Mum & Toddler lunch: Cheesy Cauliflower soup

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Last week we had some rainy and cold weather, and all I felt like eating was soup! I love making big batches of soup and eating it over the next few days when it is cold, it makes me feel all warm and homely. It is also a great way to get those lunch time vegetables into the toddler, and, well it is also delicious. Ezra has actually enjoyed eating this since he was pretty young, and it is still a big hit!

This is an adaption of mine from a Jamie Oliver recipe from his Ministry of Food book, which is used a lot in our house!

Ingredients

2 cloves of garlic
2 onions
2 stalks of celery
2 carrots
3/4 of a large cauliflower
1 chicken stock cube (salt reduced, and preservative free!)
1 cup of grated cheese
1 teaspoon of wholegrain mustard

Method:

Basically I just chop everything up into small pieces and crush the garlic.
Sometimes I just throw all of this stuff into the slow cooker for a few hours, and let it do its thing.
Other times I sauté the onions and garlic in a pan on medium heat for a few minutes,  and then add the other vegetables at cook for about 5-10 minutes until they are soft.
I then add about 1-1.5 litres of water and the chicken stock and bring it to the boil, then I let it simmer for about 10-15 minutes.
Finally, I add the cheese and the mustard and blend it all up into a liquid soup with my hand blender.


I usually serve it with a piece of whole meal homemade bread!!

All pretty easy, and quick.

It is a bit of a messy meal for a toddler, but Ezra LOVES this soup, and LOVES feeding it to himself. Meaning that he needs a clothing change and the dog gets called in as the clean up crew, but I try to do my best to make eating fun, and I know it is important to keep variety in his food. If there is a bit of mess, oh well, thats just life!!

Karen xx


14 comments on "Mum & Toddler lunch: Cheesy Cauliflower soup"
  1. oh perfect for last week.. not so much today!!! yummo!

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  2. I know, I'm melting!!

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  3. That looks like a great soup...I will have to file the recipe away for winter!
    Right now all I can think about are smoothies!

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  4. Yum, this sounds delicious. I love cauliflower. I haven't been game enough to try soup with my toddlers. Gee, they are messy enough with firmer foods, I can imagine the mess with soup. And we don't have a dog. Lol. I want to make this for myself though that's for sure.

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  5. Sitting here in Tassie freezing my butt off, I would love to have some of this right now! I am growing cauliflowers in my garden, and now I know what I will be doing with it when they are ready.

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  6. Yummy! I need to write this one down.. I love a good soup! I'm in Melbourne... We always have soup weather!

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  7. Yeah I need to get on that smoothie bandwagon I've been thinking about it for a while, I think Ezra would love them!

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  8. It is a bit thicker so it isn't that difficult to spoon! Sometimes, he lets me spoon it for him!! That eliminates the mess!

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  9. Oh even better with homegrown cauliflowers!! I hope you get some warmth soon! :)

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  10. I need to figure out how to do the printable recipes to make it easier!! I love Melbourne, but I'm not sure I could handle so much cold!

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  11. I just don't get soup! I think its cause there is no need for soup in Darwin, but I honestly don't like liquefying my food! Boatman is very deprived unfortunately :)

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  12. Making this now. I am putting some bacon in though. I'm sick and I need comfort, plus mum gave me cauli :)

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  13. Rhianna @ A Parenting LifeDecember 7, 2012 at 9:39 PM

    I love how you are so cool with the messy toddler eating, it really is important to let them have a go and do it themselves. Thanks for sharing, I can see this popping up at our house soon

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