Happy weekend lifestyle connoisseurs! This week we highlight the humble cauliflower and a great soup recipe to prep for the rainy week ahead.
Cauliflower is one of my favourite veggies to cook with. It has quite a mild flavour and can be used in so many different ways. I often add grated cauliflower to bump up the veggie content of plain rice and can hardly taste a difference! You can even add cauliflower raw to smoothies without affecting the taste but adding heaps of nutritional value!
Did you know that you can also use the cauliflower leaves and they actually contain more nutrients than the cauliflower itself! They’re a great source of calcium, iron, fibre, protein and antioxidants.
I’m sharing a recipe from fellow Melbourne GP, Dr Preeya Alexander, who has been a guest on good chef bad chef. I’m a huge fan of soups- warm, filling and the perfect way to cozy up as the autumn weather cools down.
I made this for my family today but I made a few tweaks:
– Brown some cumin seeds with the olive oil in the beginning (my Indian genes want to add cumin to everything!- it adds a great flavour and an extra boost of antioxidant).
– Add in the leaves of the cauliflower!
– To reduce the calorie load of this soup, you can skip or reduce the amount of cheese and use a tablespoon of nutritional yeast for that cheesy flavour instead.
– Once the soup is cooked, empty a rinsed can of chickpeas into the pan and heat through. Canned legumes are one of my favourite hacks for adding heart healthy plant protein to meals. Plus they taste great and make this a much more filling meal that will keep away the munchies til your next meal.
– I added a good handful of chopped parsley and coriander and a nice squeeze of lemon on top to bump up the flavour and antioxidant punch