small chunks of cauliflower in it for the texture. When deciding if a soup recipe is a keeper, I think about if I ordered this soup in a restaurant; would I be happy and satisfied paying for it?  The answer in this case is yes! This one is a keeper for sure.   

What a great array of soups and soup-like dishes we have to present today:

Let's kick it off with by friend and fellow Cook The Books host, Rachel from The Crispy Cook with her Smokey Sweet Potato Soup. Using up some roasted sweet potatoes leftover from dinner, along with onions, veggies and some smokey, spicy chipotle peppers, Rachel created a healthy, delicious soup full of incredible flavors. Don't you love it when the components of a delicious dinner get re-worked into an incredible bowl of soup?!

Reeni, from Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice, a great new blogging friend from Tyler Florence Fridays, is here with an hearty, sensational Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew. With tender chicken and plenty of veggies (and a little garlic and bacon too), in a creamy herby sauce this is the kind of dish that feeds your belly and your soul at the same time!  

Next we have the terrific Laurie from That's Not What The Recipe Says, back with one of her favorite and oft made recipes; Southwestern Chicken Soup. One of those great, familiar recipes that you change a bit each time based on what you have on hand, this soup was perfect for a bitterly cold day in her neck of the woods. (And check out her blog for the Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins she made to serve with it!)

Laurie wasn't the only one going Southwestern with her chicken soup, my good friend and Blog Party hostess, Stephanie from Dispensing Happiness is back with some spicy Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup she whipped up with love for her man.  Featuring roasted chicken and lime infused rice to make it extra flavorful and with crunchy tortilla chips on top, it had her kitchen smelling amazing and Matt's belly feeling full!

Those Southwestern ingredients are sure popular this week.  My good friend Natashya from Living In the Kitchen With Puppies has a delectable slow cooker Black Bean and Corn Soup to show off this week. A yummy, healthy vegetarian dish that was part of a simple winter meal. Natashya served it with some homemade "Art in 5" bread that stole the show and some baked apples and yogurt. Low-fat and delicious--what could be better?!

A new friend, Laura from Hey what's for dinner Mom?, dropped by with one of her favorites dishes, Ratatouille  the stew not the movie! (although the movie was pretty darn cute!) The perfect lunch or dinner on a cold winter day, especially when it is paired with some creamy polenta as Laura has done. She gives this dish her "trifecta" ranking--healthy, delicious and budget friendly!

If you think I am a soup lover you haven't met Debbie from The Friday Friends, who is such a soup fan she started another blog devoted to soups: Ahhh SomeSoups. She is joining us today with a quick and easy, "almost homemade"  Shrimp and Corn Chowder that was served at her annual January "soup supper" party (How fun does that sound!? You can check out the soup party  pictures on her blog!)

A big reason I love reading food blogs is learning about foods from different cultures and Ivy from Kopiaste has not let me down with her Kokkinisto. Kokkino means red in Greek and kokkinisto refers  to how food cooked in tomato sauce turns red.  (You can read more about it on her blog) Featuring veal and some rose petal shaped pasta, this is a gorgeous dish and proves that Ivy's cooking talent is as incredible as her logo design talent!

What beautiful and delicious recipes and I think our biggest Souper Sunday round up to date! Mahalo to all my friends who participated in Souper Sundays this week and a special thank you to Ivy for the cool new logo! If you have a soup (or soup-like creation such as a stew, chili, slow cooker dish, etc.), that you want to share you'll find the detail for participating in Souper Sundays on the post below or clicking on the Super Sunday logo on the side of my blog. 

Have a great week everyone!