Cauliflower Cheddar Soup - Win

I started this post on Rememberance Day, which is always a hard day for me. Every veteran, every poppy, every song played by bagpipes make me think of my Grandpa, a WWII veteran. He passed away 10 years ago this past April. 
When I have a 'sad day' I tend to want to cook, bake, and roast. Note the 'and'. The only reasons I didn't make a huge batch of cookies on top of our Tuesday feast is we're still digging through masses of Halloween candy and we don't need more sugar in the house. 

But I digress

I pinned this recipe under the 'get more vegetables into my kid' recipes. Sadly, Munchkin doesn't like it, but that's because it's White Soup instead of my normal roasted vegetable Orange Soup. He won't eat it because it's not orange, not because of the flavour. I even tried adding broccoli another time to make it green (his favourite colour) and he still refused to try it on the basis that it's not the Orange Soup. Either way, the Hubby and I still like it!

This soup from Closet Cooking is very easy to make and tastes fantastic. The original recipe calls for cream and bacon bits for topping. Bacon is a treat in our house, so it's not a regular thing I have, and I'm not buying cream just for one recipe. So the bacon was eliminated and skim milk was used instead and I still ended up with a lovely, creamy soup. I also reduced the amount of broth to two cups with no ill-effect. 

Perfectly roasted

Simmering away, smelling wonderful

You can see the large pot of soup in the back of the picture below. You get a good amount for one head of cauliflower. 

I went a little kitchen crazy - soup, roasted veggies, and pot roast. And I made muffins...

The soup is lovely, and the roasting adds a lovely flavour. The second time around I added about half a broccoli head to the roasting (to make it green) and it still tasted great. This is a great make-ahead recipe for a dinner party, and keeps well for 2-3 days.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken - Win

Another Slowcooker win!
This recipe is perfect, with the right amount of sweet and heat. Very very simple to make with only a few ingredients, and can easily be made with frozen chicken if you adjust your cooking time. 

This winner is another via Family Fresh Meals. 
Now the BBQ sauce clearly affects the outcome of this dinner. I moved away from our usual sauce to try the recommended Sweet Baby Ray's, and I think we have a new favourite sauce! Feel free to use your favourite sauce, as long as it's a thicker sauce since you always end up with more liquid at the end of a Slowcooker meal. 

 

I definitely recommend following the suggestion of fresh kaiser buns and coleslaw for this dinner. The coleslaw adds a bit of a tart crunch that works very well. There is just a bit of heat to this chicken, I'm sure you could add in chili or even chipotle powder if you like an extra kick. Corn on the cob and a cold beer round this meal out perfectly. 
I plan to try this again with beef or pork, I think it'll be amazing!

UPDATE
I have tried this with pork and it was amazing. Make sure you use a shoulder cut of pork, since a smaller cut will dry out. Pork won't be our go-to for this recipe due to price, but it's a very lovely treat!
Enjoy!