Adapting and Cashew Cauliflower Soup

As a senior in college I was tasked with teaching a little summer cooking class to middle school students whose parents couldn’t afford a babysitter over the summer while they went to work. These kids did not want to be there in the hot, stuffy school with a broken A/C being babysat by college kids practicing to become teachers. I knew my rotation was coming soon and I was struggling to create a curriculum on cooking. I had no idea where to start – there was SO much these kids didn’t know that I (a history teacher) could teach them about cooking. Cooking! My favorite hobby, obsession, and passion!

Inspiration finally dawned just a few days before the start of my rotation.

If there was one thing I could teach these kids, the most valuable principle I wanted to teach them – that would spill over into the rest of their lives – it was change and adapt.

Just a few months previous my life had been changed by a simple biopsy. I was diagnosed with multiple disaccharidases deficiencies. Overnight I had to know what sucrose, starch, lactose, and maltose were, what foods they were in, and how to avoid them or else end up vomiting and dehydrated in the ER. I had to immediately change my diet from All-American high carbs to limited paleo – very limited paleo. The impact of that diagnosis was still very forefront in my mind as I was still learning to adapt without making myself very ill. The ability to adapt is what I wanted to empower my summer school students to do!

Though these students were young any one of them could at any time be diagnosed with diabetes, lactose intolerance, peanut allergy, celiacs, or a host of any other food-related issue that would result in needing to adapt one’s diet. I wanted to empower these youth with a principle that would help them maintain their enthusiasm for food, family gatherings, and life in spite of a diagnosis.

I want your enthusiasm and love for holidays, food, and life to be burn bright regardless of life-changing medical diagnoses. You can take any recipe – any recipe – and adapt it not only to your likes, but also to your needs. And still have it come out with amazing taste and texture!

For example, here is a really savory cashew cauliflower soup that I found in a magazine at a doctor’s office. (Disclaimer – I’m often in a hurry at the doctor’s office and sometimes forget to take a picture of the cover so I can properly source it later. So if you recognize the recipe/magazine pages please do comment below so I can properly give credit for the inspiration!)

The original recipe is pictured below.

Here is how I adapted it to fit my medical needs (and some personal preferences)

1 cup cashews

3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

1 TBSP olive oil + 1 TBSP butter

1 sweet onion (I can’t have yellow onions)

3 cloves garlic minced

1 head cauliflower cut into florets

1 15-oz. can cannellini beans (aka white kidney beans)

2 TBSP fresh thyme

1 TBSP fresh oregano

1 ¼ tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper (omitted)

I found that even though I used low-sodium broth, the soup still turned out pretty salty. So the next time I make it I’m going to reduce the salt to ½ tsp. I omitted the pepper because I get a lot of pepper overload living down here in the south. I like pepper, but not as a main ingredient. I didn’t toast the second half of cashews or use them as garnish. I added them into the blender raw with the microwaved cashew broth.

Other than that, I followed the rest of the instructions pretty closely. Setting aside the over-saltiness, this soup gave my mouth a whole new experience in a totally different dimension. The combination of cashews and beans produced a thrilling flavor that I’ve never experienced ever before! It was so savory, nutty, and packed with nutrition. It was very fulfilling and soul-feeding. My digestive system had no qualms with it either!

I bet you’re wondering how the summer middle school classes went! It was such a delight, honor, and pleasure to work with these students as they learned a vital life principle. They adapted so well time and time again. It was so touching to see their resilience. (For you mamas out there with children in middle school and you find yourself wondering and questioning – you’re doing an amazing job raising resilient, enthusiastic children!)

Here are some fun little happenings from that cooking course.

Each class was presented with a new task in the kitchen and they had to adapt. First day of class we learned how to adapt to the various hazards in a kitchen – especially grease fires. Another class the students were to make pancakes and adapt to cooking on various surfaces: teflan, cast iron, etc. And they were given a various amount of ingredients to experiment with – no pancake recipe! Right as the students were set up with their batters a breaker got overloaded from all the individual electric burners plugged in! The students had to adapt quickly (by unplugging their burners and moving all their supplies and utensils to the gym) or else not experience the different cooking surfaces and ingredients. They succeeded in moving everything in a timely manner and the students had a thrilling lesson loaded with all kinds of opportunities to adapt. One bold special needs student boasted of how much he loved salt. With delight he dumped a whole cup of salt into his pancake batter. He learned shortly thereafter that he needed to adapt his recipe to contain less salt.