Creamy Potato & Cauliflower Soup

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Some of you may have picked up that we have some stuff going on around here, such as upcoming cancer treatments for Mark … I was hesitant to share to much as I wanted to be sure he told those folks that are close to us what was going on.

Esophageal Cancer.

Don’t google it. Seriously, just don’t. I know 50% of you will. It’s scary stuff on the internet.  Probably is in real life too but right now we are in the “this isn’t the end” mode. I’ll stay there as long as we can!

Currently, we are waiting for MD Anderson to give us a call for our second opinion appointment. After all, when you are told chemo treatments every two weeks for 3 days each time for the rest of your life you really should seek a 2nd opinion. And yes, we are really traveling to Houston for this. My first response was “we can’t afford to do this” but then I realized, we are in the fight for his life so we CAN afford to do this. By the way, the hospital has since told us the insurance company approved the evaluation.

So. When Mark made his trip up north to finish up some business since we don’t know when the next time he will be able to head up there, I wanted to make sure he had something yummy to fill his tummy when he came home late Saturday. This is what I made.

It has cauliflower, greek yogurt, potatoes, half and half and chicken broth.

ALL THE GOOD THINGS.

And he liked it.  So did Randi when they surprised us with a 24 hour visit (with baby Nolan!)

It’s easy, doesn’t take long so hey, you should really give this a try! Original recipe comes from The Skinnytaste Cookbook but I modified it quite a bit!

1 bag of Trader Joe’s Riced Cauliflower (next time I’ll just use frozen florets)

2 large taters, about 1 1/2 pounds worth

1 carton chicken broth

2 cups half and half

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups plain greek yogurt

Seasoning of choice. I used Mark’s Special Blend and that Trader Joe’s Onion Salt

Peel those taters, cut them in quarters, toss in a microwave dish and microwave 5 minutes. Take them out, give them a quick stir and flip and nuke for another 3 minutes.

Grab a large pot. You can see mine was maybe a little on the small side. Story of my life. Toss in the cauliflower and saute for a few minutes. If using florets, add a little water to the pan and steam til soft.

Cut up the taters in to smaller cubes. Careful, don’t burn yourself. I speak from experience.

Dump the taters, chicken broth, milk, half and half, and your seasoning of choice in to the pot with the cauliflower.  Give a quick stir and let them meet and greet over medium high heat. Allow to come to a  boil and let them bubble for about 10 minutes, giving a quick stir occasionally.

Reduce the heat, grab your nifty immersion blender and go to town blending til smooth. NOTE: Next time, I’ll scoop some stuff out so we have a little more texture. FYI … Mark’s mom had given us that same blender years ago for Christmas … one of my favorite kitchen wonder gadgets!

Stir in your greek yogurt and reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 more minutes.

Taste, add more seasoning if needed (I did) and then dish up!

I topped ours with shredded cheese, bacon bits and green onions.

NOTE: The next day, when Mark and Randi had it for lunch, Mark added almost a whole carton of broth again as the soup became very thick. Again, I think if I hadn’t blended it all, it would have been fine. Either way, it was still delicious!

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties … go check them out!

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