Loaded Cauliflower Soup

Looked up a recipe the other day to use up the last of some sour cream I had. At first I was "eh" on this soup but it grew on me. A little amused at this is likely intended to be a keto replacement for potato soup, but it can stand on its own merits. I might end up adjusting this one in the future, though.

Ingredients:
2 medium heads cauliflower (2 bags of frozen cauliflower did nicely)
4 cups chicken broth (+1-2 cups for more liquid texture)
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice about 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
6 slices cooked and crumbled bacon for garnish
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese for garnish
Sliced green onions for garnish

Instructions:
Cut the cauliflower heads into florets, removing the tough inner core. Place the cauliflower florets and 3 cups of the broth in a large pot with matching lid over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, then place the lid on the pot and reduce the heat to low to cook for 15 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender.
Remove the cauliflower from the pot and add to a high powered blender, like a Vitamix, and blend for 1-2 minutes until smooth.
Add the garlic powder, onion powder, salt, sour cream, and lemon juice, then blend again on high for an additional 30 seconds until fully combined. Pour in additional broth to your desired consistency.
Pour the soup into bowls and top each with bacon, cheese, and green onions.

Peanut Butter Soup

This is a recipe I'll have to come back to and adjust. I made it once...sort of...and it was pretty good. "Sort of" as in I couldn't follow instructions fully. Oddly enough, one adjustment might be to add more peanut butter, as I wanted a stronger peanut flavor the first time around. But it is delicious!

Ingredients:
2 medium onions, peeled and kept whole
3 large tomatoes
1 whole chicken, cut into pieces (I didn't cut mine into pieces; see below)
8 small eggplant (my store doesn't have "small" eggplants
1 pound okra
1 pepper scotch bonnet pepper (couldn't find this at my store so I used a habanero)
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, grated (personally I use ginger paste, it's more convenient for me)
3 bay leaves
6 heaping tablespoons peanut butter
2 quarts chicken stock

Steps:
Place the chicken in a large, heavy stockpot. Place whole, peeled onions, pepper, grated ginger, and tomatoes into the pot. Add chicken stock and place over high heat. (Ftr, first I put the chicken in the slow cooker for a while in the hopes I could have this be a slow cooker recipe. I could not. But it did soften up the chicken so I don't think it was a bad idea to slow cook it first.)

Bring the pot to a boil and reduce to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the onions and tomatoes are tender. Remove onions and tomatoes from the pot and transfer to a blender. (I also put the pepper in the blender and I think that was an improvement. The heat of the pepper was evenly distributed in the soup.)

Blend the soft vegetables in a blender, then pour back into the pot, bring to a simmer, and cook for 20 minutes.

Cut the stem ends off the eggplants and make a cross-shaped incision in the tops (not too deep as the eggplant should remain whole). Add them to the soup. (Again, I couldn't find small eggplants so I just chopped big ones up into pieces. It worked okay. The eggplant pieces tended to fall apart after thawing and heating saved soup but it wasn't super unpleasant imo.)

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the peanut butter until it is very runny. Begin to add water a little at a time to the pot, stirring to prevent lumps or scorching, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add peanut sauce to the pot and stir to combine. Peanut oil will begin to separate from the sauce and float on the surface.

Cut the ends off the okra and add them to the soup. Simmer another 10 minutes then add salt to taste, and serve. (I used a bag of frozen pre-chopped okra, which also felt fine.)