Sometimes it’s just mentioning the name of the food that can turn up the nose of my kids.  But change it a bit, don’t mention the name and wham, they like it.  Totally by accident I again found this out.  I didn’t purposefully omit “cauliflower” when I had my middle son try the soup I’d just made, because he of all my sons loves cauliflower. I just said, “Here try this.” It’s the other two who profess to “hate it”.  That is until I made the soup.  They saw it cooking and my youngest one asked what the smell in the kitchen was, so I showed him the cauliflower soup still in it’s adolescence.  He looked and said, “Yuck! I Hate Cauliflower!”  and walked away.  Well, after I puréed the soup, and it no longer looked the same, I approached my cauliflower-loving middle with a spoonful.  He ate it and requested another spoonful immediately, so my youngest sitting next to him and not wanting to be left out, said, “Hey I want some!”  “Ok!”, I gave him a taste.  And another, and another.  And so on and so on. Well then my eldest wanted a taste.  And another… so much for cauliflower hating.  They all had more.  I think the spices and appearance were just camouflaging enough that they were open to sample.

I adapted Spicy Cauliflower Soup from The Art of Simple Food byAlice Waters

Curried Cauliflower Soup

2/3 lg head cauliflower, chopped

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion diced

1 sm carrot, peeled and diced

3/4 tsp cumin seeds, crushed

3/4 tsp coriander seeds, crushed

1/2 tsp hot chili powder

1/4 tsp turmeric

salt and pepper

1 Tbsp fresh cilantro chopped or 1 cube frozen cilantro

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

1 cup vegetable stock

1 cup water

Sauté onion and carrot in olive oil. Stir in spices and remaining ingredients. Bring to boil then lower heat and simmer for 30-35 minutes.  Purée with immersion blender. Optional garnish- – plain yogurt, mint and lime juice