Cheesy Cauliflower and White Bean Soup

Cheesy cauliflower and white bean soup is a delicious way of creating a twist on the classic combination of cauliflower cheese in the form of a healthy versatile bean soup!

Well Folks that's vegan January now over.

I thought I’d share with you some thoughts on that below. But, first of all let’s talk about this cheesy cauliflower and white bean soup.

And February how did you get here so fast anyway?

Normally I make a mean cauliflower and cannellini bean soup but here's how this alternative soup came about.....

Where Did This Cheesy Cauliflower And White Bean Soup Came From?

Are you ever on a grocery shop with your shopping list and you just can’t seem to get all the things you want, for the recipes that you’ve already planned out for the week ahead? Sound familiar?

So, there I was, list in hand, frantically hunting down a can of cannellini beans for a soup recipe I wanted to do, only the find there weren’t any. Only white kidney beans were available.

Then, on the same grocery shop, I wanted broccoli. I had an idea in my head for a broccoli and cauliflower cheese bake. But guess what. Yep, no broccoli!

Then there was the cheese. I’d already added the low fat cream cheese for the bake to my basket.

In need of doing my weekend meal cooking for the week ahead What was I to do?

Well fortunately my brain computed that the soup was needed more urgently for weekday lunches so I had a thought.

Cauliflower and cheese do work well together don’t they? How about making a creamy stock using the cauliflower and adding in the low fat cream cheese and white kidney beans to make it a kind of cheesy cauliflower and white bean soup?

Well it worked perfectly. 🙂

See below for the full cheesy cauliflower and white bean soup. But before that, let's have that recap on Vegan January!

Vegan January

So how did vegan January go?

I’d say we pretty much accomplished what we set out to do. Which was to see what it was like to eat a vegan diet all month.

It challenged me to create recipes that were entirely plant based and it also gave me a fantastic opportunity to practice and trial lots of spiralizer recipes (future posts) with the spiralizer I got for Christmas.

I deliberately didn’t publicise or shout about it on social media or when publishing January’s vegan based recipes.

Why? Well I didn’t want my audience to think that the theme of neilshealthymeals was changing given I’ve just spent months creating the blog theme and niche of quick healthy meals and living by the 80:20 lifestyle!

Would I consider becoming vegan permanently?

No. I personally felt no benefit of eating a purely vegan diet. It didn’t make me feel any different (not that I was expecting it to). We already have a healthy lifestyle and feel great about the way we live. Why would we need to change that?

Now, that being said I absolutely respect your choice as to what you eat in life, being vegan, paleo, gluten free, vegetarian or whatever. And neilshealthymeals aims to cater for you all. Everyone is different and what works best for us, may not be best for you. Life is about choices, I respect yours, I hope you respect mine.

We only did a vegan diet for one month, and over the longer term there’s greater considerations. For example, we humans get our recommended vitamins and minerals by eating a wide range of plants and animals.

In the longer term, some vitamins, like vitamin B12 if you’re following a strictly vegan diet, may have to come from specially fortified foods.

As I like my food to not be “unnatural” that wouldn’t go for me. I don’t like the idea of vitamin B12 supplements either as taking too much could be harmful.

I’m also a huge believer in looking at how we are actually made up. As humans we have two eyes in the front of our head. Two eyes meant for hunting.

Now, whilst I don’t believe we need to hunt any more, I’m just stating a fact that we’ve always eaten animals. And a plant diet in unison.

We don’t need, and shouldn’t eat as much meat as we do, specifically red meat. We should eat more lean white meats and oily fish. AND we should eat more veggies. By balancing the two correctly we can live a balanced healthy lifestyle. Without the need to eat vegan and nothing else.

In summary, it’s always good to try something different. I can say I have lived on a vegan diet for a month. And it all adds up to being able to talk truthfully and from first-hand experience of another diet that I’ve tried.

But, for us It’s the 80:20 lifestyle that’s made and continues to make all the difference in our lives.

For This Cauliflower White Bean Soup You May Need….

The following links and any links in the recipe card below are affiliate links.

This means that if you click on it and then buy that product, I’ll get a small commission (at no extra cost to you of course).

If you do click through, then thanks for being a part of Neil’s Healthy Meals!

This is the set of pans I recommend for cooking with.

The set includes 16, 18, 20 cm saucepans, 1 x 14 cm milk pan and 1 x 24 cm fry pan.

The pans are suitable for all hobs including induction.

They come with a 1-year guarantee which can be extended to a 10-year warranty when you register the product.

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Cheesy Cauliflower and White Bean Soup Recipe

Low in fat but packed with essential protein this cheesy cauliflower and white bean soup makes a great, quick healthy lunchtime staple.

I’d love to hear what you think of my recipe in the comments below and please do rate my recipe 5* if you like it! 🙂

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5 from 3 votes

Cheesy Cauliflower and White Bean Soup Recipe

Cheesy cauliflower and white bean soup is a delicious way of creating a twist on the classic combination of cauliflower cheese in the form of a healthy versatile bean soup.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time50 mins

Total Time1 hr

Course: Lunch

Cuisine: International

Servings: 6

Calories: 204kcal

Author: Neil

The following links and any links in the recipe card below are affiliate links.

This means that if you click on it and then buy that product I’ll get a small commission (at no extra cost to you of course).

If you do click through then thanks for being a part of Neil’s Healthy Meals!

Equipment

• Saucepans
• Chopping board
• Kitchen knives
• Measuring jug
• Measuring spoons
• Wooden spoon
• Blender

Ingredients

• 1 L vegetable stock
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 400 g cauliflower florets chopped
• 2 tablespoon corn flour
• 250 ml cold skimmed milk
• 100 g low fat soft cheese
• 400 g can white beans rinsed and drained e.g. Cannellini beans / butter beans / white kidney beans
• Low fat grated cheddar cheese to garnish

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

• In a large saucepan, add the stock and bring it to the boil.
• Add the onion and cauliflower, turn the heat down and allow the vegetables to simmer for 30 minutes until soft.
• Blitz the vegetables in a blender or by using a stick blender to a creamy consistency.
• Return the creamy vegetable stock to the saucepan and heat gently
• In a jug, add the corn flour to the skimmed milk and stir together well to remove any lumps.
• Add the milk mixture to the saucepan of stock and stir in the low fat cheese. Keep stirring until the soup has thickened and to remove any lumps.
• Add your chosen white beans and heat through for about 10 minutes.
• Serve garnished with a little low fat grated cheese.

Nutrition

Calories: 204kcal | Carbohydrates: 23.7g | Protein: 11.9g | Fat: 7.5g | Saturated Fat: 4.2g | Cholesterol: 21.2mg | Fiber: 5.1g | Sugar: 4.6g | Vitamin A: 400IU | Vitamin C: 47mg | Calcium: 240mg | Iron: 2.5mg