Martha Stewart's creamy cauliflower soup with greens

My recipe yesterday was a little bit labor intensive, no? Let's switch things up today, and talk about a soup that is far more rich in the veggies, while taking a fraction of the amount of time.


But first, let's talk about the little miracle in my life.


I work at a preschool, where my duties include... well, everything. I never really know what I am going to be responsible for until I arrive in the morning. I often supervise the playground, shop for the groceries that become the kids'  afternoon snack, or keep the toy storage room clean and organized. I stuff envelopes, accompany kids to the bathroom, and file paperwork. 


And, as it turns out, I do laundry. Due to a series of events that won't interest you in the least, our regular system of getting the school laundry (mainly the cloth covers for the little mats where the kids take their naps) broke down last week. When I arrived in the morning, I was greeted by some teachers in a slight panic, because they were going to have nowhere for the cherubs to lay down at nap time. If you have ever faced 40 kids who need a nap at the same time, you would panic too.


And so I gathered up the dirty items, a stack of magazines from the staff room, and some detergent, and I headed out to the laundromat. There is probably a whole blog post about the people one encounters in a laundromat, but for today, let's talk about my miracle, okay?


After I got the laundry agitating, I sat down with the magazines. I mentally pleaded Come on, magazines. I know that one of you is going to have a recipe that calls for lots of the veggies I have right now... While we're at it, is there any chance it can please be the cauliflower and collard greens? Oh yeah, one more thing. Please don't require a stop at the supermarket, kay?


And guess what!? Martha Stewart Living had a recipe that onehundredpercent answered my little prayer to the magazine gods. 


I introduce you to Creamy Cauliflower Soup. It, of course, uses cauliflower and collard greens. It also uses onion, fresh dill, and copious amounts of garlic, all of which I have on hand, all out of the Abundant Harvest Organics box. Other than that, all it required was olive oil, salt, pepper, and water. Hooray!

As if that weren't enough excitement among the industrial washers, the soup is really quick to put together. Saute the onions and garlic, simmer the cauliflower and collard greens, and puree it all. 


It is creamy (thanks to the cauliflower) without using cream. It is bright and fresh and filling, and the drizzle of olive oil and fresh pepper on top give it just enough heartiness to let it stand as a main course.

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
Sea salt
1 medium head cauliflower (about 3 pounds), florets and stems cut into 1-inch pieces (8 to 9 cups)
4 1/2 cups filtered water
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill, plus more for garnish
5 large kale or collard leaves, or a combination, tough ends removed and leaves roughly chopped
Freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat; cook onion, covered, until soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and a pinch of salt, and cook for 3 minutes more. Add cauliflower and pour in filtered water until it reaches just below the top of the cauliflower.

Bring to a boil over high heat. Add 2 tablespoons dill. Reduce heat to low, and simmer until cauliflower is just tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in greens, and simmer for 3 minutes.

Let sit for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons dill. Puree soup in batches in a blender until very smooth, adding more water (about 1/2 cup) if it's too thick. Return to pot and reheat. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with dill, black pepper, a drizzle of oil and a pinch of sea salt.

summertime and the livin's easy

Wednesdays are quickly becoming my favorite day of the week. It is the one day that all three kids go to school and I don't work. It is also the one day that we have no classes, lessons, practices, or games. I get the majority of my cooking done on Wednesdays.

This week was no different. I spent the morning in the kitchen, getting a few things ready for the week ahead. Then, I spend the afternoon in the backyard, barbecuing and playing catch with the the kids.


Grilled Ribs on a bed of grilled greens:

Use your favorite rib recipe, or buy your ribs precooked. (Don't tell anyone I used the precooked ribs this time. I just couldn't do it all today, okay?)

Place them on the grill to cook.

While these begin grilling, prepare your greens:

No, not those greens. That's just the ivy that grows behind my barbecue. These greens:

I can see where you would make the mistake, though. These greens are a mixture of collard greens, beet greens, and who knows what else (thanks to the mix that AHOrganics provided my this week).

To prepare them, simply toss them with a little bit of olive oil and some sea salt.

When the ribs only have a couple of minutes to go, it's time to grill the greens. Toss them into a grilling basket, and keep stirring/tossing until they are all wilty.

Place the greens onto a platter, and place the ribs on top. All of the sauce and drippings from the ribs will soak down into the greens, making them absolutely delicious! That right there is the taste of summer.

Is there anything a little bacon can't fix?

I hate it when I have to admit I was wrong.

So let's just say I wasn't exactly right.

I seem to have made the claim that if a vegetable (say, collared greens, or mustard greens, or any other greens, actually) has to be cooked with bacon in order to make it decent, it just isn't that good to begin with. I may have even claimed that I would just as soon eat the shingles from my roof, cooked with bacon.

Let me take minute to introduce my friend Carolyne, who happens to be many things:
a. a great gal
b. a fellow subscriber to the Abundant Organics CSA box (and thus my co-commiserator for some of those odd things we find in our boxes each week)
c. a self-proclaimed southern girl
d. a food blogger. (more specifically, a gluten-free food blogger. She has some great stuff!)

In addition to those four important things, she is someone who loves collard greens, cooked with bacon.

I promised her that I would try her recipe, before I gave up on greens altogether.

I am now eating crow.

'Cause dang that stuff was good! I haven't actually gotten any collard greens since I made my little promise, but I did get a big giant bunch of mustard greens. It says right there in black and white on her blog that the recipe works with any type of green. And even better with a mixture.

Here is the thing. I said that if it needs bacon, it must be because the greens are so disgusting you have to hide them in would be greatly enhance by bacon-y goodness. What I wasn't considering is the flip side of that coin. If it has bacon in it, how can it be bad?


So, Carolyne, my deepest gratitude for the recipe. And for convincing me to try the greens one more time. I am now a greens lover too.

And my most sincere apology. 'Cause now I have to take back my offer to give you all the greens I get in my box from here on out.

And they're kosher, to boot.

Why is it, that when I hear of something new, I google it, only to find out that 1,120,000 people have already done it? I am SO not a trendsetter. We could argue that I come rather late to all things trendy, actually.

I guess today I am hoping that you are one of the 6,908,880,000 people on earth who haven't already put something on the internet about how to make green chips.

At any rate.

Green chips.

Take a leafy green vegetable. (I have done this with kale, beet greens, and collard greens, but I hear rumors of it being done with chard and even spinach. For me, I'll stick with the heartier veggies.)

This time, it was collard greens who needed to make their exit from my refrigerator. I discovered that just about every recipe for sautéing collard greens starts with bacon or ham. Like I have said before, if you have to disguise the taste by hiding it in some bacon, it isn't that good to begin with.  So, I chose to skip the stove, and throw them in the oven instead.

Actually, though, cooked into chips, these leaves are very very good! I would eat these every day.

Take your greens, whatever they are, and tear them up into chip-sized pieces. The shape and exact size doesn't matter at all.

Throw them all on a baking sheet, drizzle a little olive oil over it all, and then toss them with your hands, to get them nice and evenly coated.

Amazingly, they will go from the dull green above to a vibrant, bright green.

Shake on some salt and pepper, or even red pepper if you like spice, and spread them out on a baking sheet or two. They need to be in a single layer.

Now stick them in the oven, heated to 300 degrees, for about 5-10 minutes. As soon as they start to brown you need to pull them out, so watch carefully.

Now, you get to enjoy a crispy, salty, tasty snack -- with no guilt!