Meagan's Post
This recipe that Meagan posted on her blog looked easy, nutritious and delicious. Thought we could try it out.
Veggie Delights: Cauliflower Cheese Soup and French Bread
What Veggie Delights is all about: I’m convinced that I can share with you some really amazing meatless dishes that you will love, even if you’re not a Vegetarian!
So I know summer is right around the corner (and practically already here for those of us in Florida), but I just couldn’t resist sharing this soup recipe with you. This is quite possibly the best soup I have ever eaten – and that means restaurants, too. It is just SO delicious. My husband is NOT a food person. He just doesn’t get excited about food (which I really can’t fathom). But let me tell you – every single time I make this soup he raves about it, goes on and on about it, requests that I make it again soon, goes back for seconds and thirds, and then asks if he can have the leftovers for lunch the next day. You get the picture – this soup is amazing.
I found this recipe last year on All Recipes. Surprisingly, it’s one of the few recipes that I made hardly any changes to inredients-wise. I do up the amount of veggies a bit, so that none goes to waste. It makes for a chunkier soup, which I think is better anyways. 
Ingredients:
3/4 cup water
1 cup chopped cauliflower
1 cup cubed potatoes
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/4 cup chopped onion
couple cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
4 ounces shredded cheese
salt and pepper to taste
*Changes I made to this list: I basically doubled most of the veggies and water, added the garlic, and doubled the cheese. I think 8 ounces of cheese made it the perfect creamy consistency. And like I said above, the extra veggies made it nice and chunky.
Directions:
1. Prep all veggies – cut, chop, and mince.
2. In a large (and deep) saucepan, combine all the veggies and water. Boil until tender (about 5 to 10 minutes). I had to add a bit of water as it cooked, since I used so many veggies. Just keep an eye on it. You don’t want all of the water to boil down completely. Once they are done cooking, set the pan aside.
3. Melt butter in a separate pan over medium heat. Then stir in the flour. Cook, while continuously stirring, for about 2 minutes.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and gradually stir in the milk.
5. Return the pan to the heat and cook until it is thickened. This is the key to this recipe. If you don’t let it thicken, it will not be creamy like it’s supposed to be. It doesn’t take that long to thicken (like most soup recipes). Just be patient, and keep stirring it until it’s thickened.
6. Stir in all of the vegetables (and any cooking liquid that is remaining). Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Stir in cheese (I used an entire 8 oz bag) until it is melted.
8. Serve hot, and ENJOY!
French Bread:
For the French bread, I follow this recipe EXACTLY. It yields 2 loaves of bread. The only change I make is to bake it at about 360 degrees, because my oven cooks really hot. For the rising part of the recipe, I just use my microwave and place a light-weight towel over it as the covering. Works great.
The french bread loaves turns out beautiful. Golden crisp on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. This is my go-to recipe for French bread. I usually make a few loaves on the weekend, and freeze them. They re-heat really well and taste almost just as good (nothing beats fresh-from-the-oven bread, though).
this looks delicious - i'm going to try it - yum
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