Gluten free - grain free - dairy free - refined sugar free - egg free - nut free - vegetarian
    This soup is wonderfully thick and 'creamy', without any cream!  Soup is one of my go-to meals when it needs to be easy.  I love that you can just throw everything in a pot, let it cook a while, blend it up and voila- an yummy, nutritious meal.  My other regular, go-to soup recipe is Sweet Potato Chorizo Soup.  I also love a good Pea and Ham Soup, and when I need a comforting, immune-boosting soup, I never go past this Chicken and Corn Chowder.
    That being said, this soup recipe has one extra step if you have the time, and believe me, it's worth it.  Roast the cauliflower!  If you need to be quick, you can just boil it up in the stock with the rest of the ingredients, but if you are able to roast it first, DO IT!!  It gives the cauliflower such a lovely, nutty, caramalised depth of flavour that boiling along won't give it. 
    I usually serve this soup with some home made garlic bread, and I find it's enough for our family of 4 for 2 meals.  I freeze half of it for another day when I need a super quick meal. 

Ingredients

• 1 medium sized head of cauliflower
• 2 large brown onions, roughly chopped
• 8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 6 large potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 .5 Litres (6 cups) chicken OR vegetable stock
• About 1 Tablespoon oil for frying in (I use coconut oil)
  
• Salt and pepper

Method

• Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. 
• Cut cauliflower into small florets and place on a lined baking tray.  Spray or drizzle with a little oil and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Roast cauliflower in preheated oven for about 30 minutes.  Do not let the tips brown too much or they will taste burnt and add a bitterness and discoloration to the soup.  The lower oven temperature helps to not overcook them.
• While the cauliflower is roasting, heat the coconut oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.  Add the chopped onions and garlic and saute for a few minutes until they are soft.  Do not brown or caramalise them.
• Stir in the diced potatoes (and chopped cauliflower florets if you're not roasting them first) and cover with the stock. 
• Bring to the boil over high heat, with the lid on, and then lower heat to a simmer. 
• Simmer until the potatoes are quite soft.  Add the roasted cauliflower for the last couple of minutes of simmering, making sure the stems are nice and soft.
• Remove from heat and blend the soup until it is very smooth.  I do this with a hand-held 'stick mixer', but you could also transfer it into a blender or food processor. 
• Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper as required. 
• Serve garnished with a little grated parmesan or manchego (sheep) cheese, or chopped chives, or cracked pepper, with some home made garlic bread. 

Gluten free - dairy free - sugar free - nut free - egg free - can be vegetarian
    In June 2013 one of my besties, who lives across the ocean, posted on Facebook that she was making a batch of potato and corn chowder. I thought that it sounded good and asked for the recipe. She sent it through with the note saying it is incredibly basic, and not to get too excited about it! She was right- it was incredibly basic - but with so much potential! So, I've tried it a couple of times now with my own additions and I'm excited to share the result. The original recipe came from a book Called Mom's Best Country Recipes- a small paperback tourist cookbook that my friends Mum (Mom) brought back as a gift from the Ozarks of Missouri. Sounds homely, hey? It is!  And it's just perfect for this time of year as winter comes upon us.
    I've figured out a process to make this soup at the same time as you make a big batch of chicken stock- enough for the this soup and at least another 2 soups! I love saving time! If you don't have time to have the stock boiling for 2-3 hours before you make the soup, that's fine, just use pre-made stock (chicken or vegetable), and leave the chicken out. I originally made it without chicken and it's still really good. Or, this would be a great soup to make with any leftover meat after a roast chicken dinner. But, let me say, if you have the time to boil the chicken and make the stock from scratch, this will be one of the best immune-boosting, healthy soups you will make. Research has now proven that mum's good old cold-and-flu remedy of chicken soup (made from chicken on the bone) really does boost the immune system. Combine that with the ginger and garlic I've added to the soup, and you've got a winner. You add the ginger and garlic right at the end, to retain most of it's wonderful nutritious properties.
     Serves 4 as a main.

