Golden Cauliflower Rice Soup

​The Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," aka "Treat others the way you'd like to be treated."

This Golden Soup: "Treats your body the way it wants to be treated."

And it sure is purdy, ain't it?

I made this soup because I really needed something to help me fight off the stuffy nose I kept waking up with, and to help me reset my digestion with something simple and "safe" for my sensitive tummy. It's so comforting to enjoy steamy soup on these below-freezing ice-covered days we are experiencing on the seacoast right now. 

I also realized that this soup fits perfectly in my detox program that I will be doing in January. I'll add it to the pile of recipes that are already in there. Wanna do it with me?? You can! And should! Read about the detox here.

Pretty cool, eh? This fits in because it is easy to digest and has healing ingredients (garlic, ginger, turmeric), and no overly processed foods, added sugar, or other junky ingredients. I suppose the coconut milk is processed, so if you were trying to avoid it for whatever reason, you could omit and blend the soup a bit more, or replace it with homemade cashew cream, or blend up some of the cauliflower with water to "cream" some of it before adding it in. We've got options! 
​
So, here's what I did because I love the addition of coconut milk, and it makes it so creamy and rich and adds that good fat to keep me feeling satisfied... 

Golden Cauliflower Rice Soup

Ingredients
1 onion, diced
1 yellow pepper, chopped
3 medium carrots, chopped 
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 inch, or about one TBSP fresh ginger, grated or minced very small
1 T turmeric
1 TBSP yellow curry paste*
1 TBSP coconut oil 
4 cups vegetable stock
1 can coconut milk
Salt to taste
1 head cauliflower, riced in a food processor (OR one bag of frozen cauliflower rice from Trader Joe's!)
Garnish: lime, cilantro

Directions
In a large soup pot, heat the coconut oil on medium heat for a few seconds. Once it's melted, add the onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, and yellow curry paste. Let these flavors get coated in one another and sizzle for a couple minutes. If they start to get too hot and change color, turn down the heat to avoid burning.
Once the onion is soft and translucent, add the carrots, pepper, veggie stock, and coconut milk. Let it come to a boil, then turn down to a simmer until the carrots are soft and cooked.
Add the cauliflower rice to the pot, and bring to a simmer for a few more minutes. 
Finally, turn off the heat. Use an immersion blender to blend the soup until it's your desired thickness. For this soup, I wanted to leave it pretty chunky so I only blended it for a few seconds.
Add salt as desired, I added about a teaspoon to get the flavor where I wanted it.
Serve hot with cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. 

Recipe Notes
-You can find yellow curry paste at an Asian market. If you can't find it or don't have it, use more turmeric, garlic and ginger, and lemongrass if you have that! It's not usually spicy but you can add some cayenne or any other spice you like.