Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup

It has been one of those weeks.  You know the ones.  When you seem to get bad news every day.  When painful things happen to those you love.  When you swear the clock gets exponentially slower as it approaches 5:30, convinced it will never actually get there.  When an entire city shuts down, and it just happens to be the city from which your wife is trying to depart.

Yes, it has been one of those weeks.  And, although I'm trying not to dwell on it, that has meant that the aforementioned better eating has gotten sidetracked by, well, eating pita chips out of the bag for dinner or subsisting on leftover pizza for every meal until it's gone.  Can't waste good pizza.

It doesn't help that it is raining.  Rain makes me want to curl up with a book, forget about the week, and drink hot chocolate for dinner.  But, as wonderful as hot chocolate is, sometimes we need to eat real food.  That's where this soup comes in.  It's real.  It has good things like broccoli and cauliflower.  It is super fast to throw together.  It is warm and comforting and revitalizing.  It's like green hot chocolate.  If that concept wasn't so gross.

It starts with roasting the broccoli and cauliflower, which is my absolute favorite way to prepare pretty much any vegetable.  Carrots?  Roast them.  Beets?  Roast them.  And it doesn't have to stop at root vegetables.  Roast any squash, asparagus, green beans, or tomatoes you have.  It brings out a rich flavor, an earthiness that our food is supposed to have.

From there, it's pretty much the same as any soup.  Throw the veggies in some stock, puree.  Curl up next to a cat, watch a marathon of Buffy episodes, and enjoy.  Don't feel guilty for skipping the gym today.  You made yourself some soup.

Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup
Serves 4

1 small head broccoli
1 small head cauliflower
salt and pepper
1/4 c olive oil
2 t dried thyme
1 t cardamom
2 c chicken stock (or use veggie to make it vegetarian)
1 c fat-free plain yogurt
cream

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Chop the broccoli and cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and place in a bowl.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Give a few good cranks of salt and pepper, and add the thyme and cardamom.  Toss it all together until the vegetables are coated well.  Spread on a baking sheet and roast for 25 minutes.  Put the roasted vegetables in a blender, add the stock, and blend until smooth.  Add more stock as needed for desired consistency (I like my soup thick, but you can add up to another 2 cups of stock).  Pour soup into a pot and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Stir in the yogurt.  Season to taste.  Ladle into bowls, and serve with cream on top.