Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup/mash

I do like my broccoli but it was actually one of the first veggies I made on my own after moving out at the age of 19. My mom used to give us veggies from a can…so we’re talking mostly corn, peas,  and asparagus – yes, even asparagus from a can! (Meh! :P)  So when I moved out, I ventured into the produce section to get my veggies on! And broccoli was my go-to because it was so easy.

I didn’t know how to cook when I moved out. My mom always made us meals and they were always well rounded with a meat, starch, vegetable and salad BUT they weren’t the healthiest nor sourced properly. She was on a very tight budget so like I said, canned vegetables were mostly what we ate. The shelf life was great….so if she didn’t use the veggies the week she bought them, no biggy….they obviously held to the next …and so on. But as far as helping me learn to cook, there wasn’t much to learn with seeing her use Shake’n’Bake and canned goods. 

When I moved out at the age of 19, I was kinda tossed into the grocery store world with no real understanding of what I needed to get for a proper meal and/or how to make that meal. I remember seeing broccoli in the produce section and knowing that it was the one vegetable my mom didn’t get from a can (it was frozen, however)….so I grabbed a stalk. Those broccoli stalks were in my grocery cart every single week and though I was so proud of myself for grabbing fresh vegetables, I always prepared it the same way — boiled! Yes, I boiled the crap out of that broccoli (among other veggies) and we actually liked it. When kids came into the picture and made a “yucky face” every time they took a bite of broccoli, I ventured out of ‘boiling it til it was puke green’ and put a little shredded cheese on top and put into the oven to melt the cheese a bit. WOW! I found another way to make broccoli and my kids actually ate and liked it!

Moving forward, I started loving all fresh produce/vegetables and found many ways to prepare them. But as I appreciated the veggies that weren’t quite as common (in my world), I wasn’t grabbing that stalk of broccoli quite as often and sadly when I do bring some into the house, I don’t appreciate how good it is because it was just over used for MANY years! It really is a good veggie though! AND has so many health benefits so I really do like to keep it in the rotation as much as possible. That being said, I do like to prepare it different ways so that it doesn’t always bring back the memory of, “Ugh….broccoli again!”

That’s how this soup/mash came about (and it can be either depending on how you prefer your texture by adding more chicken stock). I had broccoli to use and I actually had a bit of riced cauliflower to use up (I normally make my own cauli-rice but on a whim, grabbed a bag of the prepared crumbles to see how they were – and I call them crumbles because they don’t look riced, in my opinion) and for some reason a broccoli soup popped into my head, using the cauliflower to “cream it up” a bit. It turned out so good! We liked it like a loose mash but as you can see in the recipe, you can make it soupier – if you will – by adding more chicken stock etc. Either way, it’s a great way to get in your veggies, especially if you’re not a fan of them or feel like I do and just kind of bored of the traditional steamed broccoli  

I did make this mid summer (ya, I know…..kinda weird) but am looking forward to making this in fall/winter months! It would be a great side dish but I do also add some Vital Proteins so you can eat this for a quick meal and know that you’re getting in some protein too!