Ingredients for the stock:

• 2 onions
• 3 carrots
• 2 celery sticks
• tablespoon whole peppercorns
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• a few sprigs of parsley if you have it
• one whole organic or free range chicken

Method for the stock:

• If you don't want 'grease' in your soup, skin the chicken. Don't freak out, it's quite easy! Find a spot that you can grab the edge of the skin and just start pulling. It comes off quite easily. Cut away any chunky bits of fat that didn't come off with the skin.
• Put all your ingredients into the pot and cover with water, filling as high as possible without risking it overflowing when boiling. My pot is quite large- I had about 6 litres of water. If your pot is smaller, reduce the amount of ingredients or you'll have a very strong stock.
• Bring to the boil over high heat, then reduce to low and simmer away for at least 2 hours- 3 is better!!
• Remove the chicken and once it has cooled a little, shred it into small, bite-sized bits. You'll need about half of it for the soup. Save the other halve for another meal or sandwich meat.
• With a slotted spoon, remove all the vegetables and peppercorns from the stock and discard. You will be left with a lovely liquid stock- some of which you will put into your soup. I put the rest in 1 cup quantities into zip lock bags and freeze them for later.
  
  Ingredients for the soup:
• 4 medium sized potatoes, dices into small (1cm) cubes
• 3 cups chicken stock (pre-made, or see directions above)
• Shredded cooked chicken meat from half a chicken or two large breasts
  
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or other non dairy milk)
• 2 small onions, diced into small 1cm pieces
• 2 large corn cobs, kernels stripped off, OR about 1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons rosemary, finely chopped (you could use parsley if you don't have rosemary)
• 2 tablespoons brown rice flour(or white if preferred)
• 1 tablespoon organic butter or coconut oil
• 4-6 cloves garlic (depends how much you like garlic- I like a lot!)
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger (or minced if you don't have fresh, but fresh is best)
  
   Method for the soup:
• Put butter or oil into a large soup pot and turn onto med heat. When butter or oil has just melted, add onion and saute until slightly coloured.
• Add flour and stir constantly for about 20 seconds till it is slightly brown.
• Add potato, corn and rosemary or parsley and stir briefly until coated in flour and onion.
• Add stock and milk. Bring to boil and cook until potatoes are very tender.
• Add the reserved chicken, garlic and ginger. Season.
• Boil for a minute, check flavour for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
• Serve in bowls, with some garlic bread or bread rolls if desired.

Gluten free - dairy free - grain free - refined sugar free - egg free - nut free - can be vegetarian
    Apologies to those of you living in climates that are now enjoying the delights of warm weather, but in my part of the world, the cold, rainy, definitely wintry weather is just begging to be thwarted by a nice, big, comforting bowl of hot soup!
    This is one of my favourites. It's from Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food, and I have only made a couple of small changes to it. The hero ingredient is the chorizo. It offers such a depth of flavour that veges alone won't. But I've also made it without the chorizo and it's still a great soup. I try to buy organic, sulfite free cured meats when possible, but chorizo can be a little hard to come by. If you want extra flavour but don't want to use chorizo, try some organic, sulfite-free bacon. Or, just go vegetarian...you won't be sorry! I also use my own chicken stock whenever possible, because of all it's wonderful immune-boosting properties.
     Everything gets roughly chopped before being thrown into a pot of stock, boiled, and eventually blended till smooth. So easy! It should serve 8 people as a main, with some bread on the side if you like.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons oil (Jamie uses olive, I use coconut)
  
• 2 large carrots, roughly chopped
• 2 small sticks celery, roughly chopped
• 2 medium onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• As much garlic as you like (Jamie says 2 cloves, I use a whole bulb! ), peeled and roughly sliced
• 800g orange sweet potato, peeled and roughly diced
• 1 chorizo sausage, roughly chopped (or a few rinds of bacon)
  
• small bunch of fresh parsley (I've also made it with coriander)
  
• 1 heaped teaspoon of curry powder (I use madras curry powder)
• 2 litres/ 8 cups of chicken or vegetable stock (or 2 stock cubes and 8 cups of water)
• freshly ground sea salt and black pepper
• 1 fresh red chili, for serving (optional)
  

Method:

• Put a large pot over high heat and add the oil
• Add the onion and cook, stirring, til slightly softened.
• Place all other chopped ingredients, and the curry powder, in the pot, mix together well, and cook for about 5 minutes with the lid askew.
• Add the stock, or water and stock cubes (if using cubes, dissolve them in some boiling water first).
  
• Give a good stir and bring to the boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer until the sweet potato and carrot are very tender (about 10 minutes)
• Blend the soup until smooth, either with a hand held blender or pour into a food processor. Taste and add salt and pepper as required.
• Serve in bowls, topped with finely chopped red chili if desired
  

Note : to maintain the wonderful nutritious, immune-boosting properties of the garlic, add it in to the pot only in the last minute of cooking.