Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Potato-Onion Bread

My wife had purchased a few days ago a nice head of cauliflower, and I thought it might make a good soup. I did a little searching on a VitaMix recipe for cauliflower, and found a Martha Stewart one that I used as a base. It was really quite a simple recipe and introduced me to the idea of cutting cauliflower through the stalk.

Our cauliflower was somewhat small. I removed the very end of the stalk, as well as the leaves, then, as the recipe suggested, cut it into slices (I went with 1/2" or so in thickness). Sometime I'll have to do this again and photograph the pieces - they look like interesting, white trees! I then started sauteeing the cauliflower, flipping sides every few minutes. About two minutes into the saute, I added half of a small sweet onion, roughly chopped, as well as two small pieces of jalapeno pepper. I sauteed, over medium-high, for a total of about 10 minutes till the cauliflower's edges were medium brown. About a minute before I was done, I put in about 1/2 teaspoon of ginger, roughly chopped.

I put 4 cups of water in my VitaMix, as well as 2 vegan bouillon cubes, then added the cooked vegetables. I blended at a medium setting till the cauliflower was homogenized, maybe 20 seconds, then increased to high and ran the blender for several minutes till the soup was hot. I added a few pinches of salt, blended on low till mixed in, and was going to serve, but the soup was thinner than I had wanted it to be. I would have included some cashews, but we were out; instead, I added a few tablespoonfuls of potato flakes and blended a few seconds, then served.

In the meantime, I sauteed some tempeh and 1/4" thick half moons of the sweet onion. I put these on top of the soup. The meal was completed with some fresh potato-onion bread and tomato. Dinner was very good - I suspected the soup would be good, but it turned out better than I had expected.