Have your soup & eat your veggies, too!!

Dairy Free Tomato Soup and Cauliflower Steak

OK, confession time: I can’t eat just plain soup. I’m discovering that I’m a texture girl, so I’m constantly crushing up tortilla chips, adding avocado, grabbing a piece of toasty bread and dunking it into my favorite, warm bowl. Another thing, tomato soup is besties with grilled cheese. Like, BFF4L.

Since I’m doing a Whole30, grilled cheese isn’t really on the menu. Neither is cream and butter-rich tomato soup. Ha! You really think a few little details like that are going to stop me from getting creative? You must not know me. BUT you can get to know me here if you really wanna 🙂

Anyway, I promised you slow cooker recipes and here’s another! The tomato soup will cook and deepen in flavor over time and you’ll have the freedom to quickly roast your cauliflower to perfection. Have you had roasted cauliflower?! If not – get ready for a treat. I am a total meat eater, but I have a true appreciation for properly prepared and flavorful veggies. This recipe is vegetarian and vegan, too if you use vegetable stock!

Let’s chat about this cauliflower steak. Instead of chopping up a bunch of bite sized pieces and roasting them, we’ll cut large hunks or “steaks” of cauli (like the picture below shows) and roast them as a large piece. When you eat your soup, you can dunk, dip and devour the slightly crisp and garlicky cauliflower into the tomato soup and feel the satisfaction of a meal match made in heaven.

See, this is what your “steak” will look like!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

Cauliflower

Olive oil or avocado oil spray

Unsalted, crushed canned tomatoes

Unsalted chicken or vegetable bone broth or broth (I use chicken)

Full fat coconut milk

Dried basil

Garlic powder

Dried oregano

WHAT YOU’LL DO (measurements below):

Add the crushed tomatoes, stock, garlic powder, basil, salt, pepper and oregano to your slow cooker. Turn this to high and let it cook for 4 hours. When 4 hours passes, ladle your tomato mixture into a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth. You may need to do this in batches so you don’t get tomato everywhere. If you have an immersion blender, feel free to use that directly in the slow cooker to process the mixture until smooth. Pour the tomato mixture back into the slow cooker and turn it to low. Add in the coconut milk, stir and let cook for another hour on low.

While the coconut milk incorporates, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Take out your cauliflower and cut in half. Cut in half again, creating 4 steaks. If some of the ends break off, it’s OK, they’ll still roast up wonderfully. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment and spray with olive or avocado oil, sprinkle with salt and garlic powder, and pop into the oven. Roast for about 30 minutes, flipping half way. Remove when the edges start to brown and crisp.

Give your soup a good stir and pour into a big bowl. Serve with a decadent piece of the cauliflower steak.

xoxx,

Miss AK