Cauliflower 'Cream' Soup. Yeah, it's healthy

Just in time for the nasty winter weather I made some cauliflower soup.  Since there's been discussion about Alton and weight loss, I guess this one can fall into the healthy category as well.  It is a cream style soup but uses no cream, so it's really low fat and has lots of whatever good stuff is to be found in the veggies used.  Also, it was be made vegetarian or have sausage added.  I had one of the PBS stations on in the background while I was working the other weekend and noticed this dish on Sara Moulton's show and also on some vegetarian show too.  It's a really easy soup to add your own touches to and the following is what I cobbled together.

The first thing on the list is cauliflower, the size of which will determine the rest of your volumes.  I was surprised at home many recipes I found on the Net specified exactly how much of what you need when a head of cauliflower can vary greatly.  The ingredient list is what I ended up using with a pretty large head of locally grown cauliflower.   If you're picking one up from the grocery store, it's likely to be smaller and you can certainly make a smaller batch, just adjust the volumes accordingly.  Secondly, as I mentioned, you can used sausage or leave it out for a vegetarian (or just lower fat) soup.  And lastly, adding greens gives the final product a great texture and for this you can also use whatever piques your taste buds.

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower (roughly chopped)

1-2 quarts chicken or veg. broth ( I used 2 quarts)

1/2 pound of sausage, chorizo/andouille/Italian*, etc. sliced (optional)
1 onion (roughly chopped)

1-2 Yukon or other waxy potato (peeled and roughly chopped)
Greens such as kale, spinach, mustard, etc. if desired

1. Get out your favorite soup pot and cook the sausage slices, then remove the slices for later use.
2. Sweat the onion, add some oil if not using sausage
3. Add the cauliflower, potato (you can reserve some florets to add later if you want a chunkier soup)

4. Add enough broth to cover the veggies and simmer for about 10 minutes until soft
5. Run the soup through a blender in batches or hit it with an immersion blender (much easier) until smooth
6. If adding extra veg. to your soup, such as cauliflower florets or heavy greens like kale*, add them now and simmer for a few minutes to soften.  This is also a good time to add the sausage back in to the mix or keep on the side for serving time if you have picky eaters.

7. Add any extra seasonings to taste, such as salt & pepper, hot pepper flakes, lemon juice, hot sauce, nutmeg, etc.

* I used baby spinach for the texture, so I only added what I needed when reheating the soup since it will get soggy quickly.  I used sweet fennel Italian sausage and it gave off a little too strong of a flavor after melding in the fridge overnight.

Enjoy!  If you have any tips or personal variations please feel free to share!