Happy Monday! Hope you all are enjoying your three-day weekend. I love weekends most when they are a combination of both productive and relaxing.

Saturday was very productive for us. Started out with a nice, long run around the city and spent the rest of the afternoon finalizing our lodging for Europe. We are still trying to figure out where to stay in Paris & Venice so if you have any ideas or suggestions,please let me know.

Sunday was a bit more relaxing, baking a bit in the morning and then hanging out with friends for the afternoon and evening. I am really looking forward to using today to finish running errands and prep meals for the week.

I can’t believe it’s already time for January’s Recipe Redux! I feel like only a week ago we were celebrating the holidays, and now it’s almost February.

This month’s theme is: “A Trend in Every Pot”, combing 2013 food trends in everyone’s favorite winter dish, soup!

I love reading all the predicted food and restaurant trends for 2013. I am happy to see that there is more of an emphasis on vegetables, especially vegetarian and vegan cuisine. Restaurants, if you’re listening- keep bringing on the inventive vegan fare. Nothing is more boring that pasta and red sauce or a grilled vegetable sandwich. Get crazy!

If 2012 was the year of Kale, then 2013 is slated to be the year of cauliflower. Great! Bring it on. I love cauliflower, whether it’s placed into tacos, pureed as a creamy base, roasted and tossed with pasta, it’s all good. Remember when mashed cauliflower became all the rage? My mom was on the south beach kick for a few years, and we ate a ton of mashed cauliflower. Ever since then I realized that cauliflower is so much more than a steamed side dish.

My favorite way to enjoy it is roasted with curry powder. You were warned that I’ve been on an indian kick lately, and thought it would be the perfect partner for this dish.

Roasted, spiced cauliflower, onions and shallots pureed with almond milk, more spice, and topped with sunflower seeds and cilantro.

The thing I most love about this soup? While it feels and looks like a heavy cream soup, it’s actually very light. Perfect for a light lunch, paired with a sandwich, or served as an appetizer for a fancy dinner, this soup will definitely be on trend for 2013.

Curry Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower, cut into pieces
2 yukon gold potatoes, diced
1 tsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
4 tsp. curry powder, divided
4 cups unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
2 tsp. fresh ginger
salt/pepper
cilantro, for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400°F.  Combine chopped cauliflower, potatoes, olive oil, onion, garlic, and 2 tsp. curry powder together. Place ingredients onto a roasting or baking pan. Cook for 30 minutes.

Add all ingredients into a soup pot and add cover with almond milk. Place over medium heat and cook for 30 minutes until potatoes are fork tender.

Using an immersion blender or high-powered blender, puree the vegetables, almond milk, reserved curry powder, and salt/pepper.

Heat a dry skillet over medium heat. Add the sunflower seeds and cook, stirring often so they don’t burn.

Garnish soup with chopped cilantro and sunflower seeds.