Soup's On!!

Creamy, Cheesy Cauliflower Soup.

That's right. The words "cheesy" and "creamy" can be used in your healthy lifestyle!

I bought a large head of cauliflower one day (not at my beloved Farm Boy, but at another store), and the very next day it had that not-so-fresh rubbery feel to it .. (Serves me right for cheating on Farm Boy!) So I knew I needed to use it ASAP to avoid wasting it. And I despise wasting.

So I was browsing through Skinnytaste for some apple recipes and happened to come across a cauliflower soup recipe. It looked so simple and I had all the ingredients .. So I went for it. But I made it mine by kind of making up my own version as I went along. Here is what I came up with!

All you need:

- One large head of cauliflower, chopped
- Four cups of water
- 3/4 cup of diced onions
- one cube of Knorr reduced-sodium chicken stock (you can also use bouillon or even  chicken broth!)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 4 pieces of light Laughing Cow cheese*
- a one-inch cube of sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated

*if you prefer using an all-natural cheese, substitute for sharp Parmesan cheese and adjust the WW+ points value accordingly.

All you do:

Put the cauliflower, onions, water, garlic, chicken stock and water in a large pot and cook on high just until it starts boiling. Reduce to a simmer and cover, leaving it to simmer for about 30 minutes, until the cauliflower is softened to your liking.

Take an immersion blender to the mix, until all the pieces of cauliflower and onions are completely puréed (if you don't have an immersion blender, just use a regular blender or a food processor to blend!)

Cheese, please!

Add in the Laughing Cow cheese pieces and the grated cheddar and mix well until the cheese has completely melted. I used the immersion blender for a few minutes here also to fully blend in the cheese.

Salt and pepper to taste and away you go! Lunch is ready!

I added mushrooms in for lunch!

This soup is delicious on its own, or you can add some broccoli or mushrooms to it (cheesy broccoli soup?! Heck yeah!!). I even used some to add into my kids' pasta (sneaking in some extra veggies and calcium into your kids' food is never a bad thing!) and again in our mashed potatoes at dinner.

Homemade mac and cheese with the cauliflower soup blended in!

Enjoying her cauliflower and not even knowing it ;)

Cauliflower soup added to the mashed sweet potatoes!

The points value per serving varies on how large a serving you have. The only thing that had a points value in the recipe is the cheese! My servings of one cup each were only worth one point ... And considering the fact that it tastes like a 12pts kind of soup, I'd say it's worth the one point! :)

Bon Appetit!