Cauliflower Soup and Spinach Salad

Cauliflower soup transforms ordinary -- and let's admit, sometimes strong-tasting cauliflower -- into a silky delicious fall or winter soup. This soup gets it's luscious buttery color from a few carrots cooked along with the cauliflower and a dash or two of curry powder.

As you can see, I'm a fan of using an abundance of cilantro  as garnish.

I'm also a fan of adding virtually any left over fruit or vegetable into salads, and spaghetti squash works surprisingly well with spinach. Warm croissants or crusty bread of any sort round out the meal.


 Cauliflower Soup for 2 people

Cook a small onion in a tablespoon of oil until it's soft.

Add 2 cups of chicken broth, half a head of cauliflower and a few carrots, cut into chunks.

Simmer the soup until the vegetables are soft. Let the mixture cool for a few minutes before adding it to a blender and pureeing it until it's completely smooth. Fill the blender only 2/3 of the way full and keep a tight grip on the lid with a dishtowel or pot holder so the hot liquid doesn't explode.

Pour  the mixture back to the pot, add 1 cup of soy milk (for creaminess) or whatever mix of milk and cream you prefer, and reheat the soup just until hot. Cream helps keep the soup with milk from curdling if you over heat it.

Don't forget salt and pepper and a dash of curry powder it you would like. Garnish with either chopped cilantro, parsley or a few fresh thyme leaves.



Spinach Salad With Spaghetti Squash


Perfect for fall, spaghetti squash has lots going for it. High in nutrition and low in calories, spaghetti squash isn't as heavy as other winter squashes, and it's just fun to scrape out the bright yellow flesh with a fork after the squash is cooked and cooled.

I had a bit of squash that hadn't fit in my pan when I recently cooked spaghetti squash hash, so I cooked the remaining piece (about 7 minutes in the microwave) and tossed it into the salad -- it tends to clump slightly, but that's OK.

I particularly like thin slices of red onion and toasted walnuts (whole or in large pieces) in spinach salads, as well as a bit of crumbled feta or goat cheese if I have it on hand